Eton College Natural History Museum Eton College Natural History Museum The Eton College Natural History Museum is a museum of natural history that is part of Eton College, a public school at Eton, Berkshire near Windsor in England. The museum contains many stuffed animals, plants, fossils and insects. It is located by the archway into the Queens Quad, beside Lower Chapel at the school. It is the only dedicated natural history museum in the county of Berkshire. The museum opened in 1875 to house the Thackeray Collection of British Birds and other collections. It has been located at its current site since 1895. It houses
Eton College in 1861 as a Royal Commission to investigate the state of nine schools in England, including Eton. Questioned by the Commission in 1862, head master Edward Balston came under attack for his view that in the classroom little time could be spared for subjects other than classical studies. The Duke of Wellington is often incorrectly quoted as saying that "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton". Wellington was at Eton from 1781 to 1784 and was to send his sons there. According to Nevill (citing the historian Sir Edward Creasy), what Wellington said, while passing an