Eton College Natural History Museum

The museum was opened in 1875 to house the Thackeray Collection of British Birds and other collections and has been located in its present site since 1895. It now houses over 15,000 specimens, donated from the nineteenth century onwards. Initially, the museum belonged to Eton College Natural History Society and was actively curated by boys.

From 1994 to 2000 the displays were extensively refurbished and reorganised and are now used extensively for teaching biology and geology as well as being open to the public and visited by numerous outside groups. 

The 77 public displays, on two floors, comprise the following:

• History of the museum and of the Natural History Society
• The Endeavour voyage made by the Etonian Sir Joseph Banks, including a full-scale model of his cabin
• Near the museum is a garden planted with species which have a connection with Joseph Banks
• Other famous Etonian biologists, naturalists and explorers: T.H. Huxley, Constantine Phipps, Thomas Jenkinson Woodward and J.B.S. Haldane
• The classification of life
• Ecology
• The work of Charles Darwin
• Evolution and the history of life on earth
• Animal behaviour
• Genetics
• Biogeography

The remaining collections of insects (mainly butterflies and moths), the William Hincks Herbarium, fossils and birds’ eggs are accessible to scholars on application to the Curator.

The Museum is open every Sunday afternoon from 14.30 until 17.00. Visits by individuals and groups at other times can be made by prior arrangement with the curator. Visits by parties from other schools are particularly welcome.