| Administrative History | The care of the Society's large mineral and fossil collections was always problematic. The Museum's first Keeper, Thomas Webster, was unhappy with the work load and also unpopular with the other Fellows. He was replaced in 1827 by the first official Curator, William Lonsdale, whose health broke down from overwork in 1836. During the following nine years there were another five curators who all resigned. In 1869, it was decided to abandon attempts to form a comprehensive collection, instead specimens should directly relate to papers read at the Society. Although the move to Burlington House meant that the collection was thoroughly weeded and catalogued again, after 1876 (after another resignation) the collection received only cursory attention. In 1895, the Council accepted that a large portion of the collection should be donated to the British Museum but the decision was indefinitely postponed after a Special General Meeting the following year. However another Special General Meeting was called by a group of palaeontologists in 1901 to try and force the Council to take better care of the Museum. However their plan backfired and instead a motion was carried that the Museum should be disposed of.
It was not until 1911 that the Museum was finally disposed of. The contents were divided between the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum) and the Museum of Practical Geology (part of the British Geological Survey). The British Museum received the foreign specimens, while the domestic collection was given to the other institution. |