C. Drury E. Fortnum

Charles Drury Edward Fortnum (1820–1899), often known as C. Drury E. Fortnum, was an English art collector and historian, known as a benefactor of the University of Oxford.

Life

Born on 2 March 1820, Fortnum was the surviving son of Charles Fortnum (1770–1860), by his wife Laetitia (née Stevens), widow of Robert Basden of the Royal Navy. Considered to have delicate health, he was privately educated.

In 1840 Fortnum went to South Australia, where he acquired a cattle ranch. He discovered the Montacute copper mine in the Mount Lofty Ranges, ten miles from Adelaide, but made no profit from it. Leaving Australia in 1845, he travelled in Europe, mainly engaged in collecting works of art. On settling in England he became known as an authority. In 1858 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London; and in 1889 a trustee of the British Museum.

Fortnum was an alderman of Middlesex County Council, and a deputy-lieutenant of the county. He was vice-president of the Society of Antiquaries of London and of the Royal Archæological Institute. He died without issue at his residence, the Hill House, Stanmore, Middlesex, on 6 March 1899, and was buried in the Fortnum family vault on the west side of Highgate Cemetery on 11 March.

Collector

Fortnum formed a collection of Australian insects, birds, and reptiles, a number of which he presented to the British Museum, while others went the Hope collection at Oxford. He studied European art history, and appreciated the applied arts of the Italian Renaissance, before John Ruskin had made the area fashionable. His collections included majolica, Hispano-Moresque ware, Luca Della Robbia and bronzes.