Summary
Peterhead granite funerary ledger, dated 1897.
Reasons for Designation
The monument to Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-1897) is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Artistic interest: a simple monument whose design reflects the occupation of the principal person commemorated;
* Historic interest: commemorates a leading mid-C19 museologist who played an important role in the development of the British Museum;
* Group value: with other listed monuments within the Grade I registered Kensal Green Cemetery.
History
Augustus Wollaston Franks was born in Geneva in 1826 and educated at Eton College and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he devoted himself to antiquarian studies. He was one of the founders of the Cambridge Architectural Society and a member of the Ray Society and the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Having moved to London in 1849, he became influential in the newly founded Archaeological Institute, where he organised the annual exhibitions and gained a deep knowledge of European antiquities. He was honorary secretary to the organising committee of the medieval exhibition held at the Royal Society of Arts in 1850, and, as a result of this work, was appointed to a newly-created post at the British Museum to oversee the establishment of a collection of British antiquities, which had been recommended by a royal commission in 1850. In 1866 he became Keeper of the new department of British and medieval antiquities and ethnography. He had a decisive influence on the Museum's collecting policy, using his considerable inherited wealth to make numerous acquisitions on its behalf, and persuading the Trustees to acquire other important collections when they came on the market. He was also a major scholar and collector in his own right, and published across an extraordinarily wide range of fields from Chinese paintings and Indian sculpture to the megalithic monuments of the Netherlands.
Details
A two-tier Peterhead granite raised ledger with a raised floreate cross running the length of the top. The sides of the upper stage carry the dedication: ' Augustus Wollaston Franks KCB President of the Soc. Antiq. London Sometime Keeper in the British Museum. Born March 20, 1826. Died May 21, 1897. RIP.' The lower stage carries a memorial dedication to Franks's sister, Frederica Annie Somerville Franks (1840-1913).
Sources
Books and journals Websites http://www.osforddnb.com/view/printable/10093 Other
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
End of official list entry
