Museum Report 2014

The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum Museum Report - June 2014 The last Museum report, written at the beginning of February, appeared in the 2013 Association Journal. Since then it has been busy, busy, busy at the Museum with the staff heavily involved in the preparation and planning of next year’s Battle of Waterloo Bicentenary Exhibition opening on 25 March 2015. This has involved, in particular, careful selection and cataloguing of objects for inclusion in the exhibition, as well as numerous meetings with the exhibition designers and others about how best to display these objects and to explain to our visitors, especially the young, why the Battle of Waterloo was fought – its causes, course and consequences covering the period 1789-1815.

But it has not been all Waterloo 2015. On 5 April we opened our new First World War display area which is rather different from what was there before. This has included taking the opportunity to group together for the first time the First World War Victoria Crosses owned by the Museum in a single display case to create visual impact. At the opening we also used the occasion to publicise uniting for the first time the VC and MC awarded to Lieutenant Jack Dimmer KRRC in November 1914, owned by the Museum, with his First World War campaign medals which until recently were in the possession of his descendants but which have now been donated to the Museum.

Disappointingly, and contrary to expectation in the year of the Centenary of the Outbreak of the First World War, the opening of the new display has not led to a surge in visitors. In fact visitor numbers are down 8% (360) in the first five months of 2014, with a significant one-third decline in paying visitors compensated for in part by a 20% increase in free visitors. We attribute some of the fall in total numbers to the closure of the Museum on Mondays between January and March for the first time this year, and the fall in the number of paying visitors to the introduction of free admission for children aged 16 and under. We are hoping for better numbers during the remainder of the year.

During the year to date we have continued with our programme of evening talks. In January we held the first of a series of talks planned between 2014 and 2018 to coincide with the centenary of events during the First World War. In March we held the last of a series talks marking the centenary of events during the Peninsular War. These talks are increasing in popularity and are regularly being attended by 50 or more people. The remaining talks in 2014 are listed at the end of this report. If you live within striking distance of Winchester, I encourage attendance. I also recommend visiting our summer exhibition, “A Call to Arms”, which will be open every day between 1 August and 14 September from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last entry 4.15 p.m.). As mentioned in my last Museum report, this will focus on how, at the outbreak of the First World War, The Rifle Depot, Winchester, home depot of The King’s Royal Rifle Corps and The Rifle Brigade, became the focal point for the mobilisation of reservists and young men responding to Kitchener’s call to arms.

Finally, if you are planning to attend the Veterans’ Day Gathering at Sir John Moore Barracks on 12 July, please note that the Museum is offering free entry to members of the Association and their accompanying spouses/partners who visit the Museum during opening hours on Friday 11, Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 July, on presentation of the member’s Association membership card. Additionally, Association branches wishing to organise group visits to the Museum over the course of the weekend may do so on Friday 11 July, during the morning of Saturday 12 July and during the morning of Sunday 13 July. Tours will be conducted at no charge, but must be booked in advance with the Curator.

Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Wallace Chairman, Museum Trustees

Part of the Museum’s new First World War display

Lt Jack Dimmer’s medals (L to R): VC, MC, 1914 Star with Clasp 5 Aug-22 Nov 1914. British War Medal 1914-20, Victory Medal 1914-19 with Mention in Despatches

Descendants of Lt Jack Dimmer VC MC standing in front of the new First World War VC display holding a framed set of miniature medals presented to them by the Museum in thanks for the donation of his First World War campaign medals

Monday 7 July 2014 - “Why War?” Speaker: Professor Gary Sheffield, military historian, author and Professor of War Studies at Wolverhampton University. The second in a series of talks coinciding with the centenary of events during the First World War.

Tuesday 23 September 2014 - “The Evolution of the Royal Flying Corps before and during the First World War” Speaker: Dr David Jordan, lecturer King’s College, London, and Academic Director of Air Studies at the Joint Services Command & Staff College, Shrivenham. The third in a series of talks coinciding with the centenary of events during the First World War.

Monday 27 October 2014 – “The War of 1812” Speaker: Professor Brian-Holden-Reid, Professor of American History, King’s College, London.

Monday 10 November 2014 – “From Aldershot to Ypres: the 52nd Light Infantry in 1914” Speaker: Dr Simon Harris, author of ‘The History of the 43rd and 52nd Light Infantry in the Great War 1914- 18, the 52nd Light Infantry in France and Belgium: Volume II’. The fourth in a series of talks coinciding with the centenary of events during the First World War.

The Royal Green Jackets (Rifles) Museum Trust Charity No: 1009691 http://www.rgjmuseum.co.uk/