COLE, SIR HENRY (1808-1882), English civil servant, was born at Bath on July 15, 1808. He was a leading member of the commission that organized the Great Exhibition of 1851, and then became secretary to the School of Design, which was trans ferred in 1853 into the Department of Science and Art. Under its auspices the South Kensington (now Victoria and Albert) Museum, London, was founded in 1855 and Cole practically became its director, retiring in 1873. He originated the scheme for the Royal Albert Hall, London. He was active in founding the national schools for cookery and music, the latter the germ of the Royal College of Music. He edited the works of Thomas Love Peacock. He died on April 18, 188 2.
See Fifty Years of Public Work of Sir Henry Cole, ed. A. S. and H. Cole (1884) .