Hancock Museum
Encyclopedia
The Hancock Museum is a museum of natural history
in Newcastle upon Tyne
, England
, established in 1884. In 2006 it merged with Newcastle University's Hatton Gallery
to form the Great North Museum
. The museum and all of its collections are owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria, although it is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums
on behalf of Newcastle University. The museum reopened as the Great North Museum: Hancock in May 2009 following a major extension and refurbishment of the original Victorian
building.
The museum is located on the campus of Newcastle University, next to the Great North Road
, and close to Barras Bridge. The nearest Tyne & Wear Metro station is Haymarket
, and there is also a bus station at Haymarket
.
The collection of the Hancock Museum can be traced to about 1780 when Marmaduke Tunstall
started accumulating ethnographic
and natural history
material from around the world. He then brought his collection from London to North Yorkshire. In 1791 Tunstall died, and George Allan
of Darlington purchased Tunstall's collection; and later in 1823 it was acquired by the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The museum opened on its current site in 1884 after the collection of the Natural History Society of Northumberland
, Durham
and Newcastle upon Tyne (now the Natural History Society of Northumbria) outgrew its small museum, located on Westgate Road, which opened in 1834. The Natural History Society was founded in 1829 as an offshoot of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, which itself was founded in 1793.
A major benefactor to the museum was William Armstrong who gave the then large sum of £11,500. Armstrong had also founded the College of Physical Science which later became part of Newcastle University. The museum was re-named in the 1890s, after the local Victorian
naturalists
, Albany
and John Hancock
. In 1959 the Natural History Society agreed with the University of Newcastle for the University to care for the building and collections, and since 1992 the University have contracted with Tyne & Wear Museums to manage the Museum under a Service Level Agreement.
, World Cultures and Pre-history. It also includes an interactive study zone, an under 5's space, and a digital Planetarium
, as well as new learning facilities, a new temporary exhibition space, and a study garden. The new museum houses not only the Hancock Museum collections, but also those of the University's Museum of Antiquities
and Shefton Museum
. The Hatton Gallery
is also a part of the Great North Museum Project, but is not relocating to the Hancock, and is remaining in Newcastle University's Fine Art Building.
In September 2008, the Great North Museum searched for a look-a-like of the Emperor Hadrian
, for a photo shoot, whose likeness would feature in a permanent display at the Hancock Museum. On 21 November 2008 the 'Be Part of It' campaign was launched, and it was announced that the Great North Museum: Hancock would be opening in May 2009. Athlete Jonathan Edwards
is the patron of the 'Be Part of It' campaign. Other celebrity supporters of the museum include Sir Thomas Allen and Adam Hart-Davis
. Donors to the campaign have the opportunity to have their name (or the name of a loved one) permanently included on a donor wall in the museum.
The Great North Museum formally re-opened on 23 May 2009. In August the museum announced that they had surpassed their expected annual target of 300,000 visitors. By August over 400,000 people had visited the reopened museum. On 6 November 2009 HM The Queen
officially opened the Great North Museum.
By August 2010 the reopened Great North Museum had welcomed its one millionth visitor.
skeleton; and Sparkie, Newcastle’s famous talking budgie, who was stuffed after his death in 1962 and is now the subject of a new opera by Michael Nyman
.
The full size cast of an African Elephant was built in the Belgium Living Planet gallery. The model was crafted by Zephyr Wildlife, who took a cast from an actual stuffed elephant at a museum in Bonn in Germany
. To get the elephant into the museum, a crane, from Bel Lift Trucks, had to be used. The full size model of a T-Rex
dinosaur has been shipped from Canada, where it was built by a company called Research Casting International. It forms part of the display known as the Fossil Stories gallery. The T-Rex model was one of the first items to be placed in the new museum, due to its size.
Other exhibitions include 'Hadrian's Wall' looking at Roman life in the north of England, 'Natural Northumbria' focusing on the wildlife found in the northeast, 'Ancient Egypt' looking at the Ancient Egyptians and featuring the museum's two mummies, 'Ice Age to Iron Age' detailing the history of the British Isles over the past 12,000 years, 'World Cultures' featuring artifacts and displays from cultures across the globe, 'The Shefton Collection' with one the most detailed collections of Greek artifacts in the UK and 'Explore' which is a more hands-on area of the museum and features regular interactive sessions.
