The Board of Trustees of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

comprises up to 25 members. One trustee is appointed by

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

, 15 are appointed by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and five appointed by the trustees. Four trustees are appointed by the

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strateg ...

on the nominations of the Presidents of the Royal Academy, the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars spa ...

, the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. The current Chair is

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born Gideon Oliver Osborne; 23 May 1971) is a former British politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the ...

Current trustees

The following is a list of current trustees, as of Feb 2021. 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. *Prof.

Abhijit Banerjee Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (; born 21 February 1961) is an Indian-American economist who is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Banerjee shared the 2019 Nobel Memorial Priz ...

*Prof. Dame Mary Beard DBE, FSA, FBA *Dame Elizabeth Corley DBE * Clarissa Farr *Prof. Chris Gosden FBA *

Muriel Gray Muriel Janet Gray FRSE (born 30 August 1958) is a Scottish author, broadcaster and journalist. She came to public notice as an interviewer on Channel 4's alternative pop-show ''The Tube'', and then appeared as a regular presenter on BBC radio ...

FRSE ''(Deputy Chair)'' * Philipp Hildebrand *Dame Vivian Hunt DBE *

Jonathan Marland, Baron Marland Jonathan Peter Marland, Baron Marland (born 14 August 1956) 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 ...

*Sir Charlie Mayfield *

CH ''(Chair)'' * Mark Pears CBE * Grayson Perry CBE, RA *Sir

Paul Ruddock Sir Paul Martin Ruddock, (born 28 August 1958) is a British businessman, philanthropist and patron of the arts. He is a former Chairman of the Victoria & Albert Museum and Chairman of the University of Oxford Endowment. Early life and educatio ...

FSA *

Minouche Shafik, Baroness Shafik Nemat Talaat Shafik, Baroness Shafik, (Arabic: نعمت شفيق; born 13 August 1962), known as Minouche Shafik, is an Egyptian-born British-American economist who has been serving as the Director of the London School of Economics since Septe ...

DBE ''(Deputy Chair)'' * Priyanka Wadhawan *Prof. Sir

Mark Walport Sir Mark Jeremy Walport (born 25 January 1953) is an English medical scientist and was the Government Chief Scientific Adviser in the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2017 and Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) from 2017 to 2020. ...

FRCP, FRS, FMedSci, HonFRSE * George Weston *Prof. Dame

Sarah Worthington Dame Sarah Elizabeth Worthington, (''née'' Monks; born 18 February 1955) is a British legal scholar, barrister, and Deputy High Court Judge in the Chancery Division, specialising in company law, commercial law, and equity. From 2011 to 2022, ...

DBE, QC (Hon), FBA

Resignation of Adhaf Souief

Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif resigned from the board in 2019, citing issues with "

corporate sponsorship Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event, activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of products or services. The individual or group that provides the support, similar to a benefactor, is k ...

" by BP as well as the Museum's refusal to repatriate artifacts such as the

Parthenon Marbles The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of the architect and sc ...

which she felt should have been repatriated. The resignation was supported by staff members at the British Museum, who were reported by ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' to "expressed support" for Soueif. In a 2018 article for ''the Guardian'', Lambert stated that the

Elgin Marbles The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greece, Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of th ...

should remain in the museum and opposed their repatriation to the

Greek government Greece is a parliamentary representative democratic republic, where the President of Greece is the head of state and the Prime Minister of Greece is the head of government within a multi-party system. Legislative power is vested in both the go ...

Former trustees

The 1753 British Museum Act 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 The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, 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. This rose to 50 by the mid-1800s, including the addition of a trustee appointed by the Crown ( 1832 British Museum Act) and one representative each from the Towneley, Elgin, and Knight families. The

British Museum Act 1963 The British Museum Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It replaced the British Museum Act 1902. The Act forbids the Museum from disposing of its holdings, except in a small number of special circumstances. In May 2005 a ...

reduced the number of trustees to the current 25 and set the time-limit on appointments.

Former trustees from 1963 onwards

Emeka Anyaoku Chief Emeka Anyaoku, GCVO, CFR, CON (born 18 January 1933)"Anyaoku, Eleazar Chukwuemeka", in ''Africa Who's Who'', London: Africa Journal for Africa Books Ltd, 1981, p. 137. is a Nigerian diplomat of Igbo descent. He was the third Commonwea ...

