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Operation Clumber display in Worksop The Medals of Captain Robert Leslie Illingworth DSO, Library September-October 2019 MC & Bar of the 16th Battalion (The Chatsworth Rifles)
The Sherwood Foresters, donated to the museum.
Museum of the Mercian Regiment (Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Collection)
Jennifer Brookman-Moore, Curator
The museum has had another busy
WFR case: Part of the modern timeline for the WFR, June 2019 in Erewash Museum, which helped to inform the public on the Regiments history.
As ever we continue to receive items
into the collection. We have received the medals of Caption Illingworth DSO, MC & Bar of the 16th Battalion the Chatsworth Rifles. His citation for his DSO reads: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He took over command of a partly trained composite Battalion from a wounded officer. With great skill he maintained the line, organised local counter-attacks, and drove the enemy back. It was in great measure due to his leadership and courage that
the Battalion, which was in the heat of the fight, rendered such a good account of itself, both then and again on a subsequent occasion: this action was in the Wytschaete area April/May 1918. His MC citation reads: At St Pierre Divion on 13th November 1916, He led his company in the attack with
great courage and determination. Later, he, accompanied only by his orderly, captured 81 prisoners: and Bar to M.C. (Temp Capt) London Gazette 26.9.1917, In the Klein Zillebeke Sector near La Coq De Paille, on 15.8.1917. Having repulsed an enemy raid with his company with great coolness and ability, he proceeded with his orderly over the top of the parapet and captured three prisoners in a shell hole in full view of the enemy under heavy rifle and machine gun fire. These were the first prisoners brought in out of a total of 14, who were captured
in a similar manner as a result of his fearlessness and determination.”
Amongst many other items, we have also received some recruiting posters for C Coy 4 MERCIAN and a pack of photographs of the WFR from the 1970s, luckily for us with names on! As ever we continue to welcome items into the collection and currently are looking for rare First World War Items and Items relating to the WFR and the Mercian Regiment.
year; with Nottingham Castle still closed, the museum saw its WW1 display at Chesterfield Museum decant and the next display created in partnership with Clumber Park, now owned by the National Trust. The display focused on the role the Sherwood Foresters played in the Second World
War and ran for the whole of May before being moved to Worksop Library, where it was on display for September for the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the War.
redesigned to improve our visibility on the web and to enable us to increase access to our collection. It is due to launch in May 2020!
We have taken part in a project run by AMOT (Army Museums Ogilby Trust) and funded by the Chancellor through Libor,
to digitise our collection from 1900-
1929. In amongst the items were letters, photographs, recruiting posters, war diaries and regimental histories, all relating to the Boar War, First World War and post war actives as well. Over the course of the year, these items have been digitised and we hope to be able to display the results on our
Another exhibition was launched at Erewash Museum in Ilkeston in June.
’The Sherwood Foresters and World War Two’, focusing on the
experiences of the
Foresters throughout
the war. The Foresters
were part of the B.E.F
force who went to
France in 1939 and
then evacuated at
Dunkirk less than a year later. The 8th Battalion were sent to Norway, where they fought the German invasion, which ended in evacuation/capture again for the Foresters, whilst the 1st/5th Battalion were sent to Singapore in 1942 and captured. In total 450 Foresters died as a result, over the five years. The Foresters had better success
in North Africa and Italy, whilst pockets of men were involved in Arnhem attached to different units. At every exhibition we had a modern timeline, so that not only was the history of the Sherwood Foresters shown but also the history of the WFR and the Mercian Regiment could be told and shown as we had items from all 3 regiments on display. The exhibitions were well attended and helped improve the museums visibility in the recruiting counties and with informing the public about the Mercian Regiment and its antecedents.
Back at the office at Foresters House, our website is in the process of being
new website next year and in our gallery when it re-opens.
Back in 2016, we bought a book, part funded by the V&A Purchase Grant, of Silhouettes of Officers
of the 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot from 1819. The book which is A5 size, is one of a kind and includes silhouettes of Officers and their families who were based in Ceylon (now Sri-Lanka), and includes Officers who were present at Badajoz in 1812. We recruited some Masters Students from Nottingham Trent University who have been going through the Army lists and using records from our archives to identify who the Officers were at the time. We have had some great success in that we have got names for all but one. The results of the project will be displayed as part of the first Temporary Exhibition when we return to Nottingham Castle.
We have also had other university students as well as our regular volunteers from the regimental family and the local community to help volunteer in the museum office on a wide range of museum work. On behalf of the Trustees, I thank them for their invaluable contribution.
we continue to receive items into the collection
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