Person    | Male  Born 1820  Died 31/12/1876

Rev. Thomas Hugo

Categories: History, Religion

British antiquary and collector. Curate at St Botolph without Bishopsgate 1851-8. Rector at St Pauls West Hackney  1872. Member the Society of Antiquaries of London, the Linnean Society and the Royal Society of Literature (sat on council 1855-73).

A founding member of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society (LAMAS) and In December 1855 gave an address at its first meeting explaining its objectives.

At A History of the Cries of London, by Charles Hindley we learnt that Hugo was a collector of the Cries of London.

This portrait comes from the Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, Vol V where it is captioned: "In Memoriam. THE REV. T. HUGO, M.A., M.R.S.L., F.L.S., AND V.P. Of THE LONDON AND MIDDLESEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY."  His death was quite unexpected. We hope you agree that either Hugo had a strangely-shaped head, or the artist, JS, was not very good.

2025: We were contacted by Tom Welsh (author of Fake Heritage) who found this page “a rather understated account of this brilliant antiquary and villain in other respects. The villain acquired treasures in possibly devious ways - he was very much involved in the Cuerdale Hoard, though after the event, and he retained part of the Mold Cape after the rest of it had been acquired by the British Museum. He was particularly remembered as a collector of Bewick printing blocks, and for his part in the affair of the Shadwell Shams, evidently fake lead badges if we believe official accounts, because he exposed the deceptions involved in trying to make out they were forgeries. I gave an account of him in ‘Fake Heritage’ in chapter 8. He seems to have ended up rather an alcoholic, judging from incidents in his time at West Hackney. He really was a character of his day - and might well have been parodied by Dickens if he had known him.”  See also: Charles Reed.

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Rev. Thomas Hugo

Commemorated ati

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