View source for Hans Sloane

{{Short description|Anglo-Irish physician, naturalist and collector (1660–1753)}}
{{About|the physician and collector|the Member of Parliament|Hans Sloane (MP)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name              = Sir Hans Sloane
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|Bt|FRS}}
| image             = Stephen Slaughter (1697-1765) - Sir Hans Sloane, Bt - NPG 569 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg
| image_size        = 220
| caption           = Portrait by [[Stephen Slaughter]]
| office1 = President of the Royal Society
| order1 = 13th
| term_start1 = 1727
| term_end1 = 1741
| predecessor1 = [[Isaac Newton]]
| successor1 = [[Martin Folkes]]
| office2 = [[Royal College of Physicians|President of the Royal College of Physicians]]
| order2 = 
| term_start2 = 1719
| term_end2 = 1735
| predecessor2 = John Bateman
| successor2 = Thomas Pellett
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1660|4|16|df=yes}}
| birth_place       = [[Killyleagh]], [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1753|1|11|1660|4|16|df=yes}}
| death_place       = [[London]], England
| resting_place     = [[Chelsea Old Church]]
| residence         = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       =  British
|module = {{Infobox scientist| embed = yes
| fields            = 
| workplaces        = 
| alma_mater        = 
| known_for         = Physician<br />Philanthropist<br />Entrepreneur<br />Investor<br />[[Chelsea Physic Garden]]<br />[[British Museum]]<ref name="bmus"/>
<br />[[Sloane Square]]<br />[[Hot chocolate|Sloane's drinking chocolate]]
| author_abbrev_bot = 
| author_abbrev_zoo = 
| awards            = [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] (1685)
| signature         = <!-- (filename only) -->
| signature_alt     = 
| spouse            = Elisabeth Sloane (née Langley)
| children          = 
}}
}}

'''Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}} (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753) was an Anglo-Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the [[British Museum]], the [[British Library]], and the [[Natural History Museum, London]].<ref name="irishtimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/the-irishman-who-invented-milk-chocolate-and-served-the-royal-family-1.3560087|title=The Irishman who 'invented' milk chocolate, and served the royal family|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref><ref name=removal/>

Elected to the [[Royal Society]] at the age of 24,<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Sloane, Sir Hans, baronet (1660–1753), physician and collector |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-25730 |access-date=2024-02-08 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/25730 |last1=MacGregor |first1=Arthur |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref> Sloane travelled to the Caribbean in 1687 and documented his travels and findings with extensive publications years later. Sloane was a renowned medical doctor among the aristocracy, and was elected to the [[Royal College of Physicians]] at age 27.<ref name="nytimes.com" /> Though he is credited with the invention of [[chocolate milk]], it is more likely that he learned the practice of adding milk to drinking chocolate while living and working in Jamaica.<ref name="injamaica">{{Cite web | url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chocolate-milk-was-invented-jamaica-180949734/ | title=Chocolate Milk Was Invented in Jamaica |website=Smithsonian Magazine |author=Rose Eveleth |author-link=Rose Eveleth |date=12 February 2014}}</ref> Streets and places were later named after him, including [[Hans Place]], Hans Crescent, and [[Sloane Square]] in and around [[Chelsea, London]]—the area of his final residence—and also Sir Hans Sloane Square in [[Killyleagh]], his birthplace in [[Ulster]].<ref name="AutoYD-1" /><ref name="AutoYD-2" /><ref name="AutoYD-3" /><ref name="AutoYD-4" /><ref name="AutoYD-5" /><ref name="AutoYD-6" /><ref name="AutoYD-7" />

Sloane's London estate was bequeathed to his daughter, Elizabeth, who was married to [[Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan|the 2nd Baron Cadogan]], in which family the estate remains.

== Early life and family ==
Sloane was born into a family of partial [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster-Scots]] descent on 16 April 1660 at [[Killyleagh]], a village on the south-western shores of [[Strangford Lough]] in [[County Down]] in [[Ulster]], the northern [[Provinces of Ireland|province]] in [[Ireland]]. He was the seventh and last child of Alexander Sloane, who died when Hans was six years old. Alexander Sloane was a collector general of taxes for County Down and an agent for the [[James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Clanbrassil (first creation)|Earl of Clanbrassil]]. His brother, James Sloane, was a Member of the Irish Parliament. It is said that Sarah Hicks (Hans's mother) was an Englishwoman who moved to Killyleagh as Anne Carey's companion when Anne married Lord Clanbrassil. Sloane's paternal family were [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster-Scots]], having migrated from [[Ayrshire]] in the south-west of [[Scotland]]; they settled in east Ulster during the [[Plantations of Ireland|Plantation]] of [[County Antrim|Antrim]] and [[County Down|Down]], which was slightly separate from the wider [[Plantation of Ulster]], under [[King James VI and I]]. The Sloane children, including Hans, were taken up by the Hamilton (or Clanbrassil) family and had much of their early tuition within the [[Killyleagh Castle]] library. Out of Alexander's sons, only three reached adulthood: Hans, William, and James. The graveyards of Henry and John Sloane can be found in Killyleagh's churchyard; both brothers died in their childhood. The eldest brother James was elected a Member of Parliament for [[Roscommon]] and Killyleagh in 1692. John Sloane later became an MP of [[Thetford]] and a barrister of the [[Inner Temple]], spending most of his time in London.

