HL Deb 26 February 2002 vol 631 cc217-21WA
Lord Freyberg

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will name all items on overseas loan (not including temporary loans) from government-sponsored museums that have been outside the

Government-sponsered Museum and Gallery Brief description of item(s) on loan When item(s) was originally loaned Why the item(s) were sent on loan Whether the Trustees here aware that item(s) were on loan
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Horniman Museum No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Imperial War Museum No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Wallace Collection No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Sir John Soane's Museum No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Tyne & Wear Museums No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Museum of London No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside Base for a Delft vase September 1995 To the Metropolitan Museum for their Delft vase which needed a base Yes
National Maritime Museum Three naval uniforms 1963 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Ship model Zeven Provencien 1971 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Ship model Kaiser Friedrich III 1977 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Navigational instrument: 1980 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Artificial Horizon
Ship model Greenwich 1998 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Ship model Raleigh 1966 Loaned for exhibition/galley display Yes
National Portrait Gallery Portrait Catherine of Brogana 1971 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Lisbon Yes
Portrait Warren Hastings 1987 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British High Commission, New Delhi Yes
Portrait 4th Duke of Bedford 1981 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Paris Yes
Portrait Countess de Grammont 1973 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Paris Yes
Portrait Lady Masham 1981 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Paris Yes
Portrait Maria Sobieska 1980 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Portrait 1st Earl of Rochester 1980 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Tate Painting Bathing Scene, Bali October 1994 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to bridge the gap in the borrowing institution's holding of the artists work Yes
Painting The Siege and Relief of Gibraltar 1968 Originally loaned to the Governor's residence in Gibraltar, but since 1993 loaned for exhibition/gallery display at the Gibraltar Museum Yes
Painting Miss Louisa van Diest 1969 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Paris Yes
Painting Master Frederick van Diest 1969 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Paris Yes

country for more than three years; and in each ease whether they will give details of (a) when these items were originally sent on loan; (b) why they were sent on loan; and (c) whether the trustees of the museums concerned were aware that these items were on loan. [HL2849]

Baroness Blackstone

Answers for the museums and galleries sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are set out in the following table.

Many of the loans listed in the table are duplicate items or are items which would otherwise be held in store. They comprise a tiny fraction of the millions of items held by National Museums and Galleries.

Government-sponsered Museum and Gallery Brief description of item(s) on loan When item(s) was originally loaned Why the item(s) were sent on loan Whether the Trustees were aware that item(s) were on loan
National Museum of Science and Industry (National Museum of Photography, Film and TV) No items are on long-term loan to—overseas organisations
National Museum of Science and Industry (Science Museum) Watkin aneroid barometer 1980 Loaned for display in Dutch Arctic Expeditions Gallery See Note 1
Gregorian telescope 1990 Study and display See Note 1
Iron bitumen telegraph cable 1994 Loaned for display in Communications Gallery See Note 1
Panel 1 and end plate for the electronic computer Edsac 1 1982 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Ferranti pegboard program tray 1982 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
HMV portable disc recorder and associated items 1999 Loaned for display in Operation Epsilon See Note 1
Trial model and spare wheel for analytical engine 1999 Loaned for display in exhibition "Cyberworlds: computers and connections" See Note 1
Model of twin screw steamer Islander and five framed photographs Pre 1998 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Model of the T.S. Majestic Pre 1998 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Experimental speculum, illustration of the Great Nebula in Orion, experimental compound speculum mirror, a profile gauge with concave profile, a profile gauge with convex profile, an oval secondary speculum mirror and a "Finder" telescopic eyepiece 1998 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Symphonion twin-disc musical box and 10 pairs of discs 1995 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
A Horn compound condensing beam engine and a Whitworth lathe 1981 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
An Easton Amos & Sons Grasshopper steam engine 1976 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Three items relating to the Hale war rocket 1992 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Working scale model of Newcomen atmospheric engine 1985 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
V1 pulse jet engine and V2 graphite vane 1997 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
National Museum of Science and Industry (National Railway Museum) Four Jersey Railways & Tramways nameplates, four Jersey Railway numberplates, a Jersey Railway coat-of-arms, a departure clock and two locomotive worksplates for 2–4–0 tank 1990 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Model of East India Railway 3rd class bogie carriage. Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway model of a 4–6–0 locomotive and tender; and a model of a Grand Indian Peninsular Railway tourist carriage 1978 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note I
Model of Jenny Lind type locomotive and tender 1956 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 1
Natural History Museum No items are on long-term loan to overseas organisations
Victoria and Albert Museum Nine Chinese/Japanese vases November 1994 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 2
36 objects including dishes, plates and medals etc July 1963 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 2
26 electrotypes and two silver plates October 1976 Loaned to British Embassy Rome See Note 2
Breastplates and gauntlets November 1947 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 2
Royal Armouries 177 pieces of 17th century munition armour, 316 19th century military pistols, 225 19th century bayonets and 245 19th century swords 1920 Loaned to the Dominion Archivist, Canada; the Australian War Museum. Australia; Ministry of the Interior, New Zealand; the Natal Museum and Port Elizabeth Museum, Pretoria See Note 3
Six 19th century firearms, four bayonets, 12 19th century military swords and 10 items of 17th century munition armour 1922 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Museo de Armas de la Nacion, Argentina See Note 3
Five items of 17th century munition armour; nine 19th century military firearms and seven 19th century edged weapons 1938 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Royal Ontario Museum. Canada See Note 3
Six items of 17th century munition 1938 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display See Note 3

