Museum of Richmond Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey TW9 1TP Tel: 020 8332 1141 Email: museumofrichmond@btconnect.com

Highlights of the Collection  Topham's Box, c.1895   The development of rayon at Kew. In 1892 Charles Cross and Edward Bevan, of the Jodrell Laboratory Kew Gardens, discovered a substance made from cellulose which they called 'viscose'. With Charles Stearne, an electric lighting pioneer, Cross set up the Viscose Spinning Syndicate in Station Ave, Kew. Fred Topham, a glassblower and an employee of the company, designed a box which enabled the new material to be spun into a fine, silk-like thread. (This item is on long-term loan from the Science Museum.)