Like many other Scots "[[Plantation of Ulster|Planters]]" in Ulster during the seventeenth-century, the Sloane name was almost certainly of [[Gaels|Gaelic]] origin, Sloane probably being an anglicisation of ''Ó Sluagháin''.<ref>Robert Bell, ''The Book of Ulster Surnames'', p. 232 (paperback edition). [[The Blackstaff Press]], [[Belfast]], 2003.</ref><ref>[[Edward MacLysaght]], ''The Surnames of Ireland'', p. 275 (paperback edition). Irish Academic Press, [[Dublin]], 2001 (reprint of the Sixth Edition).</ref><ref>[[Flann Ó Riain]], 'Where's That? – [[Ballyrashane]]'. ''[[The Irish Times]]'', [[Dublin]], Monday, 9 July 2001.</ref>

As a youth, Sloane collected objects of natural history and other curiosities. This led him to the study of medicine, which he did in London, where he studied botany, ''[[materia medica]]'', surgery and pharmacy. His collecting habits made him useful to [[John Ray]] and [[Robert Boyle]].  After four years in London he travelled through France, spending some time at [[Paris, France|Paris]] and [[Montpellier]], and stayed long enough at the University of Orange-Nassau<ref name="bmus"/> to take his MD degree there in 1683; he was hired as an assistant to prominent physician [[Thomas Sydenham]] who gave the young man valuable introductions to practice.<ref name="irishtimes.com"/> He returned to London with a considerable collection of plants and other curiosities, of which the former were sent to Ray and utilised by him for his ''History of Plants''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

== Voyage to the Caribbean and the creation of chocolate milk ==
[[File:Hans Sloane00.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Title page, Sloane's ''Voyage to Jamaica'', 1725]]
Sloane was elected to the Royal Society in 1685.<ref name="Carter"/> In 1687, he became a fellow of the College of Physicians, and the same year went to [[Jamaica]] aboard {{HMS|Assistance|1660|6}} as personal physician to the new [[List of Governors of Jamaica|Governor of Jamaica]], the [[Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle|2nd Duke of Albemarle]].<ref name="Carter"/> Albemarle died in Jamaica the next year, 1688, so Sloane's visit lasted only fifteen months.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

During his time in the Caribbean, Sloane visited several islands and collected more than 1,000 plant specimens as well as large supplies of [[Cocoa bean|cacao]] and Peruvian bark from which he later extracted [[quinine]] to treat eye ailments. Sloane noted about 800 new species of plants, which he catalogued in [[Latin]] in his ''Catalogus Plantarum Quae in Insula Jamaica Sponte Proveniunt'' (Catalogue of Jamaican Plants), published in 1696. His first writings about his trip appeared in the ''[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]]'', in which Sloane described Jamaican plants such as the Pepper Tree and the coffee-shrub, alongside accounts of the earthquakes that struck Lima in 1687 and Jamaica in 1687/1688 and 1692. In Sloane's work, ''Natural History of Jamaica'', he describes for the Queen of England the Black [[Ethnomusicology|ethnomusic]] of [[Jamaica]]. With the help of a local musician, he included the musical score and words of festival songs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Farr |first1=Mary |title=From Hans Sloane to Bluegrass Music |journal=Lecale Review |date=2022 |issue=20}}</ref>
*{{cite book|last=Sloane|first=Hans|title=A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgQLv7aJN4cC|volume=1|year=1707|publisher=Sloane|display-authors=0}}
*{{cite book|last=Sloane|first=Hans |author-link=Hans Sloane|title=A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, St Christophers and Jamaica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYr4e1yuwCwC|volume=2|year=1725|publisher=Sloane|display-authors=0}}
Sloane married Elizabeth Langley Rose, the widow of [[Fulke Rose]] of Jamaica, and daughter of [[Alderman]] [[John Langley (MP)|John Langley]], a wealthy heiress of [[Sugar plantations in the Caribbean|sugar plantations in Jamaica]] worked by slaves.<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref name="britishmuseum.org1">{{cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/sir-hans-sloane|title=Sir Hans Sloane|website=British Museum}}</ref> The couple had three daughters, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth,{{efn|1695 – 20 May 1768}} and one son, Hans; only Sarah and Elizabeth survived infancy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Elisabeth Langley Rose|url=https://exploring-london.com/tag/elisabeth-langley-rose/|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Exploring London|date=4 July 2011 }}</ref> Sarah married George Stanley of Paultons and Elizabeth married Charles Cadogan, who became [[Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan|2nd Baron Cadogan]]. Once back in Britain, income from Sloane's career as a physician and his London property investments, coupled with Elizabeth's inheritance, enabled Sloane to build his substantial collection of natural history artefacts in the following decades. Sloane additionally had investments in the [[Royal African Company|Royal African]] and [[South Sea Company|South Sea Companies]], both of which traded in slaves.<ref name="Canavan"/>

