xi 



the time when Lartet and Christy were carrying on their investiga- 

 tions in the early caverns of the Dordogne he materially aided them 

 in their researches, and also afforded valuable assistance in the publi- 

 cation of the ' Reliquicae Aquitanicae.' It was mainly through his 

 friendship with Mr. Henry Christy that the latter resolved to 

 bequeath his fine ethnological collections, together with an endow- 

 ment fund, to trustees, of whom Mr. Franks was one. Through his 

 exertions, and aided by his own liberality, the Christy collection 

 has attained its present extreme importance, and has been incorpo- 

 rated with the national collections at the British Museum, where the 

 whole have been arranged under the immediate superintendence of 

 Sir Wollaston Franks. 



His connexion with that Museum extended over a period of more 

 than forty-six years. In 1850 an Exhibition of Mediaeval Art was 

 held at the rooms of the Society of Arts, for which he acted as 

 honorary secretary, and it would seem that the acquaintance that he 

 then showed with all that related to mediaeval antiquity induced Mr. 

 Hawkins, the keeper of the Department of Antiquities at the British 

 Museum, to offer to him the post of an assistant in that Department. 

 On the 1st of March, 1851, he received the appointment, and during 

 his long connexion with the Museum witnessed an immense develop- 

 ment in its archaeological collections, towards which he in no small 

 degree contributed, and also a subdivision of the old Department of 

 Antiquities into four departments, each charged with some special 

 branch of archaeology, of one of which, that of British and Mediaeval 

 Antiquities and Ethnography, he became keeper in 1866. To any one 

 looking back to what the collections were at that date, and comparing 

 them with what they are at the present time, the advance in extent, 

 value, interest, and importance seems almost incredible. Much of 

 this has been due to Mr. Franks' great personal influence with col- 

 lectors, several of whom, actuated in no small degree by the confi- 

 dence they reposed in him, have bequeathed their whole collections 

 to the nation, while others have presented choice and valuable speci- 

 mens. Of such liberality, he was himself the most conspicuous 

 example. During the whole time that he was connected with the 

 Museum it may be said that not a year passed without his presenting 

 to the collections some objects for which the trustees had to return 

 their special thanks, and when from want of funds some desirable 

 purchase could not be made by the Museum, his private liberality 

 was sure to come to the rescue. Nor was this liberality checked by 

 the grave, for he has bequeathed to the Museum collections of rings, 

 jewellery, drinking cups, and other objects, valued at a sum of 

 £50,000. 



In connexion with his work at the Museum may be mentioned 

 the ' Medallic Illustrations of the History of Great Britain and 



