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=W.L.Hildburgh, FSA= Walter Leo Hildburgh (30 March 1876 - 26 November 1955) was a collector and scholar, best known for his donations to the Victoria & Albert Museum and his writings on medieval English alabaster carvings.

Early life and education
Hildburgh was born into a wealthy New York family, whose ancestors had emigrated from Germany in the first half of the 19th century. He studied Electrical Engineering at Columbia University, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1900.  He was elected to the fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries in 1915, and was awarded a D.Litt in the History of Art from the University of London in 1937.

Anthopologist and Ethnographer
In 1900, Hildburgh set off for the Far East, visiting Japan, China and India. This was followed in the next few years by three further visits to the same area, including a lengthy stay in Ceylon, and then travels in the Middle East and Europe. He presented papers on customs and beliefs to the various learned societies he belonged to in London. Nature reported for its readers on his paper for the Royal Anthropological Institute on Sinhalese magic, and the Times was among many newspapers reporting on his japan xxx

Private life
On 19 December 1928, Hildburgh married Agnes Muir Stewart in a Church of Scotland ceremony at St Columba's Church. He was 52, Agnes 46. Agnes formally returned to her maiden name in 1937. News of his death was announced on the BBC on 25th November 1955.

Skating
When an old friend got back in touch with Hildburgh just before he died, she asked two questions in her letter - "Do you skate still? And are you still collecting?". Hildburgh took up figure skating seriously relatively late in life, passing the National Skating Association "gold" level tests aged nearly 40 - after multiple attempts. Before the First World War he was a well known figure in winter sports at St Moritz and Engelberg, and known at the Duchess of Bedford's Princes Skating Club as "The Egg", because of his lack of hair and dome shaped head.  In 1931 he was the United States judge at the ladies event in World Figure Skating Championship in Berlin.

Relationship with the Victoria & Albert Museum
Hildburgh became involved with the Victoria & Albert Museum "on the rebound" - he had given some ironwork to a minor New York museum and was appalled to find when visiting a couple of years later that his gift had been sold. The Keeper of the Metalwork Department, HP Mitchell is credited with interesting him in applying his collecting passion - and resources - to filling gaps in the museum's collections. Including collections bequeathed in his will he eventually donated over 5,000 objects, mostly to the Metalwork and Sculpture departments. In particular, the collections of English eighteenth century sculpture and of Spanish metalwork were formed largely from his purchases.  For many years he had the endearing habit of giving the museum presents - either single or large groups of items - at Christmas time and on his own birthday. To celebrate his seventieth in 1946, he formally handed over nearly 300 English alabaster reliefs or "tables", and they were shown in a special exhibition later that year.

It's poignant to see the "customary New Year gift" replaced at the top of the accessions list in 1958 by his memorial tablet - but pleasing to see more recent purchases made with the aid of the funds in his bequest keeping up the tradition. <