This programme was shown on BBC 4 on 25 March 2020. It is wonderfully entertaining, indeed engrossing. Harry was given a cine camera on his 10th birthday in 1928 and used it to record his life and times for the next 60-plus years.
Of interest to all Cameronians (and historians) is that in 1939, at the outbreak of war, he joined the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and was sent for initial training to their depot in Hamilton. He joined the regiment because it had been his father’s regiment. His father WH Birrell was serving as a second lieutenant in the 11th Battalion when he died of wounds near Salonika in what was then Macedonia. This was in 1918, just before the Armistice.
The Regimental History, Volume II, tells of the history of this battalion which went first to France and then to Macedonia where they were part of a Franco-British-Serbian force which was trying to deny the Bulgarians use of this major Mediterranean port. There were many casualties, not least because of malaria.
Harry was not to see service with the regiment. After commissioning he was sent to India where he joined the 7th Gurkhas. (Readers may be aware that this was the regiment which, after the war, formed a close alliance with the 1st Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)). As Harry was a qualified surveyor he was sent to carry out important surveying and map-making work behind enemy lines in Burma. Much of the film is of his time with the Gurkhas and in India and Burma.
This film has been produced by Harry’s granddaughter, Carina Birrell, and she plays an important part in introducing both the film and Harry’s diaries, all of which had lain undisturbed in boxes and trunks at the family home near Paisley. It is a joy as well as being an important archive.
There are literally hundreds of excellent photographs in the Cameronians regimental museum collection. One could argue that photographs are one of our richest resources, in that they provide visual documentation of the Regiment’s history, and the men who made it.
Unfortunately, we aren’t always able to make best use of a photograph as, to put it simply, we don’t know much about it; who does it show, when was it taken, what event is being depicted? For the majority of the photographs in the regimental collection, this information simply hasn’t been recorded.
At a guess, less than a quarter of the photographs in the regimental collection bear the names of the soldiers shown. Formal, posed, group photographs of a Company, Platoon or sports team might have a title and a date, but rarely individual names.
” ‘B’ Company, 2nd Battalion Boxing Team, Bordon, 1936″
All useful information, but sadly no names
Often a photograph has been pasted into an album with little or no caption, or has been removed from the mount that had the title recorded. If a photograph had been handed to the Regiment in times past, or to the museum in it’s infancy when still staffed by soldiers – there was often an assumed level of knowledge and familiarity with regimental photographs and so written details weren’t always deemed necessary. In other cases, the name of a soldier may have been written on the reverse of an image, but often without details such as when and where the photograph was taken. Often this is because the family member who may have donated the photograph didn’t know more than the name of the relative depicted – and even this might not always be certain. I’m sure many of us have old family photographs that we have inherited, with only a vague notion of which great-great granddad/granny/uncle or relative that we think might be shown. How many of us regularly lament the fact we didn’t pay more attention (or take written notes) when an older relative was relating family history stories to us, or pointing out faces in the family albums? I certainly do, and I should know better!
With that said, what can we do with these unidentified photographs? Luckily, with many military photographs there is usually always some detail that can be discerned as a starting point. The type of uniform worn can usually help establish, at the least, whether the sitter is a soldier, sailor or airman, and possibly also give us a rough period for when the photograph may have been taken. The more detail a photograph contains, especially in terms of uniform, the better chance we have of being able to identify things such as a regiment or battalion, time period, and possibly a location. There are many books covering this subject alone, not to mention some excellent online research guides that can be a useful starting point for those looking to research their own family photographs. The Scottish Military Research Group have an excellent guide aimed specifically for those with photographs of relatives in Scottish units – http://scottishmilitaryresearch.weebly.com/uploads/7/3/9/1/73918079/scottish_military_research_using_family_photographs.pdf
Not forgetting James Taub’s excellent blog post on the subject of identifying Cameronians in First World War photographs – http://cameronians.apps-1and1.net/srid/
With many photographs in the regimental collection, it has been possible to identify a particular unit or even identify individual soldier(s) by close examination of the detail on show.