Government-sponsered Museum and Gallery Brief description of item(s) on loan When item(s) was originally loaned Why the item(s) were sent on loan Whether the Trustees were aware that item(s) were on loan
armour, 10 19th century military firearms and II 19th century edged weapons to the Army Museum, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Three 19th century edged weapons and five 19th century firearms 1938 Loaned for exhibition/gallery, display to the Musee de la Civilisation, Quebec, Canada Sec Note 3
Six items of 17th century munition armour, 6 19th century military firearms and 11 edged weapons 1938 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Canada and Zimbabwe Military Museum, Zimbabwe See Note 3
Six 18th century carbines and four cannon 1949 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Colonial Williamsburg, USA See Note 3
One drum, five firearms and 12 edged weapons 1963 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Newfoundland Museum, USA See Note 3
Seven 19th century edged weapons, five 19th century firearms and a 19th century cannon 1965 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Waterloo Museum, Belgium See Note 3
Three items of 16th century munition armour, four 19th century military firearms and seven 19th century edged weapons 1965 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Mutare Museum (Umtali), Zimbabwe See Note 3
Six bayonets and seven 19th and 20th century firearms 1969 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Jersey Museum Services See Note 3
A 17th century matchlock musket 1971 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the National Museum of Ireland See Note 3
A 16th century Shaffron 1985 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA See Note 3
Four items of 17th century munition armour, one bandoleer and a crossbow bolt 1989 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, USA See Note 3
A 18pdr QF MKII 1987 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Regiment of Artillery Association, India See Note 3
Three 16th century armours and three items of 16th/17th century armour 1998 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display to the Cleveland Museum of Art, USA See Note 3
National Gallery Painting Prince Rupert 1986 Loaned to Government Art Collection, British Embassy Prague Yes
Landscape Painting Hawking Party 1996 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
Painting The Swearing of the Oath of Ratification of the Treaty of Munster 1999 Loaned for exhibition/gallery display Yes
British Museum A fragment of a sarcophagus 1939 Loaned for study purposes Yes
Four sculptures 1970 Loaned for study purposes Yes
Pottery vessels and fragments of vessels 1964, 1968 and 1984 Loaned for study purposes Yes

Note 1:

The Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Science and Industry have delegated the decision to approve loan requests to the approvals team at the Science Museum and the loans are vetted by the museum's security adviser.

Note 2:

The Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum delegate responsibility for the loan of objects individually valued at under £500,000 to the director. All objects currently on long-term overseas loan are valued at under £500,000. All objects on loan are listed in the museum's annual report.

Note 3:

The Royal Armouries became a trustee body in 1984. Decisions on overseas loans continued to be taken by museum officers. In 1989 the trustees reviewed a full report of all existing loans and approved the continuation of the procedure of overseas loans being approved by officers. In 2001, a new procedure was adopted and all overseas loans are now approved by the Board of Trustees.