Edward Hart was born on July 30th, 1847. His father, William Hart, was a taxidermist in Christchurch. He opened his first taxidermy shop in Bridge Street in 1834. The shop closed perhaps due to William's other manufactoring buisness: making watch chains. William Hart eventually opened a second taxidermy store in the 1850s which seems to have inspired his son's own fascination with taxidermy:
"In 1857 I shot three of three birds and afterwards mounted them, little thinking at the time that this attempt at taxidermy was to be the beginning of making my collection, which has been my fortune to accumulate principally from Hampshire." Father and son eventually went into business together which was advertised as "William Hart & Son, Preservers of Birds and Beasts."
Edward Hart continued accumulating his own collection and in 1866 he opened a museum in The Bow House (now the Portman Building Society) to display his pieces. The total length of the bird cases was 270 feet (82 metres) with a height of 10 feet (3 metres). The mammal cases extended another 30 feet (9 metres). The museum continued to increase in size, including upwards of 420 cases, containing 1350 specimens of birds, 2000 birds' egss, 1000 fossils and flint implements, moths and butterflies, and various horns, skulls, and antlers. The mammals included squirrels, rats, shrews, stoats and dormice. Hart arranged his birds and animals in naturalistic settings including painted backgrounds, rocks, and foliage. Hart also created several anthropomorphic tableaux which he termed "Grotesque Groups" including Prize Fight, Leap Frog and The Barber.
Prize Fight was first displayed by Hart at the Great Exhibition. Consisting of five cases, the Fight shows two squirrels in various stages of a bozing match until the squirrel on the right is knocked out. The piece was bought by Lord and Lady Bangor and is still displayed in Castle Ward, Country Down, Northern Ireland, which has since been taken over by the National Trust.
Most specimens in his museums were collected by Hart himself (he kept notebooks detailing where he found each specimen) although others were donated by local naturalists including Mr. T. Pike.
For further comments on Hart's conservationist tendencies (or lack of) and the legacy of his collection, go to the Hampshire County Council's website.