List of directors of the British Museum

The Director of the British Museum is the head of the British Museum in London, a post currently held by Neil MacGregor. He is responsible for that institution's general administration and reports its accounts to the British Government. The actual governance of the British Museum, however, is delegated to its Board of Trustees.^[1]

At the Museum's inception its most senior member of staff was called 'Principal Librarian'. The job title became 'Director and Principal Librarian' in 1898, and 'Director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library from the Museum).

Principal Librarian of the British Museum (1756)

• 1756–1772 Gowin Knight
• 1772–1776 Matthew Maty
• 1776–1799 Charles Morton
• 1799–1827 Joseph Planta
• 1827–1856 Henry Ellis
• 1856–1866 Anthony Panizzi
• 1866–1873 John Winter Jones
• 1873–1888 Edward Augustus Bond
• 1888–1898 Edward Maunde Thompson

Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum (1898)

• 1898–1909 Edward Maunde Thompson
• 1909–1931 Frederic George Kenyon
• 1931–1936 George Francis Hill
• 1936–1950 John Forsdyke
• 1950–1959 Thomas Downing Kendrick
• 1959–1969 Frank Francis
• 1969–1974 John Wolfenden

Director of the British Museum (1973)

• 1974–1977 John Pope-Hennessy
• 1977–1992 David M. Wilson
• 1992–2002 Robert Anderson
• 2002–present Neil MacGregor

See also

• List of Trustees of the British Museum

References

1. ^ Principal Librarians and Directors of the British Museum, British Museum, London, UK.