The Board of Trustees of the British Museum comprises up to 25 members. One trustee is appointed by The Crown, 15 are appointed by the Prime Minister and five appointed by the trustees. Four trustees are appointed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the nominations of the Presidents of the Royal Academy, the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Society. [1] The current Chair is George Osborne.
The following is a list of current trustees, as of February 2021 [update] . [1] Trustees are usually appointed for an initial term of four years. Appointments can be renewed with the Prime Minister’s approval, but trustees can only serve for a maximum of 10 years. [2]
Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif resigned from the board in 2019, citing issues with "corporate sponsorship" by BP as well as the museum's refusal to repatriate artifacts such as the Parthenon Marbles which she felt should have been repatriated. [3] The resignation was supported by staff members at the British Museum, who were reported by The Guardian to "expressed support" for Soueif. [4] In a 2018 letter to The Guardian, chair of the trustees Richard Lambert stated that the Elgin Marbles should remain in the museum and opposed their repatriation to the Greek government. [5]
The British Museum Act 1753 established a 42 strong board of trustees, which included two representatives each of the Sloane, Cotton, and Harley families, elected representatives and the following ex-officio: Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor, Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord President of the Council, First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Privy Seal, Lord High Admiral, Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, the three Principal Secretaries of State, Bishop of London, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Chief Justice King's Bench, Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice Common Pleas, Attorney General, and Solicitor General. [6]
This rose to 50 by the mid-1800s, including the addition of a trustee appointed by the Crown (British Museum Act 1832) and one representative each from the Towneley, Elgin, and Knight families. [7]
The British Museum Act 1963 reduced the number of trustees to the current 25 and set the time-limit on appointments.
Given the large number of ex-officio and family representatives, this list will only include those trustees who are notable for their work with regard to the British Museum.
The Elgin Marbles are a collection of Ancient Greek sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures from the Acropolis of Athens, removed from Ottoman Greece and shipped to Britain by agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and now held in the British Museum in London. The majority of the sculptures were created in the 5th century BC under the direction of sculptor and architect Phidias.
Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine,, often known as Lord Elgin, was a British nobleman, diplomat, and collector, known primarily for the controversial procurement of marble sculptures from the Parthenon and other structures on the Acropolis of Athens.
Richard Beecroft Allan, Baron Allan of Hallam is a British politician and life peer. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Sheffield Hallam from 1997 to 2005.
The British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles (BCRPM) is a group of British people who support the return of the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles to Athens, Greece. Members include Dame Janet Suzman (chairperson) and professors Anthony Snodgrass (honorary president), Paul Cartledge (Vice-Chair), and Andrew Wallace-Hadrill.
Thomas O'Hagan, 1st Baron O'Hagan, KP, PC (Ire), QC, was an Irish lawyer and judge. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1868 to 1874 and again from 1880 to 1881.
Ahdaf Soueif is an Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator.
Sir Richard Peter Lambert is a British journalist and business executive. He served as director-general of the CBI, chancellor of the University of Warwick, editor of the Financial Times newspaper and chairman of the board of the British Museum.
Paul Anthony Cartledge is a British ancient historian and academic. From 2008 to 2014 he was the A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge. He had previously held a personal chair in Greek History at Cambridge.
Montagu Arthur Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon was an English peer.
Marbles Reunited: Friends of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles is a campaign group, governed by charter and funded by donations from members and supporters, which lobbies and raises awareness about the case for the return of the Parthenon (Elgin) marbles to Athens, Greece.
Jonathan Peter Marland, Baron Marland is a British businessman and politician, having served as Prime Minister's Trade Envoy, Minister for Energy and Climate Change and Business, Innovation and Skills, and Treasurer of the Conservative Party.
Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik ; Arabic: نعمت شفيق, widely known as Minouche Shafik, is an Egyptian-born British and American economist who has been serving as the 20th president of Columbia University since July 2023. She previously served as president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics from 2017 to 2023. She also serves on the board of directors of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Charles Towneley Strachey, 4th Baron O'Hagan, is a British Conservative party politician.
Ian Dennis Jenkins was a Senior Curator at the British Museum who was an expert on ancient Greece and specialised in ancient Greek sculpture. Jenkins published a number of books and over a hundred articles. He led the British Museum's excavations at Cnidus and was involved in the debate over the ownership of the Elgin Marbles.
The Towneley or Townley family are an English family whose ancestry can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon England. Towneley Hall in Burnley, Lancashire, was the family seat until its sale, together with the surrounding park, to the corporation of Burnley in 1901. Towneley Hall is now a Grade I listed building and a large museum and art gallery within Towneley Park.
Colonel John Towneley was a wealthy English Gentleman from an old Roman Catholic, Lancashire family. He entered the United Kingdom parliament for the Whig Party, and later commanded the 5th Royal Lancashire Militia.
The Honours Committee is a committee within the Cabinet Office of the Government of the United Kingdom formed to review nominations for national honours for merit, exceptional achievement or service. Twice yearly the Honours Committee submits formal recommendations for the British monarch's New Years and Birthday Honours. Members of the Honours Committee—which comprises a main committee and nine subcommittees in speciality areas—research and vet nominations for national awards, including knighthoods and the Order of the British Empire.
Hartwig Fischer is a German art historian and museum director. From April 2016 until his resignation in August 2023 in connection to an art theft scandal, he was the director of the British Museum, the first non-British head of the museum since 1866. From 2012 to 2016, he was director of the Dresden State Art Collections.
Dame Eleanor Jane Milner-Gulland is the Tasso Leventis Professor of Biodiversity in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford, and director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Conservation Science. She is an expert on understanding and influencing human behaviour to reduce biodiversity loss, on enabling businesses to improve their environmental and social sustainability, and on controlling the illegal wildlife trade. She is particularly known for her work on the ecology and conservation of the Saiga Antelope.
As part of the British honours system, Special Honours are issued at the Monarch's pleasure at any given time. The Special Honours refer to the awards made within royal prerogative, operational honours, political honours and other honours awarded outside the New Years Honours and Birthday Honours.
Professor Barry Cunliffe has been appointed Trustee of the British Museum. His appointment took effect from 4 October 2000 and runs for a period of five years, Culture Secretary Chris Smith announced.