Page 124 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

Coming Soon...
The latter part of 2015 is set to be quite busy with the museum accreditation return due and a new temporary exhibit based around the experiences of a casualty in the Great War. Provisionally titled ‘A Casualties Journey’’ the display will focus on the progress of wounded soldiers from the battlefield to the convalescent hospitals of Cheshire. Please see the website for opening times and further information.
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and underexplored themes. One of these
is the role of the Regimental Depot during the Great War. The training Depot of the Cheshire Regiment was here at the Castle in Chester from 1881 to 1942. The Depot played a significant role in the Great War, recruiting volunteers for Kitchener’s Army and looking after convalescent soldiers and those awaiting discharge.
Within the Regimental archive there is
a scrapbook covering the activities which took place and highlights some less obvious aspects of their work, including that of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, (later known as the Queen Mary’s Auxiliary Army Corps). These women were recruited to free up men for the frontline. They took on a variety of roles for the duration of the war including working as cooks, clerks and store women.
The Castle was also the location of a royal visit by the King and Queen on 14th May 1917, details of which were recorded in
the scrapbook. They presented gallantry medals and met wounded soldiers during their visit. The King and Queen were also introduced to Sergeant J Beverley a veteran of the Crimean war who had re-enlisted in the Cheshire Regiment to aid recruiting.
He had first joined the Army in 1857. On a
more mundane note the area around the Sergeants’ Mess tower was planted with fruit trees to aid the War Effort.
Preliminary work on the scrapbook has started and it is hoped that later in the year it will be digitised and the information it contains made available to those visiting the museum.
THE MERCIAN EAGLE