A.W. Rowlett

A.W. Rowlett (1868-1948) was an antiquarian and herbalist. Living in St. Neots, he collected rural spiritual objects locally for the Horniman Museum in the early 20th century.

Alfred William Rowlett was born in 1868 in St. Neots, Huntingdonshire (now part of Cambridgeshire). He was recorded in the 1881, 1901 and 1911 censuses as a labourer, but he was also an antiquarian and herbalist known by his community as ‘Doc Rowlett’. He sourced objects for the Horniman Museum mainly between 1904 and 1915, though he did continue to acquire the occasional object for the Museum until 1933. He specialised in rural material culture and artefacts related to spiritual beliefs.

The objects which Rowlett collected came from his own community, and original accession records include field research that he performed and transcribed on the Horniman’s behalf. In a letter dated 6 May 1907, he noted that ‘my business is to find out and get all the necessary information I can get’ on objects destined for the Museum. Many of his handwritten labels are still stored with the objects.