1876 – 1943
Herbert Druitt was born in Christchurch, then in Hampshire, to James and Matilda Druitt. He trained as a lawyer, but was essentially a man of leisure, putting his energies into brass rubbing and collecting an enormous range of archaeological and historical material which he hoarded in various family-owned properties around the town.
Among the items he amassed were local flint implements, pottery, fossils, shells, coins, birds’ eggs, prints, watercolours, books, pamphlets and 19th century fashion plates, which he collected with his sister Charlotte to present to his mother. From 1919, he allowed occasional visits to his ‘museum’, but only by those whom he felt worthy. Eye-witness accounts tell of items piled high from floor to ceiling, with Druitt sitting on a pile of books in the passageway to eat his meals.
Druitt was frequently at odds with other researchers and only documented a small part of his collection, but he did compile a remarkable catalogue of monumental brasses in Britain, when he was just 30 years old. Many of the original rubbings are housed in the Hampshire Cultural Trust collections. He also contributed a chapter to ‘The Book of Bournemouth’.
With his death his main storehouse, the Red House, passed to his sister, who gifted it to the town in 1947. In May 1951, it opened as a museum. Although Druitt’s collecting activities appear to have been haphazard and probably fulfilled an emotional need rather than any sense of scientific study, it did result in the most remarkable collection of material and formed the basis of the town museum.
Sources
Red House Museum; Bailey Jo (1991) An analysis of a collector – Herbert Druitt, Hants Field Club Newsletter 16, pp 14-15.
Portrait
Contribution to county’s history
Despite his hoarding instincts and unwillingness in his later years to share his knowledge, Druitt (and his sister Charlotte) amassed an unrivalled collection of local material which formed the core of the Red House Museum collection.
Relevant published works
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Druitt H (1906) Costume on Brasses, The De La Mere Press, London (reprint 1970 by the Tabard Press).
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Druitt (1934) A few notes on Early Christchurch to the Reign of Henry I, The Book of Bournemouth (ed S Watson Smith) pp 67-108
Critical Comments
Other Comments
Contributor
Dave Allen January 2022
Keywords
Christchurch, monumental brasses, Red House Museum
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