Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/393

 built a spacious gallery at Park Hill, Streatham, and adorned it with the best works by contemporary masters, conspicuously with the finest works of Millais, such as 'Ophelia,' 'The North- West Passage,' and ' The Vale of Rest.' Every year, just before the opening of the academy exhibition, he gave a dinner of the proportions of a banquet to the leading artists at his house. About 1890 he formed the design of presenting his collection of modern pictures to the National Gallery. Scruples having been raised as to the acceptance of such a collection en bloc, Tate approached the chancellor of the exchequer (Mr. Goschen) with an offer to erect a gallery of British art, and to present the nation with the bulk of his pictures as a nucleus for a permanent exhibition of modern British paintings, provided only that the government would find the site for such a building. Mr. Goschen accepted the offer, and made overtures, which were rejected by the City corporation, for acquiring a site upon the Blackfriars Embankment, after which but little energy was displayed in the discovery of a site until in 1893 Sir William Harcourt offered the ground upon which stood Millbank Prison, then about to be demolished. He also promised to maintain the gallery, and to place the foundation in the hands of the trustees of the National Gallery. The offer was gladly accepted by Tate. The gallery, reared at his expense, and designed by Mr. Sidney R. J. Smith in 'a free classic style' with a handsome Corinthian portico, was opened by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (then prince and princess of Wales) on 21 July 1897, Sir W. Harcourt and Mr. Arthur Balfour being present and making speeches, to which Tate replied. In the seven galleries that formed the original building were housed sixty-five pictures from Tate's collection, sixty-four pictures purchased under the bequest of Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey [q.v.], eighteen pictures presented by Mr. George Frederick Watts, R.A., and ninety-eight pictures from the modern portion of the National Gallery. The building was styled the National Gallery of British Art, but familiarly known as 'The Tate Gallery.' Predictions made as to the dampness of the site have happily proved unfounded; the building is light, the internal arrangements admirable in every way, and all that remains to be done is for the situation to be made more accessible. Tate was made a trustee of the National Gallery at the end of 1897, and was created a baronet on 27 June 1898. In the same year Sir Henry commenced the extension of the building, which he had promised to undertake in his speech at the opening of the gallery. The additions were completed on 27 Nov. 1899, when the accommodation was nearly doubled, and the value of Tate's gift to the nation raised to not far short of half a million. At the present time (December 1900) the gallery contains 344 paintings and drawings, in addition to twenty-seven pieces of sculpture, for which a very handsome gallery was provided in the new buildings. A seventh edition of the 'Catalogue' was issued by the keeper in October 1900. Several fine pictures were added to the collection by Tate as a supplement to the original 'Tate gift,' and 'The Childhood of Raleigh,' by M illais, was presented by Lady Tate shortly after his death, which took place at Streatham Hill after a long illness on 5 Dec. 1899. He married, first, on 1 March 1841, Jane, daughter of John Wignall, by whom he had, with other issue, Sir William Henry Tate (b. 23 Jan. 1842), the present baronet; secondly, on 8 Oct. 1885, Amy Fanny, only daughter of Charles Hislop of Brixton Hill, who survives him.

A speaking likeness of Sir Henry Tate is in the gallery which the nation owes to his munificence. It is a bronze bust by Mr. Thomas Brock, presented to the gallery by Sir William Agnew, Sir Edward Poynter, and other admirers in recognition of Tate's great service to British art. A photographic likeness forms the frontispiece to 'The Year's Art,' 1898. An oil portrait by Mr. Hubert Herkomer, in the possession of Lady Tate, has been engraved in mezzotint; the original is destined eventually to be placed in the Tate Gallery. A bust is in the library of the University College, Liverpool, which was built at his expense.  THOMAS, WILLIAM LUSON (1830–1900), founder of the 'Graphic' and 'Daily Graphic,' the son of a London shipbroker, William Thomas, by his wife, Alicia Hayes, was born on 4 Dec. 1830, and was educated at Fulham. On leaving school he joined his elder brother, George Housman Thomas (1824–1868) [q. v.], who was practising at Paris as an engraver on wood. In 1846 the two brothers, accompanied by Mr. H. Harrison, the brother-in-law and partner of the elder, went to America to take part in the 