Museum of Richmond

The Museum of Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is located in Richmond's Old Town Hall, close to Richmond Bridge. It was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 October 1988.
An independent museum and a registered charity, it is supported by Richmond upon Thames Borough Council. Dr Nicola Mann, who heads the Department of Communications & The Arts at Richmond American University London, chairs the board of trustees; John Lee, Baron Lee of Trafford, is deputy chair. Gary Enstone is the museum's Curator and Executive Officer.
The museum's permanent displays, from medieval times to the present day, relate to the history of Richmond, Kew, Petersham and Ham which, until local government boundary changes in 1965, formed the Municipal Borough of Richmond (Surrey). Its temporary exhibitions, education activities and resources, and a programme of events cover the whole of the modern borough. The museum's highlights include: 16th-century glass from Richmond Palace; a model of Richmond Palace; and a painting, The Terrace and View from Richmond Hill, Surrey by Dutch draughtsman and painter Leonard Knyff, which is part of the Richmond upon Thames Borough Art Collection.
The museum organises a programme of talks. Admission to the museum, which is open from Tuesdays to Saturdays, is free.

WWW museumofrichmond.com 𝕏 museumrichmond

History

The museum was created in 1983 by local residents led by local historian John Cloake. Its first curator was Kate Thaxton.

Exhibitions

Current

The museum's current temporary exhibition, which opened in June 2025 and is scheduled to continue until 14 March 2026, is Trailblazing Women – Richmond's Sporting Superstars. It features tennis players Kitty Godfree, Betty Nuthall and Gem Hoahing and golfer Pamela Barton, all of them from what is now the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The museum's previous exhibitions include:

2020s

2024–25 Wish You Were Here: From Horace Walpole to Ted Lasso, about tourism in Richmond
2023–24 Artificial Silk: From Kew to the World, about visose rayon, which was invented in Kew at the beginning of the 20th century.
2022–23 Richmond Remembers: 100 Years of the Poppy Factory, which was founded in 1922 to offer employment opportunities to wounded soldiers returning from the First World War and moved to Richmond in 1926.
2021–22 OT50 – Fifty Years of the Orange Tree Theatre.
2021 The King's Observatory: Richmond's Science Story, about the history of the King's Observatory in Old Deer Park. The observatory was completed in 1769, in time for King George III's observation of the transit of Venus that occurred on 3 June in that year.
2020–21 Queen's Road: 500 Years of History, about Queen's Road, Richmond, a historic road that runs from Sheen Road to the top of Richmond Hill. As physical access to the museum was affected by government restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a digital version was also produced.

2010s

2019–20 Celebrating 800 years of St. Mary Magdalene at the heart of Richmond, about Richmond's historic parish church
2018–19 Museum of Richmond 30th anniversary exhibition: 30 years, 30 people, 30 objects
2018 Archaeology: Richmond's Prehistory
2017–18 Poverty, which looked at Richmond from 1600 to 1948, from the perspective of people who were poor, and included the history of the town's workhouse and almshouses and the effects of the Poor Laws
2017 Old Palace Lane: Medieval to Modern Richmond
2016–17 The Royal Star & Garter: 100 Years of Care, marking the centenary of the founding, in Richmond, of the first Star and Garter Home
2015–16 The Battle of Britain 75 years on – Richmond Remembers the Second World War
2014–15 1914–1918 Richmond at Home and at War: Local stories and their international links, Richmond's experience of the First World War
2014 Encountering the Unchartered and back – Three explorers: Ball, Vancouver and Burton, telling the story of explorers Henry Lidgbird Ball, George Vancouver and Richard Burton and their connections with Richmond
2013 Living and Dying in 19th Century Richmond, exploring the lives of some of Richmond's 19th-century residents
2012–13 The Building of a Borough, showcasing building plans held in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames’ Local Studies Collection
2012 Royal Minstrels to Rock and Roll: 500 years of music-making in Richmond
2012 Happy and Glorious: popular Royal celebration and commemoration in Richmond
2010–11 Richmond Theatre: Through the Stages
2010 ''How the Vote Was Won: Art, Theatre and Women's Suffrage''

2000s

2009–10 Richmond – From Page to Screen
2009 From Henry VII to Henry VIII, marking the 500th anniversary of the death of Henry VII at Richmond Palace and the accession to the throne of his son Henry VIII
2007 The Two Richmonds – A Celebration of their Twinning, marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown and the twinning relationship of Richmond, Surrey and Richmond, Virginia
2007 Trading in Human Lives: The Richmond Connection, on Richmond and the slave trade
2006–07 Men Remade: Paul Drury's War in Richmond, featuring the work, particularly during the Second World War, of the artist and printmaker Paul Drury
2006 A Rich Heritage, featuring items from the borough's Local Studies Collection
2005–06 Turner-Upon-Thames, focusing on the period when the artist J. M. W. Turner lived in Isleworth and in Twickenham
2005 Barnes & Mortlake Past, celebrating 50 years of the founding of Barnes and Mortlake History Society
2004–05 Britflicks-on-Thames: Film Studios of the Borough and Beyond

