21 SEPTEMBER 1929, Page 3

Sir Edward Thompson The late Sir Edward Maunde Thompson retired

from the Directorship of the British Museum so long ago that he was little known to the rising generation, but he was not only a great palaeographer, but a practical man of affairs who enormously increased the usefulness of the Museum and the conditions and pay of the staff. It was part of his scheme that the head of the Museum, who used rather misleadingly to be called Principal Librarian, should be known as Director. In every department of the Museum through which he had worked his way he disposed rapidly of arrears of work. It was he who, to the great satisfaction of the general reader, reduced congestion in the Reading Room by banning the less serious works of fiction. He also arranged for the opening of the Museum on Sundays. * * * *