Bagshaw Museum
Bagshaw Museum is a local museum in the town of Batley, West Yorkshire. Situated in Wilton Park, the elaborate Gothic Revival mansion was converted into a museum by Walter Bagshaw in 1911. Originally called the Wilton Park Museum, it was renamed after Bagshaw following his death in 1927. Bagshaw's initial collection was expanded with subsequent donations from Violet Bagshaw and orientalist John Hilditch, and today comprises an eclectic set of antiquities and ethnographic objects. Unusually for a local museum, it has a dedicated Egyptology gallery, including a replica mummy reconstructed from an authentic Egyptian death mask. It also holds a substantial collection of Asian textiles, reflecting Batley's historical ties to the textile industry and significant South Asian community. A Francis Bacon painting (Figure Study II), today valued at between £19.5 million and £60 million, was donated to the museum in the 1950s, but was transferred to Huddersfield Art Gallery in the 1970s. The museum is currently owned and operated by Kirklees Council, but owing to local government budget cuts, its future is uncertain. History The museum building was originally a mansion called 'The Woodlands', built by mill owner George Sheard in 1875. When Sheard died in 1902, no buyer could