[[File:Acta Eruditorum - III botanica fisica, 1710 – BEIC 13375088.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration from critique of the first volume of ''A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica'', published in ''[[Acta Eruditorum]]'', 1710]]

The Natural History Museum lists Sloane as the inventor of drinking chocolate with milk. However, according to historian [[James Delbourgo]], the Jamaicans were brewing "a hot beverage brewed from shavings of freshly harvested cacao, boiled with milk and cinnamon" as far back as 1494.<ref name="injamaica" /> Sloane encountered the cocoa bean while he was in Jamaica, where the local people drank it mixed with water, though he is reported to have found it nauseating. Many recipes for mixing chocolate with spice, eggs, sugar and milk were in circulation by the seventeenth century. Sloane may have devised his own recipe for mixing chocolate with milk, though if so, he was probably not the first. (Some sources credit [[Daniel Peter]] as the inventor in 1875, using condensed milk; other sources point out that milk was added to chocolate centuries earlier in some countries.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbi6BwAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets|first=Sidney|last=Mintz|page=524|publisher=Oxford University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9780199313396|year=2015}}</ref>) By the 1750s, a Soho grocer named Nicholas Sanders claimed to be selling Sloane's recipe as a medicinal elixir, perhaps making "Sir Hans Sloane's Milk Chocolate" the first brand-name milk chocolate drink. By the nineteenth century, the [[George Cadbury|Cadbury Brothers]] sold tins of drinking chocolate whose trade cards also invoked Sloane's recipe.<ref name="AutoYD-9" /><ref name="Sloane" />

In 1707 Sloane listed the variety of punishments inflicted on slaves in Jamaica. For rebellion, slaves were usually punished "by nailing them down to the ground ... and then applying the fire by degrees from the feet and hands, burning them gradually up to the head, whereby their pains are extravagant." For lesser crimes, castration or mutilation ("chopping off half the foot") was the norm. And as for negligence, slaves "are usually whipt ... after they are whipt until they are raw, some put on their skins pepper and salt to make them smart; at other times their masters will drip melted wax on their skins, and use very exquisite torments."<ref>{{cite book|last=Bakan|first=Abigail|title=Ideology and Class Conflict in Jamaica: The Politics of Rebellion|publisher=Montreal|year=1990|page=22}}</ref>

== Society physician ==
[[File:Hans Sloane by Stephen Slaughter, 1736, National Portrait Gallery, London.JPG|thumb|upright|Sloane, 1736]]

Sloane started his own practice in 1689 at 3 Bloomsbury Place, London,<ref name="britishmuseum.org1"/> Sloane worked among the upper classes where he was viewed as fashionable; he built a large practice which became lucrative. The physician served three successive sovereigns: [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], [[George I of Great Britain|George I]], and [[George II of Great Britain|George II]].

There was some criticism of Sloane during his lifetime as a mere "virtuoso", an undiscriminating collector who lacked understanding of scientific principles.<ref name=bljabs>{{cite web |url=https://www.bl.uk/eblj/1988articles/article1.html |title=Sir Hans Sloane, scientist – Abstract |website=British Library Journal |date=1988 |author=Maarten Ultee |access-date=11 July 2018 |archive-date=19 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919070528/http://www.bl.uk/eblj/1988articles/article1.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> One critic stated that he was merely interested in the collection of knick-knacks, and another called him the "foremost toyman of his time".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/16/collecting-world-hans-sloane-british-museum|title=Collecting the World by James Delbourgo review – Hans Sloane's 'nicknackatory' and the founding of the British Museum|first=Kathryn|last=Hughes|date=16 June 2017|work=The Guardian}}</ref> Sir [[Isaac Newton]] described Sloane as "a villain and rascal" and "a very tricking fellow".<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/545410a.pdf?origin=ppub|title=The life and times of a curiosity-monger – a biography of Enlightenment collector and Royal Society president Hans Sloane (review)|author=Henry Nicholls|journal=Nature|date= 25 May 2017|volume=545|pages=410–411}}</ref> Some believed that his true achievement was in making friends in high society and with important political figures, rather than in science.<ref name="nytimes.com"/> Even as a physician, he did not get a great deal of respect from many, being seen as primarily a seller of medications and a collector of curios. Sloane's only medical publication, an ''Account of a Medicine for Soreness, Weakness and other Distempers of the Eyes'' (London, 1745), was not published until its author was in his eighty-fifth year and had retired from practice.<ref name=blj/>

