Sydney "Long John Silver" Cumbers (27 October 1875 – 10 September 1959) was a British businessman and collector of Merchant Navy memorabilia. He was noted for his large collection of ships' figureheads that he maintained at his house in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...

, and which he later donated to the Cutty Sark museum.

Biography

Cumbers was born in 1875 in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen E ...

, to Charles and Matilda Cumbers. He lost the use of an eye in an accident at age 12, after which he took to wearing an

eyepatch An eyepatch is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, an adhesive bandage, or a plastic device which is clipped to a pair of glasses. It is often worn ...

and was subsequently nicknamed " Long John Silver". Cumbers worked in the family-run printing firm of "Johnstone, Cumbers and Sons" and by April 1905 had become a partner in the company. Cumbers was highly interested in the Merchant Navy, having been denied a life at sea by the loss of his eye, and began collecting memorabilia related to it. Though his main residence was in London, Cumbers acquired a second home at the coastal town of

in Kent. He began using the house to display his collection of nautical memorabilia and renamed it "The Lookout". The nautical theme extended to the rooms of his house which he named after parts of a ship such as "Quarter Deck", "Foc's'le", "Half Deck", "Bridge" and "Hurricane Deck" and to his wife, whom he referred to as " The Mate". Cumbers, his house and collection featured in a

British Pathé British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

film made in 1951. Cumbers died in 1959.

Figurehead collection

Cumbers' collection included more than 80 ships' figureheads, in addition to a number of individual body parts such as heads and arms. The Cumbers collection is the largest holding of historic figureheads in the world and includes some that date back more than 200 years and are up to tall. There are numerous depictions of historic characters in the collection including

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, General Havelock, Pitt the Younger, General Gordon, Florence Nightingale, Hiawatha, Lalla Rookh (from the 1856

tea clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

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'' ),

Diana Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997) ...

, Sir Lancelot, Elizabeth Fry, William Wilberforce and Garibaldi. The lease on "The Lookout" ran out in 1953 and Cumbers took the opportunity to donate the figureheads to the Cutty Sark Preservation Society in memory of British merchant seamen and the little ships of Dunkirk. The museum lacked the space to display the entire collection, showing only 60 at a time with others remaining in storage or being loaned to other institutions. This situation was rectified when the large gallery space beneath the Cutty Sark opened on 26 April 2012 and the entire collection was shown for the first time.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumbers, Sydney 1875 births 1959 deaths British collectors Businesspeople from London Collections of museums in the United Kingdom People from the London Borough of Hackney