Soldiers of Shropshire Museum

A wonderful few hours today at @sosmuseum.bsky.social for Teddy and me!

The countdown to our 'March for the Museum' continues - Sunday 22nd June at Acton Scott Hall - so it's time for the second compelling reason to take part:

2: Visiting new places in Shropshire is good for the local economy AND the local environment!

#naturewalk #Shrewsbury #museumlife

A beautiful window- thanks for sharing this tribute to him

#shrewsbury #shropshire #naturewalks

With just over FOUR weeks to go until our annual fundraising walk, "March for the Museum" we thought we'd give you FOUR great reasons for taking part!
This week: being outdoors is good for you!
No need to book- just turn up and walk- if you can't make it on the day, we have other ways to donate

Emmie in her colourful garden at home in Shrewsbury, c1970s/80s.

Screenshot of part of online exhibition

The online exhibition to our 'Auntie Emmie's suitcase' display is now live! It includes audio and video from Emmie's great-niece and donor of Emmie's suitcase archive, Susan Davies.

www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/online-exhib...

#shropshire #shrewsburycastle #womenandwar #firstworldwar #WAAC

Bryan de Grineau’s drawing of Thomas's grave, for the Illustrated London News.

Her son was the first British Army soldier to be killed in action during the Second World War, Corporal Thomas Priday of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (1st Battalion). 4/4

#VEday #shropshire #churchill #80veday #shrewsburycastle

Elizabeth Priday outside her cottage, described further in main body text.

Victory, of course, had come at a cost — in lives lost, in psychological scars, and in emotional wounds. Pictured is Elizabeth Priday standing outside her cottage holding a framed drawing of her son’s makeshift grave in Luttange, France. 3/4

Dönitz and Jodl to Eisenhower's HQ to sign the unconditional surrender of the remnants of the Nazi regime to the Supreme Allied Command.
The Grand Admiral's baton is displayed at the museum - along with our Shropshire Soldiers' war stories. 2/4

Description from the Imperial War Museum: The Prime Minister Winston Churchill at a BBC microphone about to broadcast to the nation on the afternoon of VE Day. IWM (H 41843)

80 years ago today, Winston Churchill announced 'Victory in Europe', Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler's successor, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, had surrendered. Our Shropshire soldiers formed the arresting party (alongside the Herefords) to bring... 1/4

Goat hair is very fine and is used by museums and galleries like ours to dust frames. As the hair is very fine, it can't remove embedded historic layers of dust. Infact, such dust becomes stuck to the object and removing it brings serious risk of damage as well as the loss of its 'memory'.

Image 1: Close up image of oil on canvas portrait of Sir William Whitmore of Apley by Joyce Aris (1955). Sir William wears a white wig typical of the mid 18th century, a white cravat, scarlet coat with gold facings and a white waistcoat with gold facings.

Image 2: Using a goat hair brush over the frame, which is gold and intricately carved.

The frame to our 1955 portrait of Sir William Whitmore of Apley (near Bridgnorth) – whose eyes seem to follow you in the gallery – has been given a much-needed dust with a very special brush!

#collectionscare #shrewsburycastle #museumlife #goathair #museumconservation

Image 1: A colour photograph of Mercy Price holding her youngest son, George, in 1935. Mercy wears a green jacket – a colour she avoided after Aubrey was killed, as she had been wearing green when she received the news of his death. Private collection.

Image 2: The powders and lipsticks with their containers, brands include Gemey, Coty, Pascal Paris, Robert Laurent, Lesourd Pivert. Soldiers of Shropshire Museum.

An object in our collection has recently captured hearts across the UK – a wartime gift of cosmetics from soldier Aubrey Price to his mother, Mercy; a gift that unwraps love, grief, memory, and loss.

You can read Mercy's story at the link below 👇

www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/mercys-story...

For the original story, you can check out our blog post at the link below 👇
www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/survived-by-...
#shrewsbury #Shropshire #militaryhistory #museum

Image 2: Studio photograph of Aubrey Price, from Trench, Shropshire, in King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KLSI) uniform. Aubrey joined the KSLI in June 1944.

Image 1: Second World War (1939-45) black and white night-time photograph of a Royal Air Force radio operator in a dispersal van, handling the radio telephone. The van is equipped with signalling lights and communications equipment. The operator is listening intently to instructions from Control. Imperial War Museum (CH 6591)

Tune in to BBC Radio Shropshire with Clare Ashford this Thursday and Friday from 10:00 to 12:30 for a 10-part series, where Aubrey’s 80-year-old gift to his mum, part of our museum collection and first featured last month- leads to emotional reunions and new insights into Mercy, Aubrey’s mother.

