User:MJF2000/Articles for creation/Green Howard's Museum

Page created at Green Howard's Museum

Green Howard's Museum is a museum located in the town centre of Richmond, North Yorkshire.

History
The Green Howards Regimental Museum, in the converted medieval church in the centre of Richmond's cobbled market place, has developed spasmodically. The first mention of it was in the Green Howard's Gazette in March 1922, with a short paragraph: "The Regimental Museum at the Depot has been commenced. There should not be any great expense after obtaining a few glass cases for letters and medals". How wrong they were.

Immediately after the Great War, hundreds of items were brought back from the Western Front and Gallipoli and handed into the Regimental Depot in the barracks at the top of Gallowgate Hill in Richmond. No one appeared to know what to do with them. At that time the main core of the Museum was the private collection of medals and badges of Major M L Ferrar, the historian of the 19th Regiment of Foot, and a small but interesting array of the military ephemera collected by Lieutenant Colonel E H Chapman, before he was killed at Gallipoli in August, 1915.

In 1922 there was no permanent home for these collections so they were moved from room to room in the barracks. Some rooms were centrally heated, others damp and dark. During World War II, the Museum had several homes including a hut in Richmond's Gallowgate Camp - a windswept site on the old racecourse. After the war, the Museum continued its nomadic existence around the Regimental Depot, where Green Howard recruits had been trained for the regular battalions of the Regiment since 1877.

In October 1955, the Green Howards Gazette announced the next move of the Museum: "Owing to the acute accommodation problem which arose at the end of November 1954, it was necessary to remove the Regimental Museum from the barrack room in Howard Block to the buildings in the south-west corner of the barracks which had previously been the home of the local company of the 4th Battalion (TA)". By October 1955 the Museum was open to the public on weekdays from 10.30 to 12.00 noon and between the hours of 2.00 and 4.00 p.m. It did not mention the number of visitors. It is doubtful there were many who climbed the steep Gallowgate Hill or had the courage to walk past a parade square, under the eyes of bristling drill sergeants, to turn the key in the door of the wooden hut and so view the relics of war.

The medal collection had been increased dramatically in the years of the Depression when many decorations had come on the open market to be sold for a pittance. Major Ferrar had assiduously purchased medals of the Regiment when and whenever he could and scoured catalogues for mention of medals of the 19th Foot. Brigadier Collins did likewise for regimental uniforms in the years after World War II.

The Museum remained in this wooden hut until the Depot closed down in 1961 and infantry regiments were given regimental headquarters and encouraged to establish museums. That year, the old stone gymnasium of the barracks was converted into the Regimental Headquarters and Museum.

Colonel Jonathan Forbes, the Regimental Secretary and Curator, Brigadier Tommy Collins, the prime mover of the new Museum, and John Goat, the first Museum Attendant, rolled up their sleeves and began to convert this barn-like building, flooded by natural light, into a fine small regimental museum. The major problem was that the Home Office had taken over the remainder of the barracks to turn it into an Approved School.

Security worried Brigadier Collins, while finding a different site occupied the mind of Colonel Forbes. In 1970, Colonel Jonathan Forbes entertained Major Peter Kirby, formerly an officer in 4th Green Howards during WWII, - then Curator of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum - in the King's Head Hotel. Peter Kirby pointed through the window of the hotel at the redundant Holy Trinity Church, now up for sale in the market place: "That's the place for your Museum. It's in an ideal location."

Major General Desmond Gordon, the Colonel of the Regiment, liked the idea when he was told that the Ripon Diocese would let the church for a peppercorn rent but blanched at the proposed cost of the conversion. Decisions were made, fund raising committees formed and £90,000 collected in two years by the Regiment and its supporters. Conversion began on the main body of the church, leaving a small east chapel where 24 people would be able to worship before an altar and large stained glass window. In July 1973, the new Museum was officially opened by the Colonel-in-Chief of the Green Howards, King Olav V of Norway.

In 1975, the Museum was runner-up in the 'Museum of the Year' Awards. The publicity it generated was excellent because over 36,000 visitors poured through the old church doors during the first year. But the museum had been designed by regimental officers for other officers and soldiers in the Regiment and had little to communicate to those who had no military experience or background. Visitor figures dropped dramatically and, as the Trustees were unwilling to change the award winning displays for over 20 years, the numbers fell below 14,000 visitors a year.

The Green Howards had an excellent story to tell, but other museums and attractions in the area were using modern display techniques and technology to present their stories and so attracted potential visitors in their direction. Visitor figures fell further until in 1994, Roger Chapman was invited by the Regimental Secretary and Curator, Lt Col Neil McIntosh, to present some plans to enhance the displays and introduce modern technology. In May 1995, the Trustees of the Museum gave their go-ahead to the planned changes, and preparations were made for a 4-month refurbishment programme later in the year.

The Museum's collection now spans over three centuries of travel, campaigns and war. Archive film of the Western Front in the Great War and Green Howards in WWII are displayed on touch screen, audio visual systems; colour film displayed on CD ROM illustrate incidents over the past forty years; new easy-to-read labels in colourful cabinets communicate the story of the Regiment from 1688 to the present day; visitors can now discover the role of the 'Ladies of the Regiment' and find out more about the Regiment's unique link with the market town of Richmond and the people of North Yorkshire and Teesside.

The pride of the Museum is undoubtedly the Harrison Gallery, formerly the Medal Room, on the middle floor leading into the Norman by Room with its 'Mousey' Thompson furniture. Over 3,000 medals dating back to 1815, regimental badges, buckles, buttons and gorgets dating back to 1750, glisten under light bulbs which glow from inside mahogany display cabinets. The thick carpet and ambient light makes it a place of reverence for the many Green Howards who have served in the Regiment.

There is still much to be done, but once again the Museum is in the top league of small regimental museums in the country, as shown by the Yorkshire Tourist Board's 'White Rose Award 1998' for attractions with under 50,000 visitors per year. It is a museum worthy and proud to display the gallantry medals of the 'Heroes of the Green Howards'.

In 2006 – after a successful Heritage Lottery Fund application – work commenced to transform the ground floor gallery into a more user friendly environment. £130,000.00 was given by the HLF towards the construction work.

The revamped gallery boasts a new entrance area to attract visitors. A Land Rover tableau greets customers as they enter. Next to the entrance is the new museum shop and reception area. Across from the shop is the ‘Kidzone’ where children can try on uniforms and hats, learn about camouflage and build their very own Land Rover to take home.

Adjacent to the children’s interactive area is the Nalton Family History Research Centre. Visitors are encouraged to sit down and explore their Green Howards connections. A new museum office and conservation room complete the new downstairs area.