| Description | File within Colonel Phipps' papers relating to the purchase of items from the Bernal Collection. Ralph Bernal was a British Whig politician and art collector who had built up a collection of glass, ceramics and other art object which was auctioned off after his death in 1854. The Society of Arts petitioned the Government to buy the collection on behalf of the nation and when they declined Henry Cole suggested that the Royal Commission bid to obtain the objects for the Museum of Manufactures at South Kensington. This sub-file of correspondence records details of the Royal Commission's purchase of 730 lots from the collection. |