[[File:Arms of Sloane of Chelsea.png|thumb|150px|The coat of arms of Sir Hans Sloane<ref>{{cite book|title=A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies of England|url=https://www.google.cz/books/edition/A_genealogical_and_heraldic_history_of_t/K1kBAAAAQAAJ?hl=cs&gbpv=1}}</ref>]]
In 1716 Sloane was created a baronet, making him the first medical practitioner to receive a hereditary title. In 1719 he became president of the [[Royal College of Physicians]], holding the office for sixteen years. In 1722 he was appointed physician-general to the army, and in 1727 first physician to George II.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

He was elected president of Royal College of Physicians in 1719 and served in that role until 1735.<ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Hans-Sloane-Baronet|title=Sir Hans Sloane, Baronet &#124; British Physician & Naturalist &#124; Britannica|date=7 January 2024|website=www.britannica.com}}</ref> He became secretary to the Royal Society in 1693,<ref name="AutoYD-10"/> and edited its ''Philosophical Transactions'' for twenty years. In 1727 he succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as president. He retired from the Society at the age of eighty.<ref name="britishmuseum.org1"/>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

Sloane's role as First Secretary and later President of the Royal Society, a period which included his revitalising editorship of the ''Philosophical Transactions'', permitted Sloane little time for progressing his own scientific research,<ref name=blj>{{cite web |url=https://www.bl.uk/eblj/1988articles/pdf/article1.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826105512/http://www.bl.uk/eblj/1988articles/pdf/article1.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-26 |url-status=live|title=Sir Hans Sloane, scientist|website=British Library Journal|date=1988 |author= Maarten Ultee}}</ref>{{rp|6}} which led to the criticism of Sloane as a mere "virtuoso".

Aside from his service as Royal Physician, Sloane's true achievement during his time at the Royal Society was in acting as a conduit between the worlds of science, politics and high society.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news|last=Boucher|first=Bruce|date=2017-09-08|title=The Man Whose Cabinet of Curios Helped Start the British Museum|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/books/review/james-delbourgo-collecting-the-world-hans-sloane-biography.html|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Sloane's time in France at the beginning of his career later enabled him to fulfil the role of intermediary between British and French scientists, fostering the sharing of knowledge between the two countries at the height of the [[Age of Enlightenment]]. Notables from that period who visited Sloane to view his collection include the Swiss anatomist [[Albrecht von Haller]], [[Voltaire]], [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[Carl Linnaeus]].<ref>ULTEE, MAARTEN. “SIR HANS SLOANE, SCIENTIST.” The British Library Journal, vol. 14, no. 1, 1988, pp. 1–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42554034. Accessed 24 Nov. 2023, p. 9</ref><ref name=blj/>{{rp|9}}

In 1745, at the age of eighty-five, and after having retired from medical practice, Sloane published his first medical work, ''Account of a Medicine for Soreness, Weakness and other Distempers of the Eyes'' (London, 1745).{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

During his life, Sloane was a correspondent of the French [[French Academy of Sciences|Académie Royale des Sciences]] and was named foreign associate in 1709, in addition to being a foreign member of the academies of science in Prussia, Saint Petersburg, Madrid and Göttingen.<ref name="sloaneletters.com"/>

===Charity work===
Sloane helped out at [[Christ's Hospital]] from 1694 to 1730 and donated his salary back to that institution. He also supported the Royal College of Physicians' dispensary of inexpensive medications and operated a free surgery every morning.<ref name="sloaneletters.com"/>

He was a founding governor of London's [[Foundling Hospital]], the nation's first institution to care for abandoned children. [[Inoculation]] was required for all children in its care; Sloane was one of the physicians of that era who promoted inoculation as a method to prevent [[smallpox]], using it on his own family and promoting it to the royal family.<ref>{{cite journal|title=A visit to the Foundling Museum|first=Marini|last=Edwards|date=1 July 2010|journal=London Journal of Primary Care|volume=3|issue=1|pages=62–63|doi=10.1080/17571472.2010.11493300|pmc=3960684|pmid=25949622}}</ref><ref name="sloaneletters.com">{{Cite web|title=Introducing Sir Hans Sloane – the Sloane Letters Project|url=http://sloaneletters.com/about-sir-hans-sloane/}}</ref> He had been introduced to the concept of inoculation by [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]] in the court of [[Caroline of Ansbach|Queen Caroline]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crilly |first1=Dr Elizabeth |title=Sir Hans Sloane: Scientist? |journal=Lecale Review |date=2022 |issue=20}}</ref>