Thank you Joanne!

Organised by the Friends of the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, the lecture will be held in Shrewsbury Castle's Circular Room. Tickets are FREE for Friends and £10 for non-friends. Tickets can be booked and paid for in advance at this link 👇
www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/product/talk...

(Rrob next to Thomas Price's temporary grave marker, brought back to the UK by his wife Sylvia. It is a simple wooden cross, with square cut diamonds at ends apart from the bottom. In black paint are the words 'RIP' in the top diamond, followed by 'KILLED / IN / ACTION' down the top part of the vertical cross and '250085 SGT PRICE T.V. / 10th K.S.L.I. along the horizontal. At the lower part of the vertical cross '29.7.18'.

Image 4: One of several luxury French cosmetics gifted by Private Aubrey Price to his mother, Mercy for Christmas 1944. Vibrant red Gemey powder, within a circular metal case, with circular cotton applicator and a metal top, with a loose circular paper advertising note(?) 'ROUGE / A LÉVRES / GEMEY /procédé synthochrome / création / RICHARD HUDNUT / PARIS'. Aubrey was killed two months later on the 7th March 1945 in the Netherlands and the luxury cosmetics were preserved by Mercy through her grief. For more, see https://www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/survived-by-grief-cosmetic-dis-comfort-a-gift-from-a-soldier-son-to-mother/

Letter written on a single page of blue notepaper by Private Lancelot ‘Lance’ Kitchen to his sister Vera (transcript further below). Eight months after writing the letter, Lance died as a prisoner of war in June 1916. Trimulgherry, India Oct 1st / My Dear Vera, / Thank you very much for your Kind letter received safely yesterday. I am glad to hear you enjoyed your school holiday. I expect you are getting quite a big girl now what standard are you in school. I am sending you a few pictures I will collect a lot & send you soon. What are you doing with them all. I will have my photo taken soon & send you one then you can show your teacher your big brother who has been to the front fighting the Turks. I don’t know when I shall be coming home but I will come as soon as the Germans have all been beaten & I don’t think that will take us long now. I have enclosed a picture out of a paper, you can see the date trees that is where I have been fighting Well Vera dear write me another letter soon (a long one) Best love to you & all at Home I remain / Your loving Brother / xxxx Lance xxxxxx

This soldier doll was given to a young son when his father, Lance Corporal William Smith, was killed in the First World War (1914-18). It is very fragile, with several holes where the filling material will escape with only the slightest movement. Some of the holes were sewn up long ago and then over time and/or playful use the stitching has come loose, revealing the holes once again. The doll is made of a single piece of fabric, details such as jacket, hat and facial features have been drawn or printed on with ink.

Rob delivers the final talk of the Friend's Spring Lecture Series on April 10th 7.30pm at Shrewsbury Castle. Using objects from the museum's stored collection, he asks the question: How have the loving ones of killed soldiers of Shropshire grieved?

#museums #Shrewsbury #Shropshire#militaryhistory

Try your skills for £1 a go - card or coin - and let us know how you fared!
The simulator is wheelchair accessible. We suggest that smaller children will need adult supervision -
And for those sensitive to sudden noise, it does make a bang, but staff can reduce the volume on request!

Caleb and Daniel- smiling, dressed up as soldiers posing with a gun by our weapons simulator.

Picture of the target range simulator leaderboard

With the Easter break nearly here, are you stuck for things to do? Our brand new Weapons Simulator may have just the solution!

You could take inspiration from two of our recent visitors, Caleb and Daniel, who combined our simulator with our soldier dress-up activity!

#museum #ww2 #militaryhistory

Ray’s archive part 4: reunions of shared identity and experience. Through photos, Korean War veteran Ray reflects on Shropshire branch reunions of the British Korean Veterans Association.

#koreanwar #ksli #kingsshropshirelightinfantry #Shrewsbury #warveteran #koreanveteransassociation

Thank you! 😃

A large cluster of yellow and white wild daffodils.

A billowing Japanese camellia, against the castle wall, a vibrant pink flowered shrub

Shrewsbury Castle, with shrub and flower beds to the right of a garden path leading to the castle.

