102 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
Montgau 
House, 
Bloomsbury. 
Growth of 
Collections 
necessitating 
additional 
space. 
1700. The Haiieian Collection was obtained by purchase at 
the same time as the Sloanian, and the three were brought 
together under the designation of the British Museum," placed 
under the care of a body of trustees,* and lodged in Montagu 
House, Bloomsbury, purchased for their reception in 1754. The 
Museum was opened to the public on the 15th of January, 1759. 
Admission to the galleries of antiquities and natural history was 
at first by ticket only on application in writing, and limited to 
ten persons, for each of three hours in the day. Visitors were not 
allowed to inspect the cases at their leisure, but were conducted 
through the galleries by officers of the house. The hours of 
admission were subsequently extended ; but it was not until the 
year 1810 that the Museum was freely accessible to the general 
public for three days in the week, from ten to four o'clock. 
The present daily opening, with longer hours in summer, dates 
only from 1879. 
At the time of the foundation of the Museum, the site allotted 
seemed amply sufficient for its purposes ; but gradually, as the 
collections of all kinds increased, they outgrew the limits, 
not only of the original Montagu House, but even of its 
successor, the present classical building, completed in 1845 
from the designs of Sir Eobert Smirke. The erection of the 
magnificent reading-room in 1857 disposed for a time of the 
difficulty of finding accommodation for the ever-growing library ; 
but the keepers of other departments continued urgent in their 
demands for more space, and after much discussion of rival 
X)lans for keeping the collections together and obtaining the 
needful extension of room by acquiring the property immediately 
around the old Museum, or for severing the collections and 
removing a portion to another building, the latter course was 
finally decided upon. At a special general meeting of the 
Trustees, held on the 21st of January, 1860, attended by many 
members of the Government in their official capacity, a resolu- 
* Tlic Trustees under the Act of Incorporation were the Archbishop of 
Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the 
JJisho]) of London, and the principal Officers of State for the time being ; six 
representatives of Founders' families; the Presidents of the Royal Society 
and College of Physicians ; and fifteen other Trustees to be elected by them. 
Siibsequcutly, the Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal 
Academy of Arts, a Trustee l)y spec! al nomi nation of the Sovereign., and three 
more fiimily Trustees were added to the Board. 