== The British Museum and Chelsea Physic Garden ==
[[File:Old and new London - a narrative of its history, its people, and its places (1873) (14778355285).jpg|thumb|left|The Tudor House of his [[Chelsea Manor]].]]
[[File:Bust of Sir Hans Sloane (1730s) by Michael Rysbrack, currently housed in the British Museum in London (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of Sloane by [[Michael Rysbrack]] (1730s) in the [[British Museum]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/british-museum-sloane-bust|title=Debate flares as British Museum moves bust of slave-owning founder Hans Sloane|first=Gareth|last=Harris|date=August 25, 2020|newspaper=The Art Newspaper|access-date=August 28, 2020}}</ref>]]
[[File:Hans Sloane bust.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust by [[Michael Rysbrack]], main foyer, [[British Library]]<!-- date needed -->]]

Sloane's purchase of the [[Chelsea Manor|manor of Chelsea]], London, in 1712, provided the grounds for the [[Chelsea Physic Garden]].

Over his lifetime, Sloane collected over 71,000 objects: books, manuscripts, drawings, coins and medals, plant specimens and others.<ref name="exploring-london.com">{{cite web|title=Elisabeth Langley Rose – Exploring London|url=https://exploring-london.com/tag/elisabeth-langley-rose/|website=exploring-london.com|date=4 July 2011 }}</ref> His great stroke as a collector was to acquire in 1702 (by bequest, conditional on paying of certain debts) the cabinet of curiosities owned by [[William Courten]], who had made collecting the business of his life.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="Kusukawa2016">{{cite journal|last1=Kusukawa|first1=Sachiko|title=William Courten's lists of 'Things Bought' from the late seventeenth century|journal=Journal of the History of Collections|year=2016|pages=fhv040|issn=0954-6650|doi=10.1093/jhc/fhv040|url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/254200}}</ref><ref name="Walmsley2003">{{cite book|last=Walmsley|first=Peter |title=Locke's Essay and the Rhetoric of Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZrQzWzisAvMC&pg=PA160|year=2003|publisher=Bucknell University Press|isbn=978-0-8387-5543-3|pages=160–}}</ref>

When Sloane retired in 1741, his library and cabinet of curiosities, which he took with him from [[Bloomsbury]] to his house in Chelsea, had grown to be of unique value.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He had acquired the extensive natural history collections of William Courten, Cardinal [[Filippo Antonio Gualterio (cardinal)|Filippo Antonio Gualterio]], [[James Petiver]], [[Nehemiah Grew]], [[Leonard Plukenet]], the [[Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort (1630–1715)|Duchess of Beaufort]], [[Adam Buddle]], [[Paul Hermann (botanist)|Paul Hermann]], [[Franz Kiggelaer]] and [[Herman Boerhaave]].

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Sir Hans Sloane Monument.jpg|thumb|upright|Sloane's monument at [[Chelsea Old Church]]]]

In his final year, Sir Hans Sloane suffered from a disorder with some paralysis.<ref name="sloaneletters.com"/> He died on the afternoon of 11 January 1753 at the [[Chelsea Manor|Manor House]], Chelsea, and was buried on 18 January{{sfn|Preston|1854|p=13-}} in the south-east corner of the churchyard at [[Chelsea Old Church]] with a memorial inscribed as follows:<blockquote>To the memory of SIR HANS SLOANE BAR<sup>T</sup> President of the Royal Society, and of the College of Physicians; who in the year of our Lord 1753, the 92<sup>d</sup> of his age, without the least pain of body and with a conscious serenity of mind, ended a virtuous and beneficent life. This monument was erected by his two daughters ELIZA CADOGAN and SARAH STANLEY</blockquote>

His grave is shared with his wife Elisabeth, who died on 17 September 1724.

On his death he bequeathed<ref name="bmus"/> his books, manuscripts, prints, drawings, flora, fauna, medals, coins, seals, cameos and other curiosities to the nation, on condition that Parliament should pay his executors for a sum of £20,000 ({{inflation|UK|20000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) to be paid to his heirs<ref>{{cite web |title=Creating a Great Museum: Early Collectors and The British Museum |url=http://www.fathom.com/course/21701728/session1.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102202555/http://www.fathom.com/course/21701728/session1.html |archive-date=2 January 2010 |access-date=4 July 2010 |publisher=Fathom |df=dmy-all}}</ref>—intentionally far less than the estimated value of the artefacts, contemporarily estimated at £50,000 ({{inflation|UK|50000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) or more according to some sources, and up to £80,000 ({{inflation|UK|80000|1753|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) or more by others.<ref name="sloaneletters.com2">{{Cite web |title=Introducing Sir Hans Sloane – the Sloane Letters Project |url=http://sloaneletters.com/about-sir-hans-sloane/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Hans Sloane's Will of 1739 – The Sloane Letters Project |url=http://sloaneletters.com/will-sloane/ |website=sloaneletters.com}}</ref> The bequest was accepted on those terms by an act passed the same year, and the collection, together with George II's royal library, and other objects.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="britishmuseum.org1"/> A significant proportion of this collection was later to become the foundation for the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]]. When Sloane wrote his will not only did he say he wanted to sell his work to the Parliament for 20,000 pounds, he also stated that he wanted his work to be seen by anyone who wanted to see it.<ref name="Boissoneault">{{Cite web|last=Boissoneault|first=Lorraine|date=October 30, 2017|title=The British Museum Was a Wonder of Its Time—But Also a Product of Slavery|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/british-museum-was-wonder-its-time-also-product-slavery-180966997/|access-date=2020-11-02|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en}}</ref>  The Curators thought that only scholars and the upper class were allowed to see the collection. They weren't comfortable with the idea that the lower class was able to come to the museum and look at the collection because they didn't think that lower class citizens were worthy. The Curators believed that learning was a privilege that only the upper class had.<ref name="Boissoneault"/>

