Alfred Felton

Alfred Felton (8 November 1831–8 January 1904) was an Australian entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist.

Biography

Alfred Felton was born at Maldon, Essex, England on 8 December 1831. He travelled to Victoria on the ship "California" in "1853", intending to search for gold.

In 1857 he was in business in Collins Street, Melbourne, as a commission agent and dealer in merchandise, and in 1859 was an importer and general dealer. Two years later he was in business in Swanston street, as a wholesale druggist.

In 1866 he went into partnership with F. S. Grimwade and founded "Felton Grimwade and Company, wholesale druggists and manufacturing chemists". As the business grew over the years, the partners acquired interests in associated industries such as "Melbourne Glass Bottle Works", and "Cuming Smith and Company, makers of artificial manures".

Felton also purchased two large estates, Murray Downs and Langi Kal Kal. In Partnership with Merchant and Pastoralist Charles Gordon Campbell, a founding Partner in Cuming Smith and Company. Upon Felton's death, his share in the Estates were sold to Campbell.

His own wants were few and he never married. He gave away considerable amounts to charity, and formed large collections of pictures and books which at times threatened to push him out of his rooms at the "Esplanade Hotel", St Kilda, near Melbourne. He died there on 8 January 1904.

In 2005 Melbourne Grammar Grimwade House opened "The Alfred Felton Hall" in honour of Felton.

Felton Bequest

In his will, Alfred Felton established a bequest to support culture and the community, with half the funding benefiting Victorian charities (particularly those that support women and children) and the other half used to acquire and donate art works to the National Gallery of Victoria. Alfred Felton had no direct descendants. Once the payment of legacies and probate duties was met, the residue of the estate was £378,033, a huge sum, the equivalent of AUS$40 million in today's money.

The National Gallery of Victoria suddenly gained acquisition funds greater than those of London's National and Tate galleries combined. Soon after organizing Felton Bequest October Revolution happened in Russia. Bolsheviks sold a significant part of collections of such museums as the Hermitage, Pushkin Museum, that was acquired by Felton Bequest for National Gallery of Victoria. The Felton Bequest has also been used to buy many masterpieces of Australian art. Over the past 100 years more than 15,000 art works have been acquired through the Felton Bequest with a current total value of more than AUS$1 billion. These works are the core of today's National Gallery of Victoria and have made the collections of the museum celebrated around the world.

External links

* [http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/feltonsociety/feltonsociety2.html Felton Society]
* [http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogF.html Felton's biography]
* [http://www.whitehat.com.au/Melbourne/People/Felton.asp Another Felton's biography]
* [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/11/1073769451690.html?from=storyrhs "The Age" article "The bequest of a century"]