“Guard of Honour to Douglas Haig when he unveiled the Memorial to the Regiment at Kelvingrove”
The above photograph is a perfect illustration of this. The title tells us that the group shown were Field Marshal Haig’s guard of honour when he unveiled the Regimental memorial at Kelvingrove Park (9th August 1924). A further note on the reverse of the image records that the men shown were from the 6th Battalion – one of the Territorial regiments of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). All the men in this photograph are wearing medals related to service in the First World War; a number of those shown are awards given for gallantry, or long, meritorious service. The combinations of these awards, together with the ranks of the wearers at a given point in time, and the fact they are all from the 6th Battalion makes it possible for us to put likely names against some of the men shown. Trawling through seniority lists and other 6th Battalion notes in the Regimental magazine, The Covenanter, from the 1920s gives me potential names for seven of the men shown: rear row, second from left – CQMS A. Peat MM; front row, left to right – Sergeant John Stevenson DCM, MM, RQMS J. Hamilton, RSM J. J. Wall MM, MSM, Lieutenant A. Cullen, unknown CSM, CSM J. Williams MM, MSM, unknown CSM.
Sometimes one can be very lucky and hit the jackpot while searching through resources like The Covenanter. Take the photograph at the start of this article as an example – if you remember it was a photograph of the boxing team from ‘B’ Company, 2nd Battalion, taken at Bordon in 1936. Looking through The Covenanter magazine for May 1936 reveals a reproduction of this very photograph, along with an accompanying article, and, more importantly the names of the men shown.
The following photograph was donated by a relative of a Cameronian soldier, one of the group shown. In this instance, the name of the soldier has been recorded on the reverse; i.e. ‘Charles Henderson, extreme left, back row’. None of the other soldiers are identified, and the photograph is undated although the donor knew that their relative had served in the First World War.
Group photograph from the First World War – Charles Henderson, standing first left
The badges and other insignia on show, however, tell us much more. The badge worn on the upper arm, consisting of three coloured blocks (best seen on Charles, standing on left) is that worn by the 2nd Scottish Rifles while part of the 8th Infantry Division, from 22nd Sept 1914 until 3rd Feb 1918 when they moved to 20th Division. Some of the men also wear a wound stripe(s) on the lower left sleeve; this was introduced in July 1916. At least six of the men also wear a medal ribbon above the left-breast pocket, most likely that of the 1914 Star – these were first issued late 1917/early 1918 – the 1914/15 Star ribbon was identical to the 1914 Star, but this wasn’t issued for wear until 1919.
The more we work through our photographic collections while cataloguing, or researching exhibitions and displays, the more familiar we become with things such as regimental peculiarities of uniform, barrack buildings and background scenery at camps and training facilities, and of course, with individual faces. Close scrutiny of identified faces in labelled photographs has allowed to us to pick out the same soldier in other, unlabelled images. Quite often the presence of this ‘well kent face’ is enough to give us a potential unit identification (if looking at a group photograph), and a broad time period. The more we know about a photograph, the more useful it becomes in terms of illustrating the regiment’s history.
“Sjt’s Mess, 1923”
The excellent photograph above was simply labelled “Sjt’s Mess, 1923”. A search of our collections database revealed that there was another photograph in the collection with a similar title, that version being framed with the names of those shown printed on the mount. A physical check of this second photograph confirmed that the images shown were identical. What’s more – the framed photograph is extremely large and difficult to digitise due to it being behind glass; the unlabelled copy is small enough to scan and reproduces at a very high quality. Looking through the faces, several men were familiar and could be identified in other photographs. Sitting second from the left in the front row is Company Sergeant Major John Crymble.
Close-up of CSM John Crymble
If we look closer at the First World War photograph of the 2nd Battalion above, look who’s sitting in the front row…
Of course, researching a solitary photograph is a time consuming process with no guarantee of the results. We are careful nowadays to make sure we capture as much information about any object that comes into the museum collection, whether it be a photograph, medal, item of uniform etc. It is important that we carefully record who the item belonged to, when and how it was used, and any other important details relating to an objects history and it’s owner. With this in mind, it is worth taking the time to sort through any family photographs you have and add in any details that will someday prove invaluable to future generations, budding family tree researchers, and of course, museum curators!
