ee ar ee 

63 
THE PICTURES IN. THE BURY ART 
GALEERY; 
(ILLUSTRATED BY THE LANTERN). 
By ARCHIBALD SPARKE, F.R.S.L. 
November 6th, 1906. 
The members were provided with an illustrated handbook 
of the Bury Art Gallery and the Wrigley Collection, compiled 
by the lecturer, who gave an interesting biographical account 
of the late Thos. Wrigley, collector of the pictures. He was 
the son of James Wrigley, who founded the firm of James 
Wrigley and Son, Paper Manufacturers. He was born in 1808 
and was a man of marked personality, strongly opposed to 
the paper duty and the newspaper stamp act. The paper 
trade owed to him in some measure its freedom from many 
harassing restrictions. He was made a deputy Lieutenant 
of the County and served as High Sheriff in 1872. He sup- 
ported art generously and showed a remarkably keen judg- 
ment in the selection of pictures. He died in 1880. 
One of the conditions attached to the Wrigley gift was that 
the Corporation should provide a suitable building in which 
to keep the treasures, and that the collection should be kept 
distinct and apart from any other pictures and works of art, 
and should be named the “ Thomas Wrigley Collection.” 
The gift was unanimously accepted by the Corporation, and 
the foundation stone of the Art Gallery was laid by Mr. Oswald 
O. Wrigley on April 29th, 1899, he being admitted the first 
freeman of the borough at the same time. The building 
which had been provided was worthy of its dedication. In 
order to comply with the local requirements there are two 
sections in the building, one devoted to the purposes of the 
Art Gallery and the other to those of a Public Library. A 
marble tablet records the gift in the following inscription : 
‘“ The pictures in the Wrigley Collection of this building 
are the collection of the late Thomas Wrigley, of Timber- 
hurst, whose sons and daughter have presented them, in 
