XX THE HANCOCK MUSEUM AND ITS HISTORY 



it was most fortunate that a man of such patience and enthu- 

 siasm as Thomas Atthey was found to exploit it. Atthey was 

 a grocer at Gosforth ; and when he fell upon hard times his 

 fossils were purchased and presented to the Society by Lady 

 Armstrong. The other great local rock formation, the 

 Magnesian Limestone, is also represented very fully in the 

 museum. In the store of material from this formation, an 

 important element is constituted by the collection of the late 

 J. W. Kirkby, who was a local man, and an authority on the 

 geology of this and other districts. Other well known local 

 geologists who have made large contributions to the collections 

 are Prof. Garwood, the late Jos. Duff of Bishop Auckland, the 

 late T. P. Barkas, and the late Wm. Dinning ; and there are 

 several more whose names are less famihar in this district — 

 for example Dr. Dew Smith, J. Goring, W. K. Loftus — but to 

 whom is largely due the completeness of the geological section 

 of the museum. 



The list of valuable acquisitions made at or since the time 

 when the new museum was founded might be extended almost 

 indefinitely; indeed, if a census of the contents of the museum 

 were taken, it would be found that an astonishingly large 

 proportion of them dated from the years 1883-8. We must 

 conclude this article, however, with a reference to only one 

 further example, but that an important one — namely the 

 Bewick collection. It occupies most of the gallery of the 

 zoology room, and consists of original drawings, proofs of the 

 woodcuts, and some portraits of great value. For this splendid 

 collection we are indebted to Mr. Joseph Crawhall and Mr. 

 John Weldon Barnes, the executors of Miss Jane Bewick, last 

 surviving daughter of the celebrated wood engraver. By her 

 will Miss Bewick gave absolute discretionary power to her 

 executors as to the final disposal of the works of her father. 

 Proposals were made to send the collection to the British 

 Museum ; but the executors wisely decided that the most 

 fitting resting-place for it was the museum of Bewick's native 

 town. 



