VOLUNTEERS WEEK 2026: The Power of Volunteers
To celebrate Volunteers Week 2026, we at the museum are recognising the amazing work our team of volunteers do!
Volunteers give their time and knowledge to support museums across the country, and the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire) is no different. As a registered charity, volunteering is crucial in maintaining the smooth running of many of our museum services, including research enquiries and archival work. The impact their work has, not only on the museum but on those interested in the collection and Regimental heritage, is significant and we recognise the importance of having a skilled, passionate and confident group behind us.
When commissioning a research enquiry on a family member or event, enquirers gain access to a small pool of research volunteers who have many years of experience and knowledge of the regiment and of military service in general. People who can give meaningful context and helpful interpretation of information found in the archives.
For other members of our volunteering team their interests and skills lie in behind-the-scenes work with the collection, supporting the museum by creating transcripts of historic handwritten records or assisting with the cataloguing and labelling of our collections.
The success of our volunteers is best reflected in our digital output and the enthusiastic responses we receive from members of the public seeking answers to family history enquiries…
Calvin Evans or Charles Hardwick?
Back in January the museum received a very interesting enquiry: Tracking the military service, and perhaps double life, of the rather elusive Calvin Evans…or Charles Hardwick?
Family lore held that Calvin Evans, whilst serving with the Worcestershire Regiment, had fallen in love with a woman whilst stationed in Ireland; a miss Sarah Dunne. When his request to marry her was rejected by his commanding officer, Evans went absent without leave and re-enlisted sometime later under the name of Charles Hardwick.
A certain Charles Hardwick, of the 2nd Battalion the Worcestershire Regiment married a Miss Sarah Dunne in Limerick in 1891. An unusually romantic tale for our researcher!
After much investigation, our dedicated research volunteer was able to uncover some of the truth and help shed light on a family and military mystery.
Calvin Evans and Charles Hardwick were indeed the same man, confirmed through cross-referencing civil records and service documents which listed matching information like next of kin, home addresses, and immediate family details.
Whilst no service record for Calvin Evans could be located, Charles Hardwick enlisted at the age of 18 and 4 months and served with the Regiment from 1889 until 1919 when he was discharged due to deteriorating health. He had lived 20 years as Charles before reverting back to his birth name until his death in 1939.
Calvin’s story had evaded the family for some time. But the information and expertise provided by our dedicated volunteer helped build a life story for current relatives and filled in some important blanks in a long line of family history.
Below is the very warm thanks we received for the time and effort put into this enquiry by our volunteer:
I will never be able to adequately convey my everlasting gratitude for the information recently received. I am close to putting the final stamp on many years of research and speculation […] Many thanks to your organisation for offering this route to knowledge, and for having the skills to pick through tomes of records to build the life story you have supplied. We are very grateful.
Serving with the Worcesters – George Henry Phipps:
Family research can last its own lifetime; there is always something more to find! In March the museum received correspondence from a past enquirer, asking for another look into his father’s service with the Worcestershire Regiment as more poignant information had come to light.
The enquiry requested a review of Colour Sergeant George Henry Phipps’ Service Record with the Worcestershire Regiment to provide a more comprehensive and detailed explanation of the information enclosed.
Service Records can be difficult to decode. Our research volunteers have spent much time studying these documents to understand what the information enclosed means in regard to a soldier’s service.
Phipps had enlisted as a Private in the Regular Army with the Worcestershire Regiment in January 1938 and was posted to 1st Battalion. His Service Record placed him in Palestine, Sudan, and East/North Africa with the Regiment throughout 1939-42. It also shed light on his time as a Prisoner of War in North Africa during the Second World War.
Recorded as missing Egypt 14 June 1942, Phipps was in fact at Tobruk where a large number of men of 1st Battalion were taken prisoner. After incarceration in Italy Phipps escaped or was liberated on 10 September 1943 and found his way to neutral Switzerland. Understanding that Italy had surrendered to the allies on 8 September 1943, the volunteer leading this enquiry surmised that this may have provided the conditions for Phipps’ escape.
A full medical history during wartime was listed with Phipps’s record, which was dissected and re-written by our volunteer using their own knowledge of medical terminology and military abbreviations.
Below is the grateful response we received from our enquirer for the expert knowledge provided by our volunteer:
Thank you so much for the update! I truly appreciate the time and effort you and your volunteers have put into looking into [his] service record. I’m so grateful for your feedback and and for the insights into his time with the Worcestershire Regiment. Your research volunteer has added to my knowledge of what I have discovered to date on [his] time with the Worcester[s]. I know a time he valued.
We welcome anyone who would like to support the museum through volunteering. We are particularly keen to hear from you if you enjoy family history research, are IT literate, and have an eye for detail, but if you have other skills which you think may be of use to the Museum, please do not hesitate to tell us. Training is available.
Get in touch via our form: Enquiries – Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire)
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