He also gave the Society of Apothecaries the land of the Chelsea Physic Garden which they had rented from the Chelsea estate since 1673.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref>{{NHLE|num=1000147|desc=CHELSEA PHYSIC GARDEN, Kensington and Chelsea|access-date=11 July 2018}}</ref>

A life-size statue of Sloane was erected in the town square of [[Killyleagh]], the town in which he was born.<ref name="Canavan"/>

===Controversy===
In August 2020, a bust of Sloane in the British Museum's Enlightenment Gallery was moved by the museum.<ref name="Canavan"/><ref name=removal>{{cite news|title=British Museum removes founder's statue over slavery links|agency=[[PA Media]]|date=August 25, 2020|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/aug/25/british-museum-removes-founder-hans-sloane-statue-over-slavery-links}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=25 August 2020|title=British Museum holt Büste seines Gründungsvaters Hans Sloane vom Sockel |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/british-museum-holt-bueste-seines-gruenders-hans-sloane-vom-sockel-a-1c159bf1-796b-43c3-bc8c-d0e9526d86e8 |access-date=2020-08-26 |website=www.spiegel.de |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-25|title=British Museum removes bust of slave-owning founder Sir Hans Sloane |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/british-museum-hans-sloane-removed-bust-black-lives-matter-protests-slavery-a9686891.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220509/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/british-museum-hans-sloane-removed-bust-black-lives-matter-protests-slavery-a9686891.html |archive-date=9 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=2020-08-25 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> The decision came as part of that year's [[List of monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests|wave of removals of monuments to those who had benefited from slavery]]. ''[[History Ireland]]'' contributor Tony Canavan, writing of the decision and observing the fact that the Sloane family had moved to Ireland from Scotland during the [[Plantation of Ulster]] (or, more correctly, during the Plantation of Antrim and Down), noted that "the fact that Sloane came from a Scots-Irish family who benefited from [[Plantations of Ireland|a different kind of plantation]], following the expulsion of natives and the confiscation of their land, [which seemed] never to have been an issue".<ref name="Canavan"/>

===Places named after Sloane===
[[File:Hans Crescent on Harrods copy.jpg|thumb|upright|Hans Crescent street-sign on [[Harrods]] building, [[Knightsbridge]]]]
[[Sloane Square]], [[Sloane Street]], [[Sloane Avenue]], Sloane Grammar School<ref name="AutoYD-11"/> and Sloane Gardens in the [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea]] are named after Sloane. His first name is given to Hans Street, Hans Crescent, Hans Place and Hans Road, all of which are also situated in the Royal Borough.<ref name="exploring-london.com"/>

=== Plants and animals named after Sloane ===
* ''[[Sloanea]]'', a plant [[genus]], was named after him by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]].
* ''[[Urania sloanus]]'', a [[species]] of moth.
* ''[[Spondylurus sloanii]]'', a species of lizard, was named in his honour by [[François Marie Daudin|Daudin]].{{sfn |Beolens |Watkins |Grayson |2011|p=246}}
* ''[[Sloane's viperfish|Chauliodus sloani]]'', a species of deep sea fish found across the world.<ref name="viperfish">{{cite web | url = https://britishseafishing.co.uk/sloanes-viperfish/ | title = Sloane's Viperfish | publisher = britishseafishing.co.uk | access-date = 28 June 2019 | archive-date = 28 June 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190628215353/https://britishseafishing.co.uk/sloanes-viperfish/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[British Library Leyden Medical Dissertations Collection]]
* [[George Edwards (naturalist)|George Edwards]]
* [[Levinus Vincent]]
* [[Thomas Thistlewood]]
* [[List of presidents of the Royal Society]]