2004 The Sensational Miss Braddon, about the author Mary Braddon who lived and died in Richmond and is best known for her 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley's Secret
2003 Without Exception, a selection of original prints by Thomas Rowlandson of The English Dance of Death
2003 The Virgin Queen in Richmond, marking the 400th anniversary of the death, at Richmond Palace, of Elizabeth I
2002 The Fight To Save The View, marking the 100th anniversary of the Richmond, Petersham and Ham Open Spaces Act which has protected the view from Richmond Hill
2002 Stage by Stage: Richmond's Theatrical Heritage, looking at theatres in Richmond since the Elizabethan era
2001–02 Richmond's River: Pictures of and inspired by the Thames in Richmond
2000 ''From Canvas to Camera: George Hilditch 1803–1857''

1990s

1998–99 Arthur Hughes: The Last Pre-Raphaelite, about the Pre-Raphaelite artist Arthur Hughes, who died at his house on Kew Green in 1915 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery
1997–98 Richmond Women: Face to Face, famous women who lived in Richmond
1997 The Henry Doulton Legacy: 120 Years of Royal Doulton
1997 The Best Years of Our Lives? Going to school in Richmond – reminiscences of Richmond school days
1996–97 Spencer Gore in Richmond, about the artist Spencer Gore who lived in Richmond and died there in 1914
1995–96 Past & Present: The Changing Face of Richmond
1995 Going Shopping!
1995 The Artist's Inspiration: Views of Richmond upon Thames
1994–95 The Factory of Remembrance: The Poppy & the Royal British Legion Poppy Factory
1994 Father & Son: The Art of Roland & Bernard Batchelor. Roland Batchelor and his son Bernard, who was born in Teddington, were both watercolour artists; Roland was also a draughtsman and a printmaker.
1994 'Simplest Country Gentlefolk': The Royal Family at Kew 1727–1841
1993–94 Prospects About Richmond: mid-18th century drawings and prints by Augustin Heckel
1993 Richmond at War: The Civilian Experience 1939–45
1992 Mr K: The legend of Edmund Kean, actor-manager of the original Richmond Theatre on Richmond Green from 1831 until his death in 1833. Kean is buried at Richmond's historic parish church, St Mary Magdalene.
1992 Farewell Ice-Rink, marking the closure that year of Richmond Ice Rink which, when it opened in 1928, had the longest ice surface in any indoor rink in the world
1991–92 Mr Rowlandson's Richmond: Thomas Rowlandson's Drawings of Richmond-upon-Thames
1991 The Richmond Royal Horse Show, an event held regularly in Richmond from 1892 to 1967
1991 ''Virginia Woolf and the Hogarth Press in Richmond''

1980s

1989 Pissarro in Richmond, about the painter Camille Pissarro and other artistic members of his family who lived in Kew and Richmond

Publications

The museum's publications include:

Robinson, Derek. The Richmond Vicars: the ministers of St Mary Magdalene and their role in the community, 106pp.
Robinson, Derek; Fowler, Simon. Old Palace Lane: Medieval to Modern Richmond, 44pp. Published jointly with the Richmond Local History Society.. A second edition was published in 2020.
Boyes, Valerie . Encountering the Uncharted and Back – three explorers: Ball, Vancouver and Burton, 24pp.
Boyes, Valerie . Living and Dying in 19th Century Richmond, 25pp.
Boyes, Valerie . Royal Minstrels to Rock and Roll: 500 years of music-making in Richmond, 28pp.
Boyes, Valerie . Richmond on Page and Screen, 36pp.
Moses, John; Cloake, John. The Two Richmonds: a celebration of their twinning, the American connection, 14pp. OCLC 143627273
Boyes, Valerie. Trading in Human Lives: The Richmond Connection, 28pp.
Moses, John. Turner-upon-Thames, 13pp.
Roberts, Leonard; Wildman, Stephen. Arthur Hughes: The Last Pre-Raphaelite, 48pp.
Gore, Frederick. Spencer Gore in Richmond: an exhibition at the Museum of Richmond 10 September 1996 to 25 January 1997, 44pp.
Museum of Richmond. Simplest Country Gentlefolk: Royal Family at Kew, 1727–1841, 36pp.
Jeffree, Richard. Mr Rowlandson's Richmond: Thomas Rowlandson's Drawings of Richmond-upon-Thames, 89pp.

Patrons

Princess Alexandra is the museum's royal patron. Its other patrons are: author and broadcaster Anita Anand; broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough; businesswoman Ann Chapman-Daniel; Richmond hotelier Greville Dare; actor, writer and producer Julian Fellowes, Lord Fellowes of West Stafford; Petina Hauptfuhrer, custodian of Asgill House; novelist and screenwriter Anthony Horowitz; and biographer, lecturer and journalist Anne Sebba.