Venkataramanan Gopalan - British Museum

Sir Hans Sloane, a physician by profession, was also a collector of objects from around the world. By his death in 1753 he had collected over 71,000 items. Sloane bequeathed his collection to the nation in his will and it became the founding collection of the British Museum.

In his will, Sloane bequeathed his entire collection to King George II for the nation in return for the payment of £20,000 to his heirs, and on condition that Parliament create a new and freely accessible public museum to house it.

Parliament accepted Sloane’s terms, raising the money through a national lottery and on 7th June 1753, an Act of Parliament establishing the British Museum received the royal assent. Sloane’s collections, together with several additional libraries and collections, thus became the foundation of the British Museum.