Dr Morgan Thomas big 1903 bequest to South Australia's art gallery (with library, museum) boost to its collection
Surgeon Morgan Thomas made Adelaide Hospital the beneficiary of his first will but changed it to leaving his 1903 bequest to the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, although he'd shown no interest in fine arts or natural history.
One of the most important legacies for the South Australia's art gallery, at that time still aligned under one board with the public library and museum, came in 1903 from the unexpected source of a bequest by Adelaide surgeon Morgan Thomas.
Morgan’s gift would enable the gallery to buy more than 1,000 decorative art objects and paintings and helped create one of Australia’s great public art collections. But there’s no evidence that Thomas was interested in the fine arts – or in natural history but he left about £65,000 to the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery, at that time run by one board. Thomas did frequent the Adelaide circulating library and may have incorrectly believed that the circulating library was conducted by that board.
Thomas was born at Glynneath, Glamorgan, Wales, in 1824 and educated at University College, University of London. In 1847, he became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a licentiate of the society of apothecaries and the next year reached South Australia on the barque Zealous. He applied to be registered as a medical practitioner in 1853 at Macclesfield and was appointed medical officer at Guichen Bay at a salary of £50 with the right of private practice. In 1854, he went to practise at Nairne where he is said to have married and where his wife possibly died.
In 1855. Thomas was appointed first house surgeon at Adelaide Hospital and resident medical officer at the lunatic asylum at a salary of £225 with quarters. He became assistant colonial surgeon but resigned in 1858 and practised in Adelaide. From 1873, he lived in Wakefield Street, Adelaide city.
A recluse living to a routine, Thomas usually lunched in the Hamburg Hotel in Rundle Street, Adelaide city. After the meal, he leant against a hitching-post until exactly 2.30 p.m. when he entered a nearby chemist's shop to chat with its proprietor who witnessed two of Thomas's wills.
He made the Adelaide Hospital the chief beneficiary of his first will but changed his mind after dissension between the medical staff and the South Australian government. In 1901, Thomas made his last will that, subject to legacies of £16,000, left a residue about £65,000 to the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery.. After some debate, the library received half the bequest and the rest was divided between the art gallery and museum.
Thomas was reputed to have inherited money from land in Wales and to have invested wisely in banking and public utilities. He lived frugally and had no debts.
The art gallery’s first purchases of European and Asian ceramics were made with the Morgan Thomas bequest, helping to build the Art gallery’s collection of European and Australian decorative arts is one of the finest in Australia. To mark the centenary of the Morgan Thomas bequest in 2003, the Art Gallery of South Australia put the fund’s remaining balance towards buying a rare watercolor drawing by William Morris. It was the design for the wallpaper Wreath c.1876 and was a key work in the gallery’s William Morris collection that became the largest outside Britain. It was the only original William Morris watercolour drawing in Australia.