Pink and purple hyacinth and white-yellow and yellow varieties of daffodil around a plaque 'EAGLE / FROM / MINDEN / BARRACKS / COLOGNE / A.D. 1925

Spring has sprung and is singing in all its technicolour glory at our Shrewsbury Castle home garden, 🌞 thanks to Shrewsbury Town Council gardeners Andy, Karl, and Steve (who retired last year)!
Do share your own blossom if you like below! 👇
#shrewsbury #shropshire #spring #museums #nature

Can you turn our weapons demonstrator Stuart's smile into a frown? 🤔 On Friday, Stuart claimed the top spot on the target range leaderboard of our new weapons simulator, dethroning our director Richard after weeks of dominance! Stuart, who is Royal Navy veteran, quipped he was pleased to have 'dispelled the myth' that Royal Navy personnel are 'awful at shooting'. Can you prove him wrong? The simulator is accessible for wheelchairs and £1 per go with proceeds helping to keep us marching on. You compete with a laser-based SA80 rifle, the simulator is fully accessible for wheelchairs and £1 per play. In the very near future there will be the option of competing with a Glock pistol. Stuart has been volunteering with the museum for over a year, delivering interactive weapons demonstrations for visitors. Stuart served 10 years in the Royal Navy, a highlight was parading for Princess Margaret, the late Queen’s sister. Stuart’s grandmother was especially proud of this, as she ‘shifted all her photos off the TV to have that on the top. She even moved my uncle’s passing-out picture to put me there [...]’. Stuart served on HMS London in the Persian Gulf, HMS Illustrious in the Adriatic Sea (Bosnian War), and HMS Norfolk in the South Atlantic, carrying out operations around the Falkland Islands, South America, and the Caribbean. 🌎

Image 1: Stuart, with a smile, holding a toy SA80 outside the weapons simulator, having just pipped Richard to the top of the target range simulator leaderboard. Stuart stands next to a sign that says 'Try our new Weapon Simulator! / Choose your rang type and skill level and get your name on the leaderboard...Use the Army's current weapons - The L85-A3 rifle or the Glock 17 pistol*

Can you turn our weapons demonstrator Stuart's smile into a frown? On Friday, Stuart claimed the top spot on the target range leaderboard of our new weapons simulator, dethroning our director Richard after weeks of dominance!

#museums #Shrewsbury #royalnavy #museumlife #militaryhistory

Photographs of and newspaper clippings within the museum collection about Jessie the donkey from the 1940s through to the present day. At the centre is Jessie’s wooden cart within the cobbled service courtyard of Pitchford Hall with Rob (left), James Nason (centre) and Derek Owen (right) around the cart. Rob holds the museum’s Jessie portrait by Lady Sybil Grant. Image courtesy of the Shropshire Star and reproduced by Copywrite of Shrewsbury.

Black and white photograph of Jessie and Private Ellis at the Flaxmill Maltings, Shrewsbury, 1942, with soldier’s kit bags to be taken to Shrewsbury Railway Station.

The full story of Jessie the donkey's cart discovery is now available to read at our 'Stories from the Collection' webpage, and just as we add a new layer to Jessie's archival story at the museum!

www.soldiersofshropshire.co.uk/recovering-j...

#shrewsbury #archives #socialhistory #militaryhistory

As well as objects from the Bosnian War and associated United Nations and NATO peacekeeping missions (1992-1996), 'Bosnia: 25 Years +' includes a film (generously supported by the Army Museums Network) featuring interviews with British Army veterans. A new exhibition will be installed!

Items from the display which include a United Nations helmet in 'UN Blue', 'shell damaged Serbian entrenching tool found at Mrkonjie-Grad [...] 27th July 1996' and a metal water bottle.

The display, which includes a blue UN peacekeeping helmet, a used artillery shell and an SA-80 rifle.

Our temporary Bosnia exhibition ('Bosnia: 25 Years +') which opened in April 2022 is now a permanent gallery fixture! 👍Richard our director crafted a new space for the exhibition in our Modern Army Gallery and has installed the display.

We currently have a series on our page, following a Korean Veteran called Ray, which you might be interested in!

Ray’s archive part 3, objects on display.

Ray tells the story of Jeff Murphy’s paybook which we have in the museum.

#militaryhistory #ksli #shrewsbury #koreanwar #veteran #localhistory

At the Soldiers of Shropshire Museum, we have a new landmark accession- a servicewomen's dress, worn by Joan Crooke!

#womenshistory #militaryhistory #WRAC #ww2 #localhistory #shrewsbury #archives