{{botanist|Sloane|Sloane, Hans}}

== Notes ==
{{notelist|30em}}

== References ==
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="bmus">{{Cite journal | author = Anon| doi = 10.1001/jama.1969.03150180073016 | title = Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) founder of the British Museum | journal = {{abbr|JAMA| The Journal of the American Medical Association }}| volume = 207 | issue = 5 | page = 943| year = 1969 | pmid = 4884737}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-1">{{cite journal | first1=J. M. | last1=Ford | title=Medical Memorial. Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753) | journal=Journal of Medical Biography | year=2003 | volume=11 | issue=3 | pages=180 | doi=10.1177/096777200301100314 | pmid=12870044| s2cid=26632322 }}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-2">{{cite journal | first1=N. | last1=McIntyre | title=Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) | journal=Journal of Medical Biography | year=2001 | volume=9 | issue=4 | pages=235 | doi=10.1177/096777200100900409 | pmid=11718127| s2cid=26749508 }}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-3">{{cite journal | first1=P. M. | last1=Dunn | title=Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) and the value of breast milk | journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition | year=2001 | volume=85 | issue=1 | pages=F73–F74 | doi=10.1136/fn.85.1.F73 | pmc=1721277 | pmid=11420330}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-4">{{cite journal | doi=10.1001/archopht.118.11.1567 | doi-access=free | first1=J. G. | last1=Ravin | title=Sir Hans Sloane's contributions to ocular therapy, scientific journalism, and the creation of the British Museum | journal=Archives of Ophthalmology | year=2000 | volume=118 | issue=11 | pages=1567–1573 | pmid=11074814}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-5">{{cite journal | first1=A. S. | last1=Mason | title=Hans Sloane and his friends. The FitzPatrick Lecture 1993 | journal=Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London | year=1993 | volume=27 | issue=4 | pages=450–455 | pmc=5396686 | pmid=8289170}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-6">{{cite journal | first1=E. C. | last1=Nelson | title=Charles Lucas' letter (1736) to Sir Hans Sloane about the natural history of the Burren, County Clare | journal=Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons | year=1992 | volume=21 | issue=2 | pages=126–131 | pmid=11616186}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-7">{{cite journal | first1=W. B. | last1=Ober | title=Sir Hans Sloane, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.S. (1660–1753) and the British Museum | journal=New York State Journal of Medicine | year=1968 | volume=68 | issue=11 | pages=1422–1430 | pmid=4872002}}</ref>

<ref name="Canavan">{{Cite journal|last=Canavan|first=Tony|title=Hans Sloane Bust Removed|journal=[[History Ireland]]|volume=28|issue=6|year=2020|pages=11}}</ref>

<ref name="Carter">{{cite journal|last=Carter|first=Harold B.|date=July 1995|title=The Royal Society and the Voyage of HMS Endeavour 1768–71|journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London|volume=49|issue=2|pages=245–260|doi=10.1098/rsnr.1995.0026|jstor=532013|s2cid=72073862 |doi-access=}}<!--| access-date =30 August 2014 --></ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-9">{{Cite journal|url = http://history.rutgers.edu/docman-docs/pdf-documents/304-faculty-profile-james-delbourgo-hans-sloan-article/file|title = Sir Hans Sloane's Milk Chocolate and the Whole History of the Cacao|last = Delbourgo|first = James|author-link = James Delbourgo|date = 2011|journal = Social Text|volume = 29|pages = 71–101|doi = 10.1215/01642472-1210274|archive-date = 23 June 2016|access-date = 22 November 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160623234621/http://history.rutgers.edu/docman-docs/pdf-documents/304-faculty-profile-james-delbourgo-hans-sloan-article/file|url-status = dead|url-access = subscription}}</ref>

<ref name="Sloane">{{cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/collections/botanical-collections/sloane-herbarium/about-sloane/index.html|title=About Sir Hans Sloane|publisher=The Natural History Museum|access-date=3 October 2015}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-10">{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21723086-new-biography-founder-british-museum-natural-history-museum-and|title=The life and curiosity of Sir Hans Sloane|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=19 July 2017|date=8 June 2017}}</ref>

