Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) was born in Sudbury and was baptized at the Independent Meeting-House in Friars Street on 14 May 1727, the fifth son and ninth child of John and Mary Gainsborough and in 1958 Gainsborough’s House Society was formed to purchase the house and establish it as a centre for Thomas Gainsborough. The Museum opened to the public in 1961 and has remained open ever since, operating as an independent charitable trust. The beautiful garden is at the heart of Gainsborough’s House. It is maintained by a devoted body of volunteers who cultivate exclusively plants that were available in Gainsborough’s lifetime.