This year saw an amazing number of objects donated to the museum, with several going immediately on display in our special exhibition.
During 2022 we received donations from 48 different sources, totaling more than 400 individual items. They included nine medal groups; comprising 25 medals, as well as photograph albums and individual pictures, personal archive, jewellery and uniform. Creative pieces were also gratefully received, fitting perfectly with the theme of our current exhibition, Created in Conflict, which returns when the museum reopens at the beginning of February.
The museum collection never stands still, with an average donation rate of one per week, the process of cataloguing and storing each item is continuous.
Collections Manager, Zoe Utley accessions objects which have been accepted into the museum collection so they can be made available for future displays, exhibitions or research.
“It’s very gratifying to be able to immediately share artwork taken into the collection this year, with visitors to Created in Conflict treated to seeing objects which have only just been received. We’ve been able to add some of Don Smith’s work to our gallery wall, giving a glimpse of how a trained artist captured his time as a National Serviceman in Cyprus in the mid 1950s. Earlier in the year a huge box of personal archive relating to David Preston arrived at the museum, with one of his Prisoner of War notebooks containing subject matter which was perfect for inclusion in the exhibition. Those strange coincidences tend to happen here when we are working on a certain theme or project – relevant items seem to turn up at just about the right time to help us out.”
One of the more sentimental items taken into the museum’s collection in 2022 is a tiny heart-shaped locket. It was owned by one of Corporal Henry (Harry) Griffiths and his wife Eliza’s six children, their youngest daughter Nellie, and contains photographs of her parents.
We were also happy to take uniform belonging to Capt W N Crosby who served with the regiment between 1916 and 1919 into the collection. The No 2 dress jacket had sat in storage ever since a house clearance, then left in the same solicitors’ stores until their office relocated and also had to be cleared out. Research initiated by the solicitors with Durham County Archive even led to us being able to identify Crosby, a Military Cross recipient in one of the many hundreds of photographs we hold from the period.
Staying with uniform, one donation helped us tick both a ‘first’ and ‘oldest’ box. 1745 Col Sgt Alfred Edward Elvy served between 1895 and 1908.
His peaked pillbox, likely worn in the late 1890s, is the only example in our collection of that type of headwear belonging to someone who was not an officer. It was made by J&B Pearse and Co, Army Clothiers, 28 Floral Street, Covent Garden. His dark blue patrol jacket has the accolade of being our earliest example of that type of uniform in the museum.
And as we head towards the traditionally over-indulgent festive period once more, here’s a unique example of an Army Temperance Medal – the first in our collection with a specific regimental cap badge. You can find out more about the temperence movement here.
So there’s just a flavour of some of the objects that have made their way into the collection over the past 12 months. Who knows what the future will bring…
The museum ONLY collects items directly relating to soldiers who served with the regiment. If you have something that you are considering donating to the museum, please get in touch with us in advance of any visit to the museum to discuss it further as we would not want you to be disappointed if it turns out we cannot take the item you are offering.