Collection: Tameside Museums and Galleries

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Astley Cheetham Collection

  Astley Cheetham Art Gallery opened in 1932, following a donation of money for the building of a library and art gallery in 1910 by the Cheetham family of Stalybridge. The gallery displayed the art collection bequeathed to the Stalybridge Corporation by J.F Cheetham and his wife Beatrice Emma Astley. The collection was bequeathed with certain conditions attached, preventing any artworks being sold. The collection consists of many well-known Victorian artists and also a number of works by early European masters. The collection has since been added to and now comprises over 1000 paintings, drawings and sculptures. The collection continues to be displayed at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery in a changing programme of exhibitions.

  Harry Rutherford Collection

  Alongside the Astley Cheetham Collection, Tameside also cares for 150 paintings and sketches by Harry Rutherford. Rutherford was a local artist and a contemporary and friend of LS Lowry. The collection has been acquired through donations from family members and also a local collector, who has loaned and donated several paintings from his collection.

  The collection was displayed as part of temporary exhibitions at Central Art Gallery throughout the 1990s and 2000s before being housed in its own gallery inside Hyde Library between 2008 and 2012. Following the relocation of Hyde Library in 2012, one of the exhibition rooms at Central Art Gallery was given over to a permanent display of Rutherford works. Central Art Gallery closed in February 2019 and the Rutherford collection is currently in storage. The plan is for a new permanent Rutherford Gallery to be established as part of the new Museum of the Manchester Regiment when it reopens.

  Social and Industrial History Collection

  The social history collection began life at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery during the 1930s. The gallery took in donations of collections from local collectors, such as the Radcliffe collection of around 140 Ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek items. These had been purchased at auctions by a local mill manager, Norman Bramley Radcliffe, and donated to the gallery by his widow in the 1930s.

  Another notable donation was a set of six Chippendale chairs which came via the Art Fund in the 1950s following the dispersal of items from the home of Mr Ernest Edward Cook, grandson of travel agent founder Thomas Cook. The contents of his home were shared among galleries around the country as part of his bequest.

  The borough’s collection of civic silver is included in this collection. It consists of candelabra, historic mayoral chains, cups and trophies, ceremonial trowels and other items brought together from the nine towns of Tameside when the borough was formed in 1974.

  The majority of items in the social history collection have 1978 accession numbers, meaning that a bulk accessioning of existing items took place during this year. The provenance and date of donation for some of the objects is unknown.

  The collection was expanded in the 1970s when the idea to create Portland Basin Museum was conceived, and again in the 1990s when the museum was redeveloped. Large items of machinery from local companies were actively collected, as were items to fill the museum’s 1920s street.

  Natural History Collection

  This collection also started life at Astley Cheetham Art Gallery, with a donation of 3,300 shells from the family of local collector Charles Moore. Added to the collection in 1951 were 2,680 pressed plants collected by W. Whitehead and J.E. Sutherland. A geology collection of around 500 locally found rocks and fossils was donated to the gallery by the family of collector Robert Jackson in 1933. 180 mosses collected by Jethro Tinker in the mid-1800s were originally stored at a museum that used to be situated in Eastwood Park but documentation shows that these were found in a poor condition and were transferred to the council’s collection at an unknown date. There is also a small collection of birds’ eggs and butterflies.

  Manchester Regiment Collection

  The collection was brought together from Regimental property (chattels) and donations in 1934 in Ladysmith Barracks, Ashton-under-Lyne, which was a serving Army Barracks and the Regimental Headquarters and Depot of the Manchester Regiment. The original purpose of the collection was to instil a sense of ‘esprit-de-corps’ or ‘sense of identity’ in the Regiment’s new recruits. When the barracks were closed in the 1960s, the museum’s collection was loaned to Manchester City Art Galleries and displayed /stored in Queen Park, Harpurhey, Manchester.

