Sydney Cumbers

Sydney "Long John Silver" Cumbers (27 October 1875 – 10 September 1959) was a British businessman and collector of Merchant Navy memorabilia. He was noted for his large collection of ships' figureheads that he maintained at his house in Gravesend, and which he later donated to the Cutty Sark museum.

Biography Cumbers was born in 1875 in Hackney, London, to Charles and Matilda Cumbers. He lost the use of an eye in an accident at age 12, after which he took to wearing an eyepatch and was subsequently nicknamed "Long John Silver". Cumbers worked in the family-run printing firm of "Johnstone, Cumbers and Sons" and by April 1905 had become a partner in the company. Cumbers was highly interested in the Merchant Navy, having been denied a life at sea by the loss of his eye, and began collecting memorabilia related to it.

Though his main residence was in London, Cumbers acquired a second home at the coastal town of Gravesend in Kent. Cumbers, his house and collection featured in a British Pathé film made in 1951.

Figurehead collection

Cumbers' collection included more than 80 ships' figureheads, in addition to a number of individual body parts such as heads and arms. The Cumbers collection is the largest holding of historic figureheads in the world and includes some that date back more than 200 years and are up to tall. ), Diana, Sir Lancelot, Elizabeth Fry, William Wilberforce and Garibaldi.

The lease on "The Lookout" ran out in 1953 and Cumbers took the opportunity to donate the figureheads to the Cutty Sark Preservation Society in memory of British merchant seamen and the little ships of Dunkirk. The museum lacked the space to display the entire collection, showing only 60 at a time with others remaining in storage or being loaned to other institutions. This situation was rectified when the large gallery space beneath the Cutty Sark opened on 26 April 2012 and the entire collection was shown for the first time.