MAHATMA GANDHI INTEREST: A PAIR OF GOLD-PLATED GLASSES

Thomas Lane lived in Wembley and, apart from his military service in the Second World War, spent his entire working career at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum and then the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. He retired in 1971 and moved to the lake district handing down many of his belongings to his son. It was always understood by the family that the spectacles had belonged to Gandhi and that the comb was once used by Winston Churchill.

An article in the 1970, Vol. 20, edition of 'Wellcome Foundation News' looks back at 'Tom Lane's' forty-two year career. Tom was often sent by Henry Wellcome himself to auction houses, including Sotheby's and Christie's, armed with a marked up catalogue indicating the lots he was to acquire for the institute and the amount he could bid up to. Tom recalls with fondness the thrill of the auctions and Sir Henry's trust and kindness; he had only been with the Wellcome Institute three months in 1929, aged 22 and earning £2 15s a week, when he was entrusted to spend £900 in the course of a three day sale. He had to order a horse and cart from Tripps of Pentonville to collect the items for the museum.