When still a young man and
straight out of Sandhurst, the future sultan, then known as Mr bin Said, served
in the 1st Battalion the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). He joined
the battalion in Minden in September 1962 and served with it for about nine
months. The battalion’s role was as motorised infantry in 11 Infantry Brigade,
mounted in basic armoured personnel carriers. One of the first deployments
during his time was on Exercise Autumn Double which was a corps exercise, 1st
Division against 2nd Division, the latter fighting a retreat across
the various river lines of the north German plain. It was only one year since
the building of the Berlin Wall and the Cuban missile crisis was in full swing.
This was the cold war at its coldest.
The weather that winter was
brutal too. Each company was sent for two weeks on Exercise Snow Queen which
was based in Bavaria. Temperatures were regularly below -20C and the future
Sultan was no athlete. Standing on his skis on a snow field under leaden skies
he just looked thoroughly miserable. Winter sports were not for him; indeed, no
sports really suited him at all. But there was one happy outcome: in the
afternoons we were free to take advantage of the ski slopes in some of the nearby
towns including Mittenwald and Oberammergau. The largest of these is
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which nestles at the foot of Germany’s highest Alp, and
it was here that he later bought a house.
But why the Cameronians? One
simple answer is that it had to be an army unit as Oman at that time had no
navy and no air force. The full answer is that the 1st Battalion the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) had greatly impressed the then Sultan, Qaboos’s
father, when they, together with local units came to his rescue in an operation
on Jebel Akhdar in 1957. Sultan Said bin Taimur’s personal letter to the
Commanding Officer says it all[i].
The three regiments of the Omani army soon wore different coloured headdress
based on the Balmoral bonnets worn by Cameronian officers. This regiment would
be the Sultan’s choice for his son.
His two years at the Royal
Military Academy had been a rough introduction to what most of us thought
perfectly normal: lots of PT, plenty of team sports, cross-country runs. All
were alien to Qaboos who had never been to school and whose physique was
totally unsuited to the rough and tumble and physical demands of the basic
training in our first term.
A significant amount of time (especially
in that first term) was spent on the drill square which was overseen by the
redoubtable Academy Sergeant Major John Lord, ex-Grenadier Guards. All of the
company sergeant majors were warrant officers from the Brigade of Guards too.
Needless to say, we spent a huge amount of time – and every evening and waking
hour during the first term – polishing, shining, blanco-ing and pressing an array
of uniforms and boots. It was challenging even for those of us who had spent
years in our respective school Combined Cadet Force units.
His two years at Sandhurst (from
September 1960) were spent in Marne Company in New College (as were those of
the writer). There were three colleges (Old, New and Victory) and each college
comprised four companies and each of these had four platoons, one for each of
the intakes. It was said that Old College produced gentlemen, Victory College
produced soldiers but that New College – new, that is, after the 1st
World War – produced officers.
Eventually it was our turn to
‘pass out’. We were immensely proud that the Queen was represented at the
Sovereign’s Parade by non-other than Field Marshal the Viscount Slim. At the
end we duly slow-marched up the steps of Old College followed, as is the
tradition, by the Adjutant on his white charger. After lunch we dispersed to
the four corners for a month’s leave. At midnight we were all commissioned into
our various regiments or national armies.
Qaboos joined Michael Sixsmith
and me in the 1st Battalion in Minden in mid-September. (Michael and
I had been briefly to the depot at Lanark where we joined John Baynes who
commanded, Alan Campbell who was training the 6th/7th
Battalion, George Stephen who was ADC to Maj Gen John Frost – who commanded the
Lowland Division – and David Christie and Peter Gordon Smith who were training
subalterns). In the 1st Battalion, amongst many other things, he
learned about mess life and many of the traditions of which the Cameronians
were not short. He joined in everything else that new subalterns have to do and
learn: it was all strange to all of us. Having left the battalion Qaboos then
spent about a year on a world tour before, on his return to Oman, he was placed
in internal exile in the south of the country where he remained until the coup
which saw him replace his father in 1970.
In March 1982 the Sultan, HM
Qaboos bin Said al Said, was invited on a State Visit by HM the Queen. On the
first evening, at the State Banquet in his honour at Buckingham Palace, one of
the other guests (with his wife) was Colonel Reggie Kettles OBE MC[ii]
who had been our commanding officer nearly twenty years earlier in Minden. I
was fortunate to be amongst the guests (with my wife) at the State Banquet
given the following evening by the City of London in Guildhall.