<ref name="AutoYD-11">Ex Student</ref>
}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
*{{cite book|last1=Beolens|first1=Bo |last2=Watkins|first2=Michael |last3=Grayson|first3=Michael |title=The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ovZoFyLhzkC&pg=PA246|year=2011|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1-4214-0135-5}}
* {{cite book|last=Brooks|first=Eric St. John |title=Sir Hans Sloane: the great collector and his circle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNE6AAAAMAAJ|year=1954|publisher=Batchworth Press}}
* {{cite book|last=Preston|first=Henry C. |title=The Life of North American Insects: Illustrated by Numerous Colored Engravings and Narratives|url=https://archive.org/details/lifenorthameric01presgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifenorthameric01presgoog/page/n25 13]|year=1854|publisher=Sayles, Miller and Simons, printers}}
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Sloane, Sir Hans|volume=25|page=243}} <!-- needs to be replaced by new writing and citations -->
* {{cite book|last=De Beer|first=Sir Gavin |author-link=Gavin de Beer|title=Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Iu7nQEACAAJ|year=1953|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London}}
* {{cite journal|first=Jack A. |last=Clarke|title=Sir Hans Sloane and Abbé Jean Paul Bignon: Notes on Collection Building in the Eighteenth Century|journal= The Library Quarterly|volume= 50|issue= 4|date=Oct 1980|pages=475–482|jstor=4307275|doi=10.1086/601019|s2cid=144688406}}
* Lyons, J. 2008. p.&nbsp;53 – 54. The Life and Times of a famous Ulsterman. Copeland Report for 2008. Copeland Bird Observatory
* {{cite book|last=Weld|first=Charles Richard |author-link=Charles Richard Weld|title=A history of the Royal Society: with memoirs of the presidents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CUEAAAAQAAJ|year=1848|publisher=Parker|location=London|volume=1|page=450}}
* {{cite book|last=Munk|first=William |author-link=William Munk|title=The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London; Compiled from the Annals of the College and from Other Authentic Sources|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zAdMAAAAcAAJ|edition=2nd|volume=1|year=1861|publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts|location=London|page=466}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* [[Jenny Uglow]], "Collecting for the Glory of God" (review of [[James Delbourgo]], ''Collecting the World:  Hans Sloane and the Origins of the [[British Museum]]'', [[Belknap Press]]/[[Harvard University Press]], 2017), ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'', vol. LXIV, no. 15 (12 October 2017), pp.&nbsp;34–36.
*{{cite book|last=Delbourgo|first=James |title=Collecting the World: The Life and Curiosity of Hans Sloane|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pjHeDQAAQBAJ|year=2017|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0-7181-9444-4}}
*MacGregor, Arthur. 1994. ''Sir Hans Sloane: Collector Scientist Antiquary Founding Father of the British Museum.'' London: Published for the Trustees of the British Museum by British Museum Press in association with Alistair McAlpine.
*Ortolja-Baird, Alexandra. 2021. [https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/lih.2021.0046?src=recsys "''Chaos naturae et artis'': Imitation, Innovation and Improvisation in Sir Hans Sloane’s library. Part Two".] ''Library and Information History.''
*Ortolja-Baird, Alexandra. 2020. [https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/full/10.3366/lih.2021.0046?src=recsys "''Chaos naturae et artis'': Imitation, Innovation and Improvisation in Sir Hans Sloane’s library. Part One".] ''Library and Information History''.
*Walker, Alison, Arthur MacGregor, and Michael Hunter. 2012. ''From Books to Bezoars : Sir Hans Sloane and His Collections.'' London: British Library.

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{commons|Hans Sloane|Hans Sloane}}
* {{BHL author|780}}
* [https://reconstructingsloane.org/ Reconstructing Sloane: Consortium for Sloane research]
* [https://archive.org/details/indsloanemanuscr00scottuoft "Index to the Sloane manuscripts in the British Museum", in the British Museum in various formats, at Archive.org]
* [http://www.botanicus.org/title/b12082429 A Voyage… on Botanicus]
* [http://www.botanicus.org/title/b12077926 Catalogus Plantarum...on Botanicus]
* [http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/sloane The Sloane Printed Books Catalogue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810141856/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/sloane/ |date=10 August 2014 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140407231531/https://drc.usask.ca/projects/sloaneletters/doku.php?id=start Sloane Correspondence Online]
* [http://www.sloaneletters.com Sloane Letters Blog]
* [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/sloane/index.html "Voyage to the Islands: Hans Sloane, Slavery and Scientific Travel in the Caribbean", John Carter Brown Library online exhibition] [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/sloane/index.html]
* [http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/the_museums_story/general_history/sir_hans_sloane.aspx British Museum: Sir Hans Sloane]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|gb-bt}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title=Baronet<br />'''(of Chelsea)'''| years=1716–1753}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{succession box | title=[[Royal College of Physicians|President of Royal College of Physicians]]| before=John Bateman | after=[[Thomas Pellett]] | years=1719–1735}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Isaac Newton]]}}
{{s-ttl|order=13th|title=President of the [[Royal Society]]|years=1727–1741}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Martin Folkes]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians}}
{{Royal Society presidents 1700s}}
{{Natural history}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sloane, Hans}}
[[Category:1660 births]]
[[Category:1753 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century Irish medical doctors]]
[[Category:18th-century English medical doctors]]
[[Category:18th-century Irish medical doctors]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Botanists active in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:17th-century Irish botanists]]
[[Category:Irish people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Museum founders]]
[[Category:People associated with the British Museum]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from County Down]]
[[Category:People from Killyleagh]]
[[Category:Pre-Linnaean botanists]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Burials at Chelsea Old Church]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials removed during the George Floyd protests]]