![]() Unlike some of his contemporary collectors, Richard Greene’s pockets were not bottomless, and he begged and borrowed as much as purchased. Like any good museum, Greene’s house was the doorway to another world. Thus the Lichfield public got to savour the fruits of exotic travel without leaving the safety of Staffordshire. Miss Seward was more than miffed when Greene received a commemorative medal for displaying the Cook memorabilia, and she got nothing. He had passed his collection on to Anna Seward in the cathedral close, and Seward had passed them to Greene. Samwell had been the surgeon on board the Discovery under Captain Cook. It was filled with objects brought back from the South Seas by David Samwell. Next to this, it was probably a cabinet close to the door (and opposite to a case full of muskets and pistols) that attracted most attention. It was certainly in Greene’s hands by 1748. The musical clock must have been one of the first exhibits donated to Greene’s museum, if he did not commission it himself. So it was a clock and an 18th-century jukebox all rolled into one. But to cheer the whole thing up, it also played five tunes, including a minuet by Handel. The machine was a strangely gloomy affair, if the truth be told, with a revolving Pontius Pilate and Virgin Mary. The clock was more than nine feet tall, and richly decorated with figures from the Crucifixion, which appeared and disappeared when the hour struck. It was a clock in the shape of a medieval church tower. There’s little doubt about what was the museum’s star exhibit, and certainly the largest. So what exactly was to be seen in 12 Sadler Street, and what became of the collection, when Richard Greene was no longer around to look after it? Richard and his brother, who was headmaster of Stratford-upon-Avon grammar school, had a long-standing interest in local history, and the collection grew out of that. This cabinet of curiosities (in reality quite a lot of cabinets) was owned by Richard Greene, a Lichfield surgeon and apothecary. Not a castle or a stately home, but a museum, which was welcoming visitors to 12 Sadler Street, Lichfield, from the 1740s onwards. ![]() Last week I introduced you to one of the Midlands’ greatest tourist attractions, at least in the 1700s. ![]()
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