Sultan Qaboos was generous to his
old regiment. When in the 1970’s it was necessary to buy a new building for the
Regimental Museum at Hamilton in Lanarkshire he gave a six-figure sum to help
to secure the Old Riding school of the long-since demolished Hamilton Palace,
seat of the Dukes of Hamilton. This building now forms the centre of the Low
Parks Museum where the regimental collection is still housed. More recently he
responded to an appeal for funds to restore the last colours of the 90th,
the Perthshire Light Infantry, which were laid-up in St Mary’s church in
Hamilton when Thomas Graham’s old regiment was amalgamated with the
Cameronians, the old 26th, to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).
Sultan Qaboos died on 11 January
2020, aged 79.
Philip R Grant, Major (retired)
1st Battalion the
Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) 1962-1968
[i] History of The Cameronians (Scottish
Rifles) Volume 4, John Baynes, Cassell & Co, page 117.
[ii] Major Kettles MBE MC (as he then
was) commanded the Support Company (machine guns and mortars) during the Jebel
Akhdar campaign in 1957.
A heavyweight both in the film industry and the historical world is 1917 directed by Sam Mendes and starring George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman. Without giving away too much of the plot, the film is set in April 1917 during Operation Alberich, the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line following the heavy fighting during the Battle of the Somme. Two young soldiers are sent with a message, ordering the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment to halt further attacks.
George MacKay as Schofield in 1917. Note the battalion flashes of the 2nd Devons.
British officers early in the film discuss trying to figure out if the Germans had completely abandoned their positions. While the question ‘where have the Germans gone?’ is explored through these two fictional individuals, it was a real situation facing the BEF in the Spring of 1917. A way which the BEF attempted to answer this question was through the liberal use of raids. One of the most famous photographs not only of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) but of the entire First World War was captured during one of these raids to gather more information on the enemy withdrawal. On 24 March 1917, B and D Companies of the 10th Scottish Rifles were captured by photographer John Warwick Brooke as they advanced to raid the enemy positions in their front.
Raids were commonplace up and down the British lines that Spring, but the one made by the 10th will remain one of the most famous in the history of the British Army solely through the series of photographs taken that day. The Battalion lost 3 Officers and 33 Other Ranks killed, wounded, or missing, most from British shells falling short.
Other battalions of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) experienced this confusing absence of Germans as well. The 2nd Scottish Rifles even served alongside the real 2nd Devons in 23 Brigade, 8th Division. On 15 March 1917, (several weeks earlier than the film is set), their story commenced with the 2nd Devons and 2nd West Yorks advancing upon reports of the enemy retiring in front. The 2nd SR themselves sent out a patrol under Second Lieutenant A.H. Ronan on the 18th finding the village of Moislains completely abandoned. When informed of this the Battalion Commander, Major Colin Robert Hoste Stirling sent forward C Company to take the position. The Scottish Rifles then advanced through Epinette Wood and Aizecourt-le-Bas, which was defended against counterattack on the 25th. That night the 2nd Scottish Rifles was to support the 2nd Devons during a night attack, however, this was called off. Perhaps part of the background for the film?
(L) Benedict Cumberbatch in 1917 wearing the flash of the 2nd Devonshire Regiment. (R) The Flash of the 2nd Scottish Rifles also of 23 Brigade, 8th Division
The 2nd Scottish Rifles continued alongside the 2nd Devons to attack Dessart Wood on 30 March, Gouzeaucourt on 12 April, Villers-Guislains, on 14 April, Gonnelieu, on 21 April, and La Vacquerie on 5 May. It was here that the Hindenburg Line was reached and the clear open warfare of the past few weeks, also seen in the film, was ended. The 2nd Scottish Rifles, while not explicitly depicted in 1917 were certainly nearby. The places in the film while not the factual locations of the 2nd Scottish Rifles, 2nd Devons, and the rest of 23 Brigade, are real and had a Cameronian presence during the Great War.
Écoust-Saint-Mein and Croiselles were both depicted in the film. The latter was being fought over by the 1st and 5/6th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) during the same month in which 1917 takes place. Both attacked towards the village of Fontaine-lès-Croisilles (to the north-east of Croisilles itself) on 14 April. The objective of the Croiselles-Cherisy Road was not reached and both battalions suffered heavy casualties. Notable figures of the Regiment including Captain D. G. Moncrieff Wright, commanding A Company of the 1st were wounded. Acting CSM of D Company, John MacLaren Erskine, v.c. was killed alongside 4 Officers and 39 Other Ranks of the 5/6th. The two battalions of the Regiment would attack again on 16, 23, and 24 April before finally being relieved.
