Gallery honours benefactor with major exhibition of his legacy

Beverley Museum and Art Gallery, now part of the Treasure House, opened in 1910, the gift of the area's great benefactor John Edward Champney.

Mr Champney, an industrialist who made his fortune in the textile mills of Halifax, also bequeathed some 4,500 books to the library, which he also paid for, including valuable early editions of Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies and a copy of Gulliver's Travels, signed by the illustrator Arthur Rackham.

A major exhibition beginning on August 21 brings together paintings he bequeathed to the East Riding, six he left to the York City Art Gallery and six from Bankfield Museum in Halifax.

Art gallery curator Dr Gerardine Mulcahy said: "This event is expected to be a major attraction for those with an interest in one of the best collections of works in the Pre-Raphaelite mode. This will be the first time the paintings will have been brought together since the collection was broken up in 1929 after his death."

The public events include a series of lectures between September and November with speakers including Dr John Markham, Professor Bernard Richards and Prof John Wilton-Ely.