There are also a number of live animals, especially amphibians and reptiles, within the museum, as well as a conference area for corporate events and a fully provisioned learning suite for school visits.
The museum has been entered into the 'long list' for the 2010 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries.
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, established in 1884. In 2006 it merged with Newcastle University's Hatton Gallery
Hatton Gallery
The Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is a part of the Great North Museum. It is based in the University's Fine Art Building.- History :...
to form the Great North Museum
Great North Museum
The Great North Museum is a visitor attraction in Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. It features two venues: the Great North Museum: Hancock and the Hatton Gallery...
. The museum and all of its collections are owned by the Natural History Society of Northumbria, although it is managed by Tyne and Wear Museums
Tyne and Wear Museums
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums is a regional group of United Kingdom national museums located across the Tyne and Wear area of north-east England. They have been administered by a joint board of local authorities since the abolition of the Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County Council...
on behalf of Newcastle University. The museum reopened as the Great North Museum: Hancock in May 2009 following a major extension and refurbishment of the original Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
building.
Location
Great North Road (Great Britain)
The Great North Road was a coaching route used by mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly follows the Great North Road. The inns on the road, many of which survive, were staging posts on the coach routes, providing accommodation, stabling for the horses and...
, and close to Barras Bridge. The nearest Tyne & Wear Metro station is Haymarket
Haymarket Metro station
Haymarket Metro station is a station on the Tyne and Wear Metro in the north of the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. Like the other stations in the city centre, its platforms are located underground...
, and there is also a bus station at Haymarket
Haymarket Bus Station
Haymarket bus station is one of two bus stations serving the city centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England.Originally opened in 1930, refurbished in the early 1970s and rebuilt in 1997, it is located in the Haymarket area of the city centre, near to Newcastle University and adjacent to the...
.
History
Marmaduke Tunstall
Marmaduke Tunstall was an English ornithologist and collector. He was the author of Ornithologica Britannica , probably the first British work to use binomial nomenclature....
started accumulating ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
and natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
material from around the world. He then brought his collection from London to North Yorkshire. In 1791 Tunstall died, and George Allan
George Allan (antiquary)
George Allan was an English antiquary and attorney at Darlington.Allan spent much of his youth in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where he was educated at the all-boys Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield....
of Darlington purchased Tunstall's collection; and later in 1823 it was acquired by the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The museum opened on its current site in 1884 after the collection of the Natural History Society of Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
and Newcastle upon Tyne (now the Natural History Society of Northumbria) outgrew its small museum, located on Westgate Road, which opened in 1834. The Natural History Society was founded in 1829 as an offshoot of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, which itself was founded in 1793.
A major benefactor to the museum was William Armstrong who gave the then large sum of £11,500. Armstrong had also founded the College of Physical Science which later became part of Newcastle University. The museum was re-named in the 1890s, after the local Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
naturalists
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
, Albany
Albany Hancock
Albany Hancock , naturalist, biologist and supporter of Charles Darwin, was born on Christmas Eve in Newcastle upon Tyne. He is best-known for his works on marine animals and coal-measure fossils....
and John Hancock
John Hancock (ornithologist)
John Hancock , naturalist, ornithologist, taxidermist and landscape architect. He is considered the father of modern taxidermy.Hancock was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and educated at The Royal Grammar School...
. In 1959 the Natural History Society agreed with the University of Newcastle for the University to care for the building and collections, and since 1992 the University have contracted with Tyne & Wear Museums to manage the Museum under a Service Level Agreement.
Great North Museum
The museum was closed on 23 April 2006 for refurbishment and did not reopen until 23 May 2009. It has been completely refurbished and extended as part of the Great North Museum Project, at a cost of £26 million. It includes new displays on natural history and geology, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, Romans and Hadrian's WallHadrian's Wall
Hadrian's Wall was a defensive fortification in Roman Britain. Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, it was the first of two fortifications built across Great Britain, the second being the Antonine Wall, lesser known of the two because its physical remains are less evident today.The...