* John Addis * Noel Annan, Baron Annan *

Heneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford Heneage Finch, 4th Earl of Aylesford, PC, FRS, FSA (4 July 1751 – 21 October 1812), styled Lord Guernsey between 1757 and 1777, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1772 to 1777 when he succeeded to a peerage. He ...

* Lord Broers of Cambridge * T. S. R. Boase * John Boyd * Barry Cunliffe (2000–2005) *

Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth Edward Charles Gurney Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, (31 August 1923 – 28 September 1981) was a British Conservative Party politician and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds. Early life and career Boyle was born in Kensington, Lond ...

* Alec Broers, Baron Broers * Ronald Cohen * Francis Finlay * Val Gooding * Stephen Green *

Bonnie Greer Bonnie Greer, OBE FRSL (born 16 November 1948) is an American-British playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, who has lived in the UK since 1986. She has appeared as a panellist on television programmes such as ''Newsnight Review'' and ''Q ...

James Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford and 9th Earl of Balcarres, FRS, FRAS, KT (28 July 184731 January 1913) was a British astronomer, politician, ornithologist, bibliophile and philatelist. A member of the Royal Society, Crawford was ...

Edward Thomas Hall Edward Thomas Hall, CBE, Hon. FBA, FSA (10 May 1924 – 11 August 2001), also known as Teddy Hall, was a British scientist and balloonist who is best remembered for exposing the Piltdown Man as a fraud. Life Edward Thomas Hall was born in L ...

William Hayter (diplomat) Sir William Goodenough Hayter KCMG (1 August 1906 – 28 March 1995) was a British diplomat, Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1957, later Warden of New College, Oxford, and author. Early life Born at Oxford, Hayter was the son ...

Penny Hughes Penny Hughes CBE (born 1959) is a British businesswoman, and the chair of IQ Student Accommodation. She is the former chair of Aston Martin and The Gym Group. Early life Hughes was born in West Kirby, the youngest of three daughters in a mi ...

* Olga Kennard *

John Kendrew Sir John Cowdery Kendrew, (24 March 1917 – 23 August 1997) was an English biochemist, crystallographer, and science administrator. Kendrew shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz, for their work at the Cavendish La ...

* Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws * Peter Lasko * Austen Henry Layard *

Richard Lambert Sir Richard Peter Lambert (born 23 September 1944) 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 t ...

* Edmée P Leventis *

David Norgrove Sir David Ronald Norgrove (born 23 January 1948) is an English businessman and government official, who was chair of the UK Statistics Authority from 2017 to 2022. He was previously the first chairman of The Pensions Regulator, and then chair of ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, econom ...

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

* Lord Powell of Bayswater *

Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope, (30 January 180524 December 1875), styled Viscount Mahon between 1816 and 1855, was an English antiquarian and Tory politician. He held political office under Sir Robert Peel in the 1830s and 1840s b ...

Sir Richard Thompson, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Hilton Marler Thompson, 1st Baronet (5 October 1912 – 15 July 1999) was a British Conservative politician. Thompson was born in Chesterfield Derbyshire, the son of Richard South Thompson (1868–1952) and Kathleen Hilda née Marle ...

George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend, PC, FRS (18 April 1753 – 27 July 1811), known as The Lord Ferrers of Chartley from 1770 to 1784 and as The Earl of Leicester from 1784 to 1807, was a British peer and politician. Background and ...

* Arnold Weinstock (1985–1996) * G. M. Young

Notable former trustees 1753–1963

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. * Joseph Banks (1788–1820) ex-officio as president of the Royal SocietyChambers, N. 2007 Joseph Banks and the British Museum *

Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode Clayton Mordaunt Cracherode (1730–1799) was an English book and old master print collector, and a major benefactor of the British Museum. Life His father, Colonel Mordaunt Cracherode, later a general, had command of the marines in George Anso ...

(1730–1799), trustee 1784–1799, a major collector of prints and books, who left his important collections to the museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Trustees Of The British Museum Briti