Engraved box gift to Barber Beaumont from ‘his greatly obliged friend and brother magistrate’ John Simpson, Hackney 1838.
This engraved box gifted to Barber Beaumont in the 1830s provides a tantalising link to the historical roots of the College. Barber Beaumont established the Beaumont Philosophical Institution in 1839-1840 in Mile End and the People’s Palace is arguably the successor to the institute which closed in 1879.
Gallery: Curiosities in the Archives