Ever thought about volunteering in a museum?
The Mercian Regiment Museum, whose public galleries are inside the City Museum on Foregate Street, is seeking volunteers to help at the museum offices and store. The museum is the home of medals, weapons, uniforms, equipment and archives all of which tell the story of The Worcestershire Regiment since its formation in the late seventeenth […]
The Battle of Gheluvelt October 31st 1914 "The Worcesters save the Empire"
The first shock of the German invasion came near to defeating the combined French and British Armies. The British Army stood to fight at Ypres. After ten days’ hard fighting, the 2nd Battalion, 350 strong, was the only reserve for the Gheluvelt sector. The Battalion was then resting in Polygon Wood. The line at Gheluvelt, […]
The Museum acquires a "Brown Bess"
The astonishing generosity of one of our Friends has enabled the Trustees of the Mercian Regiment Museum to purchase an British India Pattern “Brown Bess” flintlock musket. It was armed with this pattern of musket that the 29th and 36th Regiments covered themselves in glory during the Peninsular War and in doing so earned the […]
The Battle of Busaco 29th September 1810
In May 1810 Marshal Massena took command of the Army of Portugal, with orders from the Emperor Napoleon to capture Lisbon and drive Wellington and his British army out of the Peninsular. During the winter of 1809/10 Wellington’s engineers had built fortifications across the Lisbon isthmus, known as the Lines of Torres Vedras. As Massena […]
The 29th Foot heroes of Talavera
Having driven Marshal Soult’s French army from Portugal, General Sir Arthur Wellesley’s 20,000 British troops advanced into Spain to join forces with 33,000 Spanish troops under General Cuesta. They marched up the Tagus valley to Talavera de la Reina, about 120 km southwest of Madrid. There they encountered 46,000 French under Marshals Jourdan and […]
Malayan Gift Tin
The 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment, fought in the Malayan Emergency of 1950-53. Many National Servicemen and volunteers spent weeks and months in patrolling the dense jungle, tracking down Communist-led bandits. These tins were sent out to the members of the Battalion at Christmas 1952. They were paid for by the Sergeant’s Mess Reunion, and contained […]
Important acquisition – a Lovell pattern 1839 musket
The Trustees of the Mercian Regiment Museum have recently acquired an British Pattern 1839, percussion smooth bore musket. It is 55 ½” long with a 39″ barrel marked with ordnance proof marks. The barrel is equipped with a standing foresight and a plain rear sight. It is equipped with a side action lock which is […]
The Black Drummers
In 1759 ten slaves captured from the French were presented to the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot for use as drummers, and started a tradition which would last nearly a century.Over the next 84 years nearly 50 black men were actively recruited to serve as drummers in the 29th. Each man was a volunteer, and […]
Yeoman, 1916
During the First World War the Worcestershire Yeomanry fought in Gallipoli, Egypt and Palestine. Roving across wide open desert in the blistering heat for days on end, the Yeomanry led the British Army all the way from the Suez Canal to Damascus in one of the most successful British campaigns of the war. It was […]
First World War Body Armour
This is a set of First World War body armour, used by the British Army. It has curved metal plates for the chest and the back, and was supposed to protect snipers and other vulnerable soldiers by stopping or deflecting bullets. Unfortunately, the metal is very thin, and probably would not have stopped a direct […]
People Facet Tree
