Collection: The Fusilier Museum London

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Regiment had established a private museum by 1949, when it made the Tower of London its permanent home. On the 31st March 1960, concerned about the future of the museum, the Regimental Council declared their intention of ‘holding together the traditions of the Regiment and of perpetuating its deeds’ by holding ‘the Regimental Collection “upon trust”‘ and on the 9th of November 1962 the Royal Fusilier Museum in the Tower of London was opened by HRH Princess Marina Duchess of Kent. Housed in Her Majesty’s Tower of London, where the regiment was raised, there could be no finer or more appropriate setting for a museum of military history.

  In 2010 the trustees embarked upon a major project called Fusiliers Advance, to transform the exhibition space and enable all visitors to the Tower to be offered free access for the first time. The museum was reopened by HRH The Duke of Kent, our Colonel in Chief, in April 2011.

  In 2013 the museum began a three year project, Unpacking History: The Great War to commemorate the deeds of the Royal Fusiliers during the First World War. This project encompassed education, outreach and collection projects as well as the digitisation of First World War collection material and the creation of an online catalogue on the museum’s website.

  The museum was awarded Full Accreditation by the Arts Council England in October 2012, demonstrating our commitment to achieving a high standard of service and a commitment to improving collection care. We received an invitation from the ACE to submit an Accreditation Return, with a deadline of 30th September 2015. The museum submitted the return and was awarded its re-accreditation in May 2018.

  In 2017 the museum began a collection move project moving material stored in the basement into a new bespoke storage space created during the Unpacking History project. The project will improve the care, storage and conservation of this section of the collection as well as producing high quality photographs of the collection material. The project will engage more users with the collection both in general and through a dedicated series of talks and tours.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  Regimental property held by the Battalions formed the basis of the museum’s collection, which was subsequently supplemented by appeals to serving and ex-members of the Regiment for items of interest. Today the Collection of around 3500 objects is diverse and of high quality and contains uniforms, insignia, weapons, paintings and personal effects relating to the Royal Fusiliers and affiliated companies.

  There are a large number of social history objects whose value is not their uniqueness but in the stories they can tell. Unpacking an archive box throws up any number of remarkable individual stories. A red leather bound notebook only 10cm long, looks unremarkable but in fact contains the signatures of ninety-five winners of the Victoria Cross. Amongst these is Private SF Godley’s, a Royal Fusilier recognised for his action at the Battle of Mons in 1914. The collection includes some rarities and star pieces of national importance including 12 of the 20 VCs held by the Royal Fusiliers, the French Eagle taken from Napoleon’s army at Martinique, a magnificent silver wine cooler presented to the Regiment by William IV and the Uniform and Bearskin of King George V.

  There is also an archive of over 20,000 objects which have not traditionally been seen as part of the museum’s collection and are not accessioned but which formed an integral part of the 2010 Heritage Lottery Fund Bid and which support the collection. The trustees took a decision to integrate this material into the collection. The museum is working through the archive, which includes material such as; official Regimental records such as War Diaries, photographs, and maps as well as personal documents of individual soldiers, for example, pay books, letters, diaries, photographs, postcards… and cataloguing appropriate items which will be formally accessioned into the collection in due course.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2018

  Licence: CC BY-NC