John MacLaren Erskine, V.C. Killed in Action 14 April 1917.
While the story of the film itself is a mix of fact and fiction, exploring the real units and places help connect the story of the regiment to the big screen. The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) were present on the Western Front during the timeframe of the film and took part in many of the actions related to the story. While viewing historical fiction is a form of entertainment, it remains a great tool to encourage the exploration of the actual events which took place!
This blog post was prompted by recent discussions on Facebook regarding the whereabouts of certain items of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) regimental silver collection. Some veterans were curious as to where items of regimental significance ended up after the 1st Battalion’s disbandment in 1968, and so this blog post has been written to hopefully answer those questions and give something of an overview on the regimental silver collection from the time of disbandment to the present day.
Regimental silver laid out in the 1st Battalion’s Officers Mess, Maryhill Barracks, c.1913.
The disbandment of the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) has been touched on in a previous blog post and there is little need to go over it again in this post. Suffice to say, the decision to disband the 1st Battalion posed several logistical and administrative challenges. Chief among these must surely have been the small matter of the redistribution of officers and men from the 1st Battalion to other regiments and army corps. There was also the planning and organising required for the actual disbandment service itself – a high-profile yet sombre occasion of great significance that was attracting a high degree of media attention. While these considerable challenges were being faced, there was also the small matter of regimental property to consider.
In the March 1968 issue of The Covenanter (the Regimental magazine) the following article was published, under the title Disposal of Regimental Property:
Members of the Regiment will be wondering what will happen to our Regimental Property after the Disbandment of the 1st Battalion.
The bulk of the property in use with the 1st Battalion belongs to the Regimental Trust, and for so long as World Politics continue in their present fluctuating and critical state, there must always be a possibility that the Battalion might be resuscitated, however unlikely that this might appear today.
The Trustees have therefore decided (for the present, at any rate), to retain the bulk of our property. Utility items of Silver to equip a Battalion, will be stored, and the majority of the larger items will be loaned out where they will be appreciated, and where they will best serve to perpetuate the image of the Regiment. There will of course, also be a small requirement of items of historic interest, for the Regimental Museum.
At the same time however, there will be a certain number of smaller items which will be surplus to requirement, and which the Trustees are planning to dispose of, in order to supplement the Trust Funds. As almost all those items are from the Officers’ Messes of the two former Regular Battalions and the former 3rd and 4th Militia Battalions, the Trustees are anxious to give the serving and former officers of the Regiment the opportunity of bidding on favourable terms for those items before any attempt is made to dispose of them in the open market. In the case of the property of the two Regular Battalions, preference will be given to the bids of those who are, or were Regular Officers (or their close relatives), and in that of the 3rd and 4th Militia property, to the bids of our ex-Territorial Officers (or their close relatives).
The sorting, cataloguing and valuing of these possessions, is a complicated operation which the Trustees have in hand at the present time. Notification of the items available for sale, and the method of making bids for them, will be issued as soon as possible.
Having looked through the various lists, catalogues, insurance valuations, and correspondence generated through the cataloguing of the silver collection described above, I can confirm that it was indeed a complicated operation, especially when one considers the background of general upheaval under which this was carried out.
In the immediate run up to Disbandment, a number of formal presentations were made to high-profile persons linked to the Regiment, and to units with formal regimental affiliations. These were invariably items of silver, selected as being suitable for disposal. Included among these presentations were two pairs of silver goblets (a pair of 26th and a pair of 90th) to King Gustav of Sweden, the Colonel in Chief, a silver memento to Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and a small silver teapot to Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Dow, the last C.O. of the 1st Battalion. A number of silver bugles and regimental-pattern dirks were presented to the 7th Duke of Edinburgh’s Own Gurkha Rifles, the Witswatersrand Rifles, and the Rifle Brigade Depot.
Around this time, a number of silver items were also returned to officers who had originally presented them to the Regiment.
