Arthur Banks Skinner (1861–1911) was Director of the Art Museum division of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London from 1905 to 1908. He died before he was 50 years of age. Born in

Kingsland, London Kingsland was a small road-side settlement centred on Kingsland High Street on the Old North Road (the present A10), around the junction with Dalston Lane. It is no longer discernable as a separate settlement, though the historic street patter ...

, 4 September 1861 eldest child of accountant and deputy Paymaster of the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

George Edward Skinner (1836–1888) and his wife Anne Simpson Banks (1835–1919) and grandson of a

Lymington Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the ...

Hampshire solicitors' clerk,Censuses accessed through FindMyPast 1 June 2016 he was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

''Dulwich College Register 1619–1926'' accessed through FindMyPast 1 June 2016 which he left in 1879. He was granted a B.A. by London University in 1883. A B Skinner won a 1st in his Civil Service examinations, joined the Department of Science and Art and became a junior assistant at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1879. He was appointed Assistant Director under Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke in 1896 and he succeeded Sir Caspar when he went to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1905.Obituary Mr. A. B. Skinner. ''The Times'', Thursday, Mar 09, 1911; pg. 11; Issue 39528 BLW Plate with Hippolytus and Phaedra

He was Director of the Art Museum division of the

from 1905 to 1908. He was appointed Keeper Department of Architecture and Sculpture in 1909. His obituary in ''The Times'' reports that he was a close friend of

George Salting George Salting (15 August 183512 December 1909) was an Australian-born British art collector. He had inherited considerable wealth from his father; Salting collected paintings, Chinese porcelains, furniture, and many other categories of art and ...

and responsible for that man's "magnificent bequest" to the museum. On 22 October 1895 he married Bertha Julia Filmer of Tunbridge Wells. They were to have a daughter and two sons. A B Skinner was an honorary member of Egyptian Institute Cairo, Academy of Fine Arts Milan and Archaeological Society Brussels. Aged only 49 he died at Crossways Hollington Sussex, 7 March 1911 and is buried in Hastings Cemetery, Hastings, East Sussex. His wife survived him and died in 1950.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Arthur Banks Directors of the Victoria and Albert Museum Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London 1861 births 1911 deaths Burials at Hastings Cemetery 19th-century British businesspeople