Richmond, on the Surrey bank of the Thames in west London, has been a royal residence since at least 1299. It gained its present name in 1503, after King Henry VII, formerly Earl of Richmond, rebuilt the old royal palace. The town became a fashionable place of villegiatura for London society in the 18th century, when George II, Frederick Prince of Wales and George III lived in Richmond and Kew. Artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds and JMW Turner lived and painted there, and writers such as Thackeray, Dickens, George Elliot and Virginia Woolf visited or lived there. By 1965, the borough incorporated not only Kew, but also Ham and Petersham (with its 17th-century connections to the Cabal).

In 1986, a group of local residents achieved their aim of creating a museum to display and enhance public understanding of the rich history of thepre-1965 Borough of Richmond with a mission “to collect, preserve and interpret the material evidence of Richmond'spast for the public benefit, education and enjoyment.” However, the Museum’s temporary exhibitionand educational work coverthe whole London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The Museum is constituted as a charitable company, limited by guarantee. It is housed on the second floor of the renovated OldTown Hall, an excellent central location, with good transport links.Entrance is free. As well as displaying the permanent collection, which contains items ranging from stone-age implements to contemporary items, the Museum has an exhibition space which is used for regularly changing temporary exhibitions. There is also anew audio-visual display of the rich local architectural history. The staff consist of the Curator and a Learning Officer.

The Museum is financially supported by the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames for the cost of premises and, substantially, the cost of the staff, and by regular grants from the Richmond Parish Lands Charity towards educational work. It also receives wide support from the local community and has a supportive board of trustees. Its Royal Patron is HRH Princess Alexandra, who lives nearby. Other patrons are Sir David Attenborough, Greville Dare, Julian Lord Fellowes, Bamber Gascoigne, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, Andrew Marr and Alan Lord Watson. Volunteers do a variety of tasks including running reception, sale of goods and curatorial work.

The Museum has an active and exciting educational programme for schools and colleges and offers a range of interactive historical and cross-curricular taught sessions responding to the individual needs of particular classes. Classes also visit the Museum independently – one or two visits a week, involving around 1,400 pupils over the year. Schools can hire Discovery Boxes to use in the classroom, involving over 3,500 pupils a year.

The education programme also provides events for adults, often tied in with the temporary exhibitions. These include gallery talks, formal lectures, film shows, walks and visits, poetry events and craft workshops, reaching about 1,000 adults a year. Outreach talks are also delivered to community groups and outreach sessions are held in local care homes.

To mark the 21st anniversary of the opening of the Museum by HM The Queen in 1988, a fund-raising campaign was started in 2009 to raise £50,000, for the specific purpose of renewing and up-dating the Museum. So far about £51,000 has been raised and £21,000spent on refurbishment. The campaign continues, with an event in November with Melvyn Bragg.

Recent and current temporary exhibitions include “Trading in Human Lives” (local links to the slave trade), “How the Vote was Won” (how local suffragettes fought for the Vote), “Richmond Theatre Through the Stages” (the history of local theatres, on Richmond Theatre’s 110th anniversary), “Between the Locks” (thelives of riverside workers between Richmond and Teddington locks), “The Chinese in Bengal” (jointly with the Meridian Society), “Happy and Glorious” (popular local celebrations of royal events), “Living and Dying in 19th Century Richmond” (some lives of those buried in theearly section of Richmond Cemetery), “1914-18, Richmond at Home and War” (with a HLF grant of £34,000 for the exhibition and extended outreach work), “The Battle of Britain 75 years on” (Richmond remembers WWII) and “Capability Brown”.

Chair of the Museum of Richmond

Job Description

The Museum of Richmond is both a charity and a company limited by guarantee, and the Trustees form the Board of Directors. With the other Trustees, the Chair therefore has statutory duties to make sure that:

  • The Museum complies with its memorandum and articles of association, the requirements of charity law and company law and other relevant legislation and regulations;
  • The objectives of the Museum, as defined in the governing documents, are effectively pursued;
  • The Museum’s resources are used exclusively in pursuit of those objectives;
  • The Museum’s good name and values are safeguarded;
  • The Museum is effectively and efficiently administered, its resources are effectively protected and managed, and it remains financially stable.

The Chair has the specific tasks of:

  • Taking the lead in helping the Board to reach sound decisions, including planning the annual cycle of meetings, setting the agendas for them, chairing the meetings of the Board, impartially and objectively facilitating discussions at those meetings and giving direction generally to policy making;
  • Supporting the curator and acting as his/her line manager, including providing an annual evaluation of his/her work;
  • Monitoring the implementation of Board decisions;
  • Representing, and acting as spokesperson for, the Museum at local meetings and functions;
  • Leading the process of recruiting staff and volunteers to work in the Museum;
  • Seeking to ensure that the Board has an appropriate range of expertise and experience.

Along with the other Trustees, the Chair is expected to deploy his/her personal skills, knowledge and experience in realising the Museum’s objectives. No specific Museum experience is needed, although a general interest in history and its presentation to the public and experience of committee work are fundamental to the work of the Chair. Some experience of the voluntary sector would also be desirable. Previous Chairs have found that the work requires about 10 hours per week during much of the year.

Qualities which will help a Chair to deliver all this are strategic vision, ability to work as a member of a team, sound judgement, ability to think creatively, willingness to speak their mind, tact, good communication skills, the ability to respect confidences and commitment to the seven principles of public life (selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership).