c<6 
NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE DRIFFIELD MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES 
AND GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 
BY J. R. MORTIMER. 
{Bead May IMi, 1900.) 
It was the Great London Exhibition of 1851 that first 
decided my taste for scientific inquiry. Afterwards, Mr. Edward 
Tindall's geological and archaeological collections at Bridlington 
fired me with a strong desire to make a similar collection. 
A curious chalk cast was the first specimen I obtained, whilst 
a small Ammonite, which I bought of Mr. Tindall, was the first 
of its kind I possessed. 
My brother, the late Robert ^Mortimer, of Fimber, had a like 
love for collecting. 
For the first ten or twelve years the late Edward Tindall, 
of Bridlington, and the late George Pj^cock, of Malton, were 
almost our only rivals ; yet we accumulated specimens but slowh\ 
We had, however, during this period, trained many of the farm 
servants in this neighbourhood to distinguish and keep for us 
any geological and archtieological specimens they could find. The 
small collection we then made mainly consisted of chalk fossils 
and a very few stone and fiint tools. These we exhibited in 
cases in my offices at Fimber. Small though this display was 
it seemed to stimulate others to indulge in the same hobby, and 
soon our neighbourhood was more or less periodically visited by 
the thirteen competitors hereinafter named, and their agents, 
during a period of about 35 years, ranging from 1861 to 1896. 
ISTone, however, of these enthusiasts, except Mr. Tindall and 
Mr. Chadwick, collected geological specimens, though all of them 
were active competitors for stone, fiint, and bronze weapons. 
They constantl}^ visited the district, and not infrequently bought 
from the very field labourers whom we had trained to distinguish 
these specimens, by overbidding us, and so running up the prices. 
