THE HANCOCK MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY XVll 



indirectly the town and district, owe this fine institution. 

 Col. Joicey not only bought the site, but made a large donation 

 to the building fund, his total contribution amounting to 

 ;2^i 2,000. His brother, the late Edward Joicey, gave ;^4,ooo. 

 The late Lord Armstrong, always a liberal patron and for 

 many years president of the Society, was also keenly interested 

 in the scheme, and subscribed ;^io,ooo to the fund, Lady 

 Armstrong adding nearly ;^4,ooo more. W. C. Hewitson had 

 bequeathed a sum of ^^3, 000 ; Sir Lowthian Bell gave ;^i,ooo. 

 The appeal for subscriptions was nobly responded to also 

 from among the rest of the members, and by others who 

 became interested in the project, a further sum of about 

 ;j^5,ooo being thus raised. Finally, the sale of the old 

 building to the North Eastern Railway Co. for ;^i 2,830, left 

 a balance of ;;^2,ooo to be invested towards maintenance. 



This, then, was how the " new museum " on Barras Bridge — 

 it was only after John Hancock's death in 1890 that it was 

 named the " Hancock Museum " — came to be built. Hancock 

 set to work without delay to install his birds in the central 

 room ; and gradually the contents of the old museum were 

 transferred, section by section, to their new quarters, and 

 arranged there. The new museum was opened to the public 

 on August 20th, 1884. By the express desire of Lord Arm- 

 strong, the opening ceremony was performed by the Prince and 

 Princess of Wales, now King Edward and Queen Alexandra. 

 Five years later the British Association held its meeting in 

 Newcastle, and the president of that year. Professor (later Sir 

 William) Flower, the director of the Natural History Museum 

 at South Kensington and one of the first museum experts of 

 the world, spoke with the greatest enthusiasm of the institution, 

 congratulating the Society and the district on its possession, 

 and especially on having secured in such a satisfactory way 

 the fruits of John Hancock's unique talents and labours. 



Indeed there were abundant grounds for congratulation, 

 and the Society was naturally and justly proud of its splendid 

 new property. Another aspect of proprietorship, however, 

 soon became prominent — the increase of responsibility involved 