As outlined in the article quoted above, there was also a private sale of surplus silver items where serving and retired officers of the Regiment could bid on a small memento of their service. The items offered in this sale comprised mainly of small silver items, such as cutlery, ashtrays, table lighters, tableware etc., along with a selection of trophies and presentation cups deemed not to be of great regimental significance. Proceeds from this sale would bolster the Regimental Fund, and help pay for the long term storage and insurance of the remaining items being retained by the Regiment. Items not sold through this method were sold in a subsequent general sale at Christie’s.
A follow-up article in the June 1968 issue of The Covenanter recorded the presentation of larger items of regimental significance on loan to other regiments, corps, and institutions in order to help maintain the name of the Regiment:
After separating out the items which would be wanted for the Regimental Museum, the Trustees decided that, in order to keep the Regiment’s name to the fore, in as wide and as worthwhile circles as possible, and at the same time, to save the Regiment from the heavy expense of storing and insuring large quantities of Silver for an indefinite period, the remaining items should be offered on loan to responsible institutions which could be guaranteed to look after these treasures, to keep them insured, and to restore them to the Regiment if we should ever call for their return.
Some of the more significant of these items included the silver centrepieces of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions. The 1st Battalion centrepiece was presented to Holyrood House, while the 2nd Battalion centrepiece was deposited with the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Major General Hunt (right) with the 2nd Battalion’s centrepiece at RMC Sandhurst. Pictured on the left is Major Jim Burrell, a Cameronian officer who commanded Dettingen Company at Sandhurst when the presentation was made on 27 June 1968.
Other loaned items include the presentation of the Durand Cup, a famous football trophy won by The Cameronians in India in 1906, to Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, and six regimental side-drums to St. Bride’s Church in Douglas to name but a few.
In the years following the 1st Battalion’s disbandment, a number of smaller items of regimental silver were gifted to individual’s on their retirement from service. A number of additional items were also presented to various sporting clubs and institutions as prizes for competitions.
The regimental trustees organised a series of sales throughout the 1980s and into 1990 to help raise funds for the purchase of the Riding School and to redevelop the regimental museum. During these sales a number of larger silver items were sold, including a rams head snuff mull and the ‘St Vincent’ bowls made by Paul Storr. Reserve items from the museum collection were also sold, namely items of uniform and headdress and edged weapons.
The remaining regimental silver, along with the rest of the regimental museum collections, officially transferred in 2000 to South Lanarkshire Council, at the request of the regimental trustees and with approval and conditions set out by the Scottish Court of Session. Care of and responsibility for the collection now rest with South Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture (SLLC) who directly manage the collection on behalf of the Council.
Silver ‘Junk’, presented to the Band of the 1st Battalion by the Hong Kong Naval & Military YMCA, 1927. After Disbandment this item had been loaned to Motherwell Burgh Council. It was returned in 2009 and is now displayed in Low Parks Museum.
Since 2000, we have continued to monitor the regimental silver loaned to other regiments, corps and institutions at the time of disbandment, honouring the agreement set out by the Regiment at that time. In some instances, silverware has been returned from loan through mutual agreement with both parties. These situations have mainly arisen whereby the unit or institution to whom the item(s) had originally been loaned have faced amalgamation, downsizing, disbandment or closure, resulting in a need to streamline or dispose of property.
A large number of items remain on loan, including the 2nd Battalion Centrepiece which has been a feature of the Mess at Sandhurst since June 1968. Several pieces continue to form part of the Mess Silver of the unit to which they are loaned.
Some regimental silver currently on display in Low Parks Museum. The 4th (Milita) Battalion Centrepiece is to the left of the display case.
A broad selection of the regimental silver collection is currently on permanent display in Low Parks Museum. In 2009 a temporary exhibition titled ‘Precious’ showcased the regimental silver and for the first time since disbandment, reunited some of the loaned items that were temporarily returned for use in the exhibition. Silver items have since featured in several other exhibitions and temporary displays.
Regimental silver displays as part of the ‘Precious’ temporary exhibition, which was showcased in Low Parks Museum in 2009.
A large selection of the silver collection has been photographed, and can be viewed on our Online Collections browser – https://www.slleisureandculture.co.uk/info/206/online_collection . Using the term ‘regimental silver’ in a Quick Search will return a good number of these items.
