Established | 1926 |
---|---|
Location | Gloucester Docks |
Coordinates | 51°51′50″N2°15′00″W / 51.8639°N 2.2501°W |
Type | Military |
Website | www |
The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum is located within the historic docks in the city of Gloucester. The museum tells the story of two regiments of the British Army, the Gloucestershire Regiment, including its antecedents the 28th (North Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars, both of which recruited heavily from Gloucestershire and Bristol.
The museum collection was begun in 1926, when it was housed at Victoria Dock in Bristol. [1] In 1980, having spent the previous 30 years located in Westgate Street, Gloucester, it was moved again to the former Custom House in Gloucester Docks, and the new museum was formally opened by The Duke of Gloucester. [2] It was significantly remodelled in the late 1980s, reopening on 24 June 1990, and was further refurbished in the 2010s with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, reopening again in April 2014. [1]
The items on display have been accumulated over the last 300 years and exhibits include life size dioramas, sound effects, archive film and many fixed displays reflecting campaigns in the Napoleonic Wars, the First Anglo-Sikh War, the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Indian Mutiny, the Second Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War, and peace keeping duties in Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. The museum has maintained the currency of its exhibits and recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan are also represented. [3]
The Victoria Crosses of Herbert Taylor Reade of the 61st Regiment, and Daniel Burges, James Carne and Hardy Falconer Parsons, all of the Gloucestershire Regiment, are held by the museum. [4]
The museum continues to receive new exhibits and the most recent significant acquisition is a service revolver collected from Gloster Hill, where the Glosters made their last stand on 25 April 1951 at the culmination of the Battle of the Imjin River. [5]
The museum is laid out in a series of rooms in approximate chronological order: [6]
The Custom House housing the museum is early Victorian building completed in 1845 to a design by architect Sydney Smirke, who by coincidence also designed the building now occupied by the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. [7]
Construction
By the early 1840s it had become clear that the Old Custom House was inadequate for the amount of trade then going through the Port of Gloucester. So, in February 1843 a suitable site for a completely new building adjacent to the docks was identified. However it took over a year to complete the legal formalities. Eventually, work started in April 1844, and in spite of a late decision to face the walls with Painswick stone instead of brick, the building was roofed out by October of that year. Work then continued inside, including the late addition of a door between the Comptroller's office and the Long Room where the clerks were to work. When the final payment was made to the contractor in September 1845, the total cost, including land and fittings, came to £5,780. [8]
Role as a Customs House
Thus from late 1845 the building was occupied by the Collector of Customs and his staff, who were mainly responsible for recording cargoes brought to Gloucester from foreign ports and for collecting the customs duty payable on those goods. In addition some clerks undertook the registration of locally owned vessels on behalf of the Board of Trade and maintained service records of the masters and crews who served in these vessels. Also during the 19th century, part of the building was lived in by one of the customs officers. Eventually the handling of foreign cargoes mainly moved to Sharpness and activity in the Port of Gloucester declined. However the Custom House continued to function as an administrative office until the late 1970s. [8]
A New Role
After the customs staff moved out, the building took on a new life as the headquarters of the Gloucestershire Regiment, including a museum, opened initially in 1980. At that time the entrance to the museum was from Commercial Road, but in view of the redevelopment of the docks for leisure and following a public appeal, the museum was reorganised and reopened in 1990 with an entrance at what had been the back of the original building, but facing the docks. [8]
Gloucester is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west; it is sited 19 miles (31 km) from Monmouth, 33 miles (53 km) from Bristol, and 17 miles (27 km) east of the border with Wales. Gloucester has a population of around 132,000, including suburban areas. It is a port, linked via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn Estuary.
The Battle of the Imjin River, also known as the Battle of Solma-ri or Battle of Gloster Hill in South Korea, or as Battle of Xuemali in China, took place 22–25 April 1951 during the Korean War. Troops from the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) attacked United Nations Command (UN) positions on the lower Imjin River in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough and recapture the South Korean capital Seoul. The attack was part of the Chinese Spring Offensive, the aim of which was to regain the initiative on the battlefield after a series of successful UN counter-offensives in January–March 1951 had allowed UN forces to establish themselves beyond the 38th Parallel at the Kansas Line.
The Gloucester Hill Battle Monument or Gloucester Memorial is a memorial in South Korea that commemorates the actions of the Gloucestershire Regiment and C Troop, 170th Mortar Battery, Royal Artillery, of the British Army during the Battle of the Imjin River in 1951.
Colonel James Power Carne was a British Army officer who served in both the Second World War and the Korean War. He was also a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for actions during the Battle of the Imjin River during which Carne led The Glorious Glosters in a famous stand against an overwhelming Chinese attack on Gloster Hill.
Imjin Barracks is a British Army installation situated near Innsworth in Gloucestershire, that is home to the headquarters of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC).
The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment was a short-lived infantry regiment of the British Army.
