London Museum

The London Museum stood in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea for most of its life. It began in 1912 in temporary rooms on the second floor of Kensington Palace, where King George V and Queen Mary attended the opening. The royal family returned in 1948 when the museum moved to the lower floors of the same palace. After the war the building housed the collections once more, though only in part. In 1975 the London Museum merged with the Guildhall Museum to form the Museum of London. The museum mattered because it collected London’s past in one place. In its first year it acquired the Cheapside Hoard, a group of early Stuart and Elizabethan jewels. Mortimer Wheeler, a leading archaeologist, served as Keeper from 1926 to 1944. During the Second World War the collection was hidden in nearby tube stations to keep it safe. Sir Guy Francis Laking became the first Keeper and set the tone for the institution. Visitors found displays of London’s history in rooms once used by royalty. The early galleries at Lancaster House showed London’s growth through objects and documents. After 1951 the lower floors of Kensington Palace became the public face of the museum. The exhibits traced London from Roman times to the 19th century. The collections moved again in 1976, but the London Museum’s story remains part of the city’s memory.