Augustus Franks

March 20, 1826 (age 71)

Geneva, Switzerland

He early showed inclination for antiquarian pursuits, and in 1851 was appointed assistant in the Antiquities Department of the British Museum. Here, and as director of the Society of Antiquaries, an appointment he received in 1858, he made himself the first authority in England upon medieval antiquities of all descriptions, upon porcelain, glass, the manufactures of savage nations, and in general upon all Oriental curiosities and works of art later than the Classical period. In 1866 the British and medieval antiquities, with the ethnographical collections, were formed into a distinct department under his superintendence and the Christy collection of ethnography in Victoria Street, London, prior to its amalgamation with the British Museum collections, was also under his care. He became vice-president and ultimately president of the Society of Antiquaries, and in 1878 declined the principal librarianship of the museum. He retired on his seventieth birthday, 1896, and died on the 21st of May 1897. His ample fortune was largely devoted to the collection of ceramics and precious objects of medieval art, most 6f which became the property of the nation, either by donation in his lifetime or by bequest at his death. Although chiefly a medieval antiquary, Franks was also an authority on classical art, especially Roman remains in Britain: he was also greatly interested in book-marks and playing-cards, of both of which he formed important collections. He edited Kemble's Horae Ferales, and wrote numerous memoirs on archaeological subjects. Perhaps his most important work of this class is the catalogue of his own collection of porcelain. The earliest mention in history of the name Franks is the entry on the Tabula Peutingeriana, at least if we assume that the term "et Franci" is not a later emendation.

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Works

book

Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education. Bethnal Green Branch Museum. Catalogue of a Collection of Oriental Porcelain and Pottery, Lent for Exhibition

(Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

Discovery Of The Will Of Hans Holbein By W.h. Black, With Remarks On The Same

( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)

Guide To The English Ceramic Ante-room And The Glass & Ceramic Gallery...

(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

A Book Of Ornamental Glazing Quarries, Collected And Arranged From Ancient Examples

A Book Of Ornamental Glazing Quarries: Collected And Arranged From Ancient Examples

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Catalogue of a Collection of Continental Porcelain: Lent and Described (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Catalogue of a Collection of Continental Por...)

Japanese Pottery: Being a Native Report With an Introduction and Catalogue (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from Japanese Pottery: Being a Native Report With...)

Augustus Wollaston Franks

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also known as Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks

antiquary

Background

He was born on the 20th of March 1826.

Education

He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

Achievements

Most of the items in his collections became the property of the nation, by bequest at his death, where they had not been donations in his lifetime. Franks purchased over 20, 000 important objects for the British Museum's collections. One of his best known donations was the ninth-century ivory Franks Casket from Northumbria, with its runic inscriptions. It had been dismissed as 'some Ancient carvings in ivory', and turned down by the Museum's Trustees in 1858 when offered to them for 100 guineas. In 1867, Franks gave the casket to the British Museum as a gift.