List of directors of the British Museum

The Director of the British Museum is the head of the British Museum in London, a post currently held by Hartwig Fischer. He is responsible for that institution's general administration and reports its accounts to the British Government. The actual governance of the British Museum, however, is delegated to its Board of Trustees.

At the Museum's inception its most senior member of staff was called "Principal Librarian". The job title became "Director and Principal Librarian" in 1898, and "Director" in 1973, on the separation of the British Library from the museum.

Principal Librarian of the British Museum (1756)

• 1756–1772: Gowin Knight FRS
• 1772–1776: Matthew Maty
• 1776–1799: Charles Morton
• 1799–1827: Joseph Planta FRS
• 1827–1856: Sir Henry Ellis
• 1856–1866: Sir Anthony Panizzi
• 1866–1873: John Winter Jones
• 1873–1888: Sir Edward Augustus Bond KCB
• 1888–1898: Sir Edward Maunde Thompson GCB

Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum (1898)

• 1898–1909: Sir Edward Maunde Thompson GCB
• 1909–1931: Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD
• 1931–1936: Sir George Francis Hill KCB
• 1936–1950: Sir John Forsdyke KCB
• 1950–1959: Sir Thomas Downing Kendrick KCB
• 1959–1969: Sir Frank Francis KCB
• 1969–1974 John Wolfenden CBE

Director of the British Museum (1973)

• 1974–1977: Sir John Pope-Hennessy CBE
• 1977–1992: Sir David M. Wilson
• 1992–2002: Robert Anderson
• 2002–2015: Neil MacGregor, OM AO FSA
• 2016–present: Hartwig Fischer

See also

• List of Trustees of the British Museum