A FAMOUS COLLECTION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20183, 27 June 1928, Page 7

A FAMOUS COLLECTION

BRITISH NAVAL PRINTS Wealthy Ship-Owner’s Presentation to the Nation NAME OF DONOR REVEALED. [ Ly Telegraph—-Per Press Assn.—Copyright J [ British Official Wireless. ] z RUGBY, June 25. It has now been revealed that Sir James Caird, the well-known shipowner, is the hitherto anonymous donor who recently presented to the nation the famous and historically valuable Macpherson collection of naval prints which he had purchased for £lOO,OOO. The collection contains in engravings, books and paintings a record of Britain’s naval history from the 15th to the 19th century, and comprises over 10,000 items. Sir James also contributed £65,000 towards the restoration of Nelson’s flagship, the Victory, and £15.000 for the restoration of the old three-decker Implacable, a sister battleship. Sir James Caird was created a baronet in January last, in recognition of his pubJic and philanthropic services. The Daily Chronicle stated at the time that Sir James had recently contributed anonymously £lOO,OOO to secure for the nation the Macpherson collection of prints and towards the restoration of Nelson’s ships. The collection is said to be the only complete sea history of the English-speaking race. The then anonymous donor gave the first instalment of £25,000 for the Macpherson collection last year, in response to a letter of appeal for funds, issued by the Society for Nautical Research and signed, among others, by Prince George, Earl Jcllicoc, Earl Beatty, the late Thomas Hardy, and Mr Rudyard Kipling. Mr G. A. H. Macpherson, the owner, asked £120,000 for the collection, but said he would take off £30,000 if it was purchased for Britain. The valuation agreed on was as follows:—(1) Naval actions, £25,000; (2) naval ships, £6000; (3) naval portraits, £9000; (4) items of general naval interest, £5000; (5) sailing ships and whaling, £20,000; (6) steamships, £7000; (7) yachts, £3000; (8) seaports, £15,000; (9) atlases, £10,000; total, £lOO,OOO.

A national naval and nautical museum is to be established at the Queen’s House, Greenwich Royal Hospital, and a Board of Trustees has been appointed, with Earl Stanhope, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, as chairman. In its appeal the Society for Nautical Research said: “Mr Macpherson has for years past put his treasures at the free disposal of all research workers, and has sent them for exhibition as far afield as Dunedin, New Zealand. They arc now open to inspection in Cavendish Square. The amazing collection of pictures is a worldwide repository upon the wealth of which anyone may draw. ... In making it Mr Macpherson has financially crippled himself. The first seven sections stand unchallenged as the finest and most complete record of the subject, and th’e atlases and sea charts are the most complete in private ownership. The society’s valuer, Captain Harry Parker, of Messrs T. H. Parker, the well-known naval printsellers, said in his report: ‘I solemnly declare that the collection is absolutely priceless.’ ’ ’