Whitby Museum

Interior of Whitby Museum

Whitby Museum is an independent museum in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, run by Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, a learned society and registered charity,[1] established in 1823. It is located in a building opened in 1931 in Pannett Park, Whitby, which also contains the Society's Library and Archive.

The museum contains a wide range of material relating to the history of Whitby, and has specialist collections relating to:

• Jurassic fossils, in particular ammonites and marine reptiles [2]
• Whitby jet
• Captain James Cook and HM Bark Endeavour
• Whitby's whaling industry.
• The Natural History of the North Yorkshire coast and moors
• Costume and textiles

The hand of glory at the Whitby Museum

The museum also contains a Hand of Glory, the dried and pickled hand of a hanged man, said to have magical powers.[3]

The museum has a reference library and archive documenting the industries and social history of the town and area. This is used as a research facility.

History

Between the 1890s and 1930 the museum collection included the mummy of an Egyptian man who had died around 300 BC.[4][5] The mummy had previously been owned by Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet and was donated to the museum on his death.[4][5] The mummy was purchased for £15 by Thomas Sheppard, the then curator of the Hull Municipal Museum, in 1930 and is now at the Hands On History Museum in Kingston upon Hull.[4][5]

References

1. "Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society, registered charity no. 1171266". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
2. "Fossils". Whitby Museum. 3 April 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
3. "Hand of Glory". Whitby Museum. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
4. Campbell, James (1 December 2019). "The mysterious story of Hull's Egyptian mummy - and how scientists made a big mistake". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
5. Young, Angus (11 November 2022). "The story of how a 2,600-year-old Egyptian mummy ended up in a dark corner Hull's Old Town". Hull Daily Mail. Retrieved 23 November 2023.

External links

• Whitby Museum website

54.485430°N 0.621670°W / 54.485430; -0.621670