May. iS97. RUGBY SCHOOL MUSEUM, 315 



In 1867 the Rugby School Natural History Society was formed 

 under the presidency of Mr. F. E. Kitchener (late headmaster of the 

 School at Newcastle-under-Lyne) who took charge of the botany, and 

 began a botanical collection for the school. At the same time Mr. 

 A. Sidgwick took up the entomology, and a collection of British Lepi- 

 doptera was commenced. INIembers of the school added to these, 

 while collections of birds' eggs and fresh -water shells were formed by 

 boys interested in them. These collections in the seventies were 

 housed in a small room in the then new block of buildings abutting 

 on Lawrence Sheriffe Street, while the geological collection, still 

 under charge of Mr. Wilson, remained in the Arnold Library. These 

 collections all grew apace by gifts from the boys and by gifts of speci- 

 mens of all sorts, found in every quarter of the globe, from former 

 members of the school. 



During the headmastership of Dr. Jex Blake, the present Dean 

 of Wells, a new Reading Room with Library accommodation was 

 built, in memory of Dr. Temple (formerly headmaster, now Arch- 

 bishop of Canterbury) ; a large number of books were removed to the 

 Temple Reading Room from the Arnold Library, in which were 

 left only a large collection of editions of the Classics and Divines not 

 likely to be much consulted by the general mass of the school. The 

 space thus set free was handed over to the Natural History Society, 

 to which it proved somewhat of a white elephant, as no funds were 

 provided for dealing with it, and the condition was made that the 

 existing book-cases and furniture of the room should not be disturbed. 

 However, boys and masters worked with a will, and the collections 

 were transferred from their old narrow quarters and disposed on the 

 shelves and floor-space assigned to them. This room, however, was 

 never well adapted to the purposes of a museum, the book-cases 

 being mostly ill-lighted and altogether too lofty to show to any 

 advantage the objects placed upon them. 



In 1892 increased accommodation for school purposes became a 

 paramount necessity and Dr. Percival (then headmaster, now Bishop 

 of Hereford) determined to use a portion of the Arnold Library for 

 teaching the Sixth Form. At the same time he planned a block of 

 temporary buildings, embracing accommodation for teaching physical 

 science and music, together with a Natural History Museum. This 

 block, occupying a portion of the headmaster's kitchen garden on the 

 Hillmorton Road, was completed in the summer of 1894, ^^^ ^^^^ 

 collections belonging to the Natural History Society were immediately 

 moved into it. This room, of which we give two views from photo- 

 graphs taken by members of the school (Plate III) has a floor-space of 

 almost an exact square of 45 feet, and is entirely lighted from above. 

 It is also ventilated by an open ridge extending through the whole 

 length of the buildings almost exactly north and south. The heating 

 is by hot water pipes running in gullies under the floor, the whole floor 

 and wall space thus being made available for cases and book-shelves. 



