Booth Museum of Natural History

The Booth Museum was founded in 1874 by naturalist and collector Edward Thomas Booth. The Victorians were passionate about natural history and Edward Booth’s particular interest was ornithology, the study of birds.

During his lifetime he collected a huge variety of stuffed British birds and dioramas displaying birds in their natural habitat. It was this collection of over 300 cases (with the proviso that the dioramas should not altered) that launched the opening of the museum under Brighton civic ownership in 1891.  The museum now includes insects, plants, and minerals and rocks.

The fossil and bone collections date back to when dinosaurs and woolly rhinos roamed Sussex.