The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the 28th Regiment of Foot. The regiment was formed by the merger of the 28th Regiment with the 61st Regiment of Foot. It inherited the unique distinction in the British Army of wearing a badge on the back of its headdress as well as the front, a tradition that originated with the 28th Regiment after it fought in two ranks back to back at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801. At its formation the regiment comprised two regular, two militia and two volunteer battalions, and saw its first action during the Second Boer War.
The 28th Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1694. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 61st Regiment of Foot to form the Gloucestershire Regiment in 1881.
The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars was a volunteer yeomanry regiment which, in the 20th century, became part of the British Army Reserve. It traced its origins to the First or Cheltenham Troop of Gloucestershire Gentleman and Yeomanry raised in 1795, although a break in the lineage means that its formation is dated to the Marshfield and Dodington Troop raised in 1830. Six further troops – officered by nobility and gentry, and recruited largely from among landholders and tenant farmers – were subsequently raised in Gloucestershire, and in 1834 they came together to form the Gloucestershire Yeomanry Cavalry. In 1847, the regiment adopted a hussar uniform and the name Royal Gloucestershire Hussars. Originally intended to counter insurrection and a French invasion that never materialised, the yeomanry's first deployments were ceremonial and as mounted police during times of civil unrest. Three Gloucestershire troops were deployed to Bristol on two separate occasions in the 1830s in support of the civil authorities.
The 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1693. It saw service for three centuries including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, and went on to distinguish itself in the battles of the Korean War, but was recommended for amalgamation in the 1957 Defence White Paper prepared by Duncan Sandys. The regiment was amalgamated with the 4th Queen's Own Hussars, to form the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1958.
Seolmacheon (Korean: 설마천) is a stream in South Korea. It is a tributary of the Imjin River, which it joins at Jeokseong. It was on Gloster Hill, between the two rivers, that the British Gloucestershire Regiment made their last stand against the Chinese in the Battle of the Imjin River, a major event in the Korean War, from 22–25 April 1951. At the Gloucester Valley Battle Monument the British Embassy in Seoul organises a service every April in commemoration.
In countries whose armies are organised on a regimental basis, such as the army of the United Kingdom, a regimental museum is a military museum dedicated to the history of a specific army regiment.
The Jet Age Museum is the trading name of the Gloucestershire Aviation Collection, an all-volunteer, charitable organisation dedicated to the preservation of Gloucestershire's aviation heritage. The aviation museum is located on the north side of Gloucestershire Airport, between Gloucester and Cheltenham. It houses a number of aircraft, aero engines, cockpits and other related exhibits. It is themed on the early development of jet aircraft, in particular the role played by the Gloster Aircraft Company and other local firms such as Dowty Rotol and Smiths Industries. The museum is also the custodian of the Russell Adams photographic archive.
Horfield Barracks is a former military installation in the Horfield area of Bristol.
The Gloucestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. Before World War I it comprised two regular battalions, two reserve battalions, and two territorial battalions. During the war an additional 18 battalions were raised. In total 16 battalions of the Gloucestershire Regiment saw active service during World War I; on the Western Front in France and Flanders, Italy, Gallipoli, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Salonika.
The 7th (Service) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment was a unit of 'Kitchener's Army' raised immediately after the outbreak of World War I. After a short period of training it fought in the Gallipoli Campaign, distinguishing itself at the Battle of Chunuk Bair. Afterwards it served in Mesopotamia, including the capture of Baghdad. It ended the war with the North Persia Force at Baku on the Caspian Sea.
The 2nd Gloucestershire Rifle Volunteers was a volunteer unit of the British Army, which recruited in Gloucestershire from 1859. After becoming a Volunteer, and then later, a Territorial battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, it fought on the Western Front and in Italy during World War I. Its 1st Line battalion fought a last-ditch defensive action at the Piave and one of its number won a Victoria Cross in the closing weeks of the war. The 2nd Line battalion was involved in an epic rearguard action at Holnon Wood during the German spring offensive. In the early part of World War II the battalion distinguished itself at the defence of Ledringhem before being evacuated from Dunkirk. It then served as a unit of the Reconnaissance Corps with 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division through the campaign in North West Europe. It returned to the Glosters in the postwar Territorial Army until amalgamated with other units in 1967.
The Gloucestershire Militia was a part-time military force in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From their formal organisation as Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as a Special Reserve unit of the Gloucestershire Regiment in World War I, the Militia regiments of the county served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars.
The Royal South Gloucestershire Light Infantry (RSGLI), later the 3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1759 the regiment served in home defence in all of Britain's major wars until 1918.
The Royal North Gloucestershire Militia (RNGM), later the 4th (Militia) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment was a Militia regiment raised in the county of Gloucestershire in the West of England. From its formal creation in 1763 the regiment served in home defence and overseas garrisons in all of Britain's major wars until 1908.