, World Cultures and Pre-history. It also includes an interactive study zone, an under 5's space, and a digital Planetarium
Planetarium
A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...
, as well as new learning facilities, a new temporary exhibition space, and a study garden. The new museum houses not only the Hancock Museum collections, but also those of the University's Museum of Antiquities
Museum of Antiquities
The Museum of Antiquities was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1960 and in 2009 its collections were merged into the Great North Museum: Hancock.- History :...
and Shefton Museum
Shefton Museum
The Shefton Museum of Greek Art and Archaeology was an archaeological museum at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England which opened in 1956 and closed in 2008. Its collections are now part of the Great North Museum.- History :...
. The Hatton Gallery
Hatton Gallery
The Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and is a part of the Great North Museum. It is based in the University's Fine Art Building.- History :...
is also a part of the Great North Museum Project, but is not relocating to the Hancock, and is remaining in Newcastle University's Fine Art Building.
In September 2008, the Great North Museum searched for a look-a-like of the Emperor Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
, for a photo shoot, whose likeness would feature in a permanent display at the Hancock Museum. On 21 November 2008 the 'Be Part of It' campaign was launched, and it was announced that the Great North Museum: Hancock would be opening in May 2009. Athlete Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards (athlete)
Jonathan David Edwards, CBE, is a former British triple jumper. He is a former Olympic, Commonwealth, European and World champion, and has held the world record in the event since 1995....
is the patron of the 'Be Part of It' campaign. Other celebrity supporters of the museum include Sir Thomas Allen and Adam Hart-Davis
Adam Hart-Davis
Adam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts,...
. Donors to the campaign have the opportunity to have their name (or the name of a loved one) permanently included on a donor wall in the museum.
The Great North Museum formally re-opened on 23 May 2009. In August the museum announced that they had surpassed their expected annual target of 300,000 visitors. By August over 400,000 people had visited the reopened museum. On 6 November 2009 HM The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
officially opened the Great North Museum.
By August 2010 the reopened Great North Museum had welcomed its one millionth visitor.
Collections
Among the Museum's permanent residents are a life-size cast of an African elephant; the Egyptian mummy Bakt-hor-Nekht; a full size replica of a T-RexTyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
skeleton; and Sparkie, Newcastle’s famous talking budgie, who was stuffed after his death in 1962 and is now the subject of a new opera by Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
.
The full size cast of an African Elephant was built in the Belgium Living Planet gallery. The model was crafted by Zephyr Wildlife, who took a cast from an actual stuffed elephant at a museum in Bonn in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. To get the elephant into the museum, a crane, from Bel Lift Trucks, had to be used. The full size model of a T-Rex
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
dinosaur has been shipped from Canada, where it was built by a company called Research Casting International. It forms part of the display known as the Fossil Stories gallery. The T-Rex model was one of the first items to be placed in the new museum, due to its size.
Other exhibitions include 'Hadrian's Wall' looking at Roman life in the north of England, 'Natural Northumbria' focusing on the wildlife found in the northeast, 'Ancient Egypt' looking at the Ancient Egyptians and featuring the museum's two mummies, 'Ice Age to Iron Age' detailing the history of the British Isles over the past 12,000 years, 'World Cultures' featuring artifacts and displays from cultures across the globe, 'The Shefton Collection' with one the most detailed collections of Greek artifacts in the UK and 'Explore' which is a more hands-on area of the museum and features regular interactive sessions.
There are also a number of live animals, especially amphibians and reptiles, within the museum, as well as a conference area for corporate events and a fully provisioned learning suite for school visits.
The museum has been entered into the 'long list' for the 2010 Art Fund Prize for museums and galleries.
Library
The Great North Museum Library is open to the public and is located on the second floor of the Hancock. It houses three collections - the Library and Archives of the Natural History Society of Northumbria, the Library of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne and Newcastle University’s Cowen Library.See also
- Abel ChapmanAbel ChapmanAbel Chapman was a Sunderland-born hunter-naturalist. He saved the Spanish Ibex from extinction and helped in the establishment of South Africa's first game reserve.-Early life:...
, Victorian 'hunter-naturalist' whose game trophies can be seen at the museum.