  The Regiment’s archive collection was deposited with Manchester Central Library. In 1987 both collections came back to Tameside and the museum opened in the Town Hall, Ashton-under-Lyne. The Archive was then held in Stalybridge Library and in 2005 it was moved to a purpose built Local Studies and Archives Centre in Ashton-under-Lyne. Captain Bob Bonner, Chairman of the Regimental Advisory Committee, was instrumental in bringing the collections to Tameside and he remained a key figure in the museum until his retirement in 2015. The museum now reports to Colonel Chris Owen and Colonel Chris Marley who meet regularly with the Museum Manager for updates on the collection, its management and development.

  The Manchester Regiment collection has been on loan to Tameside Council since 1987 from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment and so any new donation forms part of this loan.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Astley Cheetham collection

  This is an area of strength within Tameside’s collections and it is widely acknowledged as being one of the finest collections in the Northwest. Collection highlights include very early paintings of Italian, Flemish and Spanish schools from the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth century. There are also important paintings by David Cox, J. Danby, William Collins, G.F. Watts and J.M.W. Turner and watercolours by Edward Burne- Jones, Samuel Prout, Edward Duncan and Richard Bonnington.

  Harry Rutherford collection

  There are 150 works by Rutherford in the collection, including paintings, drawing and sketches. Rutherford painted everyday life in his hometown of Hyde and the majority of his works depict local people, places and industries. The key artworks from this collection (Mill Girls and Northern Saturday) have been on public display between 2008 and 2018.

  Social and Industrial collection

  The collection consists of objects that reflect the life and work of people living in Tameside, mostly from the past 200 years. Domestic items include costume, sport related objects, childhood toys, furniture, religious items, commemorative items and kitchenware. There are also objects related to local building plus archaeological finds. The industrial collection includes items such as locally made Jones sewing machines, items from cotton mills and coal mines, memorabilia connected to Robertsons Jam, bottles from local breweries, and printing machinery, to name but a few. Several large items of machinery are on display at Portland Basin Museum, including a National Gas engine, nail making machines and machines used in the hatting industry. There is also an important collection of donkey stone making equipment from Ashton based company Eli Whalley, which was the last manufacturer of donkey stones in the country. Two key items in the collection are the Chartist Bell, which was rung in Hyde in 1848 to bring together a meeting of local Chartists, and the Cotton Queen dress, which was worn by the North West’s first Cotton Queen in 1930.

  It is worth noting here the museum’s small but interesting collection of Native American artefacts that unfortunately has little provenance. This consists largely of clothing and accessories such as a Sioux jacket, moccasins, bags and beaded gauntlet style gloves. This collection merits further research and its care, management and any display interpretation would be done sensitively and in accordance with guidelines established by organisations such as the Museum Ethnographers Group.

  The collection totals around 18,000 objects including natural history. There are approximately 1700 items with temporary numbers still to be processed. In addition to this there are some archaeological collections that have been bulk accessioned, including finds from Denton Hall, Dukinfield Hall, Haughton Green glassworks and Buckton Castle. In 2018-19, the Museum Service received support from Museum Development North West’s ‘Banish the Backlog’ programme in devising a plan of action to tackle the backlog. Between February and August 2022 the museum service had a ‘Kickstart’ placement largely working in the museum stores on the inventory of the social and industrial collections.

  Natural History collection

  The collection consists of 3,300 shells, 2680 plants and mosses, 150 birds’ eggs, 120 butterflies and 500 rocks and fossils. The only addition to this collection has been a collection of shells donated in 2003. Offers of natural history with a local connection would be considered, within the parameters of this collecting policy.

  Manchester Regiment collection

  The collection has over 12,800 objects, including 400 items of uniform and over 800 medal groups, including six Victoria Crosses. Additionally, the collection incorporates silverware, paintings, firearms, edged weapons, musical instruments and other items of military equipment such as personal carrying equipment and campaign furniture. Of the 12,800 objects, 4,000 have temporary numbers listed on an Access database. In 2018-19, the Museum Service has received support from Museum Development North West’s ‘Banish the Backlog’ programme in devising a plan of action to tackle the documentation backlog.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2023

  Licence: CC BY-NC