bullock] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
107 
Bullock (William), oh. 1829 
Bullock, naturalist, collector, traveller, antiquary, auc- 
tioneer, and showman, is now, perhaps, best remembered 
in connection with the famous Museum which bore his name. 
When he commenced to form this collection is uncertain, 
but as early as 1799 he had issued a Companion to his Museum, 
which was printed at Sheffield, and it is possible that he 
removed to Liverpool afterwards. The first edition pub- 
lished in Liverpool was in 1801, in which he describes himself 
as “ William Bullock, Silver Smith, Jeweller, Toyman, and 
Statue Figure Manufacturer,” and the collection was then 
at his house at 24 Lord Street, and the number of articles 
it contained was computed at 800. In 1805, when the 
fourth edition of the Companion appeared, the collection 
was removed to No. 1 Church Street, Liverpool, and there 
it remained till it was transferred to London in 1809. This 
date can be definitely fixed from the fact that there were 
two issues of the seventh edition in this year. The first 
describes the Museum as being at “ The House of William 
Bullock, Jeweller and Silversmith to his Royal Highness 
the Duke of Gloucester, Church- Street, Liverpool,” while 
the second informs us that it was “ now open at 22, Piccadilly 
London.” This, however, was only a temporary resting- 
place, and in the twelfth edition, 1812, we learn that it had 
been removed to The Egyptian Temple, Piccadilly — well 
known in later days as the Egyptian Hall — which had been 
especially “ erected for its reception.” Here it remained till 
it was finally dispersed under the hammer in 1819, Bullock 
being his own salesman. Dr. Leach attended on behalf of 
the British Museum, and bought several birds for the national 
collection, for particulars of which vide History of the Collec- 
tions contained in the Nat. Hist. Dept., British Museum, vol. ii. 
p. 208, etc. Bullock’s Museum was of vast extent ; and in 
his fifteenth edition he states that it contained over fifteen 
thousand species, which had been acquired at an expense of 
over thirty thousand pounds. He seems to have taken a keen 
