Bridport Museum was opened in 1932 by Captain Alfred Percy Codd. One of the first Trustees was Cyril Holman-Hunt, son of William Holman-Hunt (1827-1910), one of the three founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters in the mid-19^th Century.

Cyril, due to ‘his advice and practical interest proved invaluable’ was co-opted onto the committee of the Museum when it opened. Cyril loaned two of his father’s paintings to Codd for the Museum’s opening: a portrait of Cyril as a boy, and one of his mother, Fanny Waugh (1833-1866). The latter painting is just visible on the left-hand side of this photograph of the Museum from the 1930s, above the fireplace.

They remained in place until Cyril’s death in 1934 when under the terms of his will all were donated to other collections.  The painting of Cyril now belongs to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. A small legacy was left to Bridport Museum along with some of his entomology notebooks.

What do we know about Cyril?

His parents married December 1865 at Christ Church Paddington and left England for the Holy Land in August 1866 where William intended to paint sites of biblical events. However,  due to an outbreak of Cholera they changed their plans and went to Florence where Cyril was born December 1866.  Six weeks later his mother, Fanny, died from complications at birth.  William was distraught at her death and engaged a wet nurse.  At the outbreak of scarlet fever in Florence, William and Cyril, who was less than a year old, travelled back to England. Cyril nearly starved to death on the journey, probably the fault of a negligent nurse.

In 1871 William was abroad, so Cyril is recorded as living with his Grandparents George and Mary Waugh in Paddington. He was sent to boarding school near Oxford and then went on to Harrow School and graduated from St. John’s College Cambridge in 1888 with a BA.  He enrolled as a medical student but decided to move abroad instead where he is described as a Tea Planter in Sri Lanka.  He made numerous journeys across the Atlantic visiting the USA, Canada and India. Cyril was a noted authority on Natural History with a special interest in Entomology and held important roles with the Government of the Federal Malay States where he was engaged in botanical research for medicinal purposes.   Between 1905 and 1907 Cyril was a Curator at Selanger Museum, Malaya.

Between 1928 and 1931 he is believed to have been in Dorset, living in Great Toller where his father had lived for a number of years with his second wife Marion Edith Waugh, sister of his first wife.  In 1931 Cyril moved to Walditch, where he lived until his death in 1934.  He died aged only 67 in Bridport Hospital having caught a chill following surgery.  He was cremated at Golders Green and his friends lined the streets of East Street, Bridport to pay their respects as his coffin left the town on its journey to London.

Alison Johnstone- Research Volunteer

(adapted from an article original published in The Bridport Times)

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