About the Museum
The Museum in the Large Mansion is the local history museum for the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow. Admission is free. Its collections have been built up from small beginnings and are now very rich. Like the proverbial iceberg, about nine-tenths is “submerged”, in store rather than on display, but the Museum’s changing exhibitions draw upon these collections as well as using some borrowed items.
Origins
The Museum opened in October 1929, with displays of local antiquities, books, maps and pictures collected by Frederick Sadler, the Borough Surveyor of Acton. Donations from other collectors and from individuals followed. The first lady Mayor of Acton, Miss Susan Smee, was the Honorary Curator until 1945, stepping down in her 80s. The first professional curator was appointed in 1955.
In 1965, with a re-organisation of local government, the Museum came under the new London Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow. It had no electricity until 1967 and its resources were modest, but it was expected to become the borough museum for over half a million residents.
The impetus for the creation of the Friends was the proposal to hand over the Stables to a property developer in 1980. There had been for some time a plan to move the Museum’s Rothschild carriages and other vehicles, as well as its agricultural and industrial collections, to the Stables. A number of those who joined the campaign did so because they saw the potential loss of this important opportunity; it would have given the Museum desperately needed space and more suitable accommodation for these collections than decorative early Victorian interiors.
Governance
The oversight of the Museum by the Gunnersbury Joint Committee for over 40 years meant that its significant role as a museum for a large slice of West London has been undervalued; it has usually been seen as just one of the attractions in the Park, with no wider political commitment to its development as a two-borough service. Nevertheless, enterprising staff have obtained grants for projects (some from the Friends), purchased significant acquisitions for the collection and developed a valued exhibition and education programme.
Over the last three decades, budget cuts have severely limited the Museum’s scope for development. Now there is only one curatorial post, admirably filled by the present curator, Vanda Foster. The resources at her disposal are very limited but the museum has a high reputation for its work with a variety of different local community groups and remains popular with schools.
The Friends’ contribution
We have made a number of donations to support the work of the museum, ranging from funds to help bring the former Board Room into use as the Costume Gallery, to support for acquisitions such as an early Brentford FC programme and Dennis Morris’s photos of Southall people
Working as volunteers, the Friends began the programme of restoration in the Victorian kitchen wing which enabled these rooms to be opened to visitors. Until the Friends’ initiative, the main kitchen was used by park staff for the painting of boats and benches on wet days. As well as de-rusting the range, the hot cabinet and the 27-burner gas range the work involved many weekends of removing splodges of red, yellow and green gloss paint from the tiled floor.
Our hopes
The Friends long to see real investment in the Museum which would bring the collections out of the stores to tell the story of the two boroughs in imaginative and lively displays. This would make it possible for visitors of all ages to enjoy and learn from the results of over 80 years of collecting in ways that are simply not possible at the present.
Opening hours
Museum: From November to March, 7 days a week, from 11am to 4pm. From April to October, 7 days a week, from 11am to 5pm. Only closed Dec 26 and 27.
Victorian Kitchens: Open weekends and bank holidays from Good Friday until the last weekend in October. Guided tours between 1.30pm and 4pm.
Contact the Museum
email: gp-museum@laing.com
020 8992 1612 museum
020 8992 2247 museum education service