Page 117 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019
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                                REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
  Photographs of 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal awarded to 4401 Private Frederick Day 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers
the archives and photographs will be made available to research- ers, family and military historians in the near future.
2019 saw our visitor figures rise to over 90,000 which is a record number for the Museum. These fantastic figures were largely down to Derby Museum hosting a Leonardo da Vinci exhibi- tion from the Royal Collections Trust. This includes 10,000 self- guided school visits from school children.
Frederick was the oldest son of eight children born to Charles Frederick and Ellen. Charles worked as a market gardener, and in 1911 his oldest sons Freder- ick (18) and Arthur (16) are recorded as nurserymen. Frederick initially enlisted into 8th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment in March 1911, joining the 21L 18 months later on 14 October 1912. A few months later on 8 February 1913 he transferred to the 9L. He continued to serve in the 9th throughout the First World War until he was discharged as ‘physically unfit’. This was due to a kidney condition which the medical board estimated caused a 20% disability. Frederick was deemed unfit for service for a further three years but recovered sufficiently to re-join the 9L serving in B Squadron from 10 September 1919. If you would like to get in
touch you can contact me at angela@derbymuseums.org.
Reverse side of Private Day’s 1914 Star
The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum
As I write these notes, the Museum has just opened its doors after the Winter break just in time for the school half term in February 2020. The closed period provided the museum with the opportunity to catch up with housekeeping and prepare new displays/exhibitions for the New Year. Looking back on the year, we have again been busy. Our visitor numbers are holding up nicely and our followers on Facebook have increased to 1,700, thanks to Wayne Birch’s regular posts. Other volunteers con- tinue to give their time freely to the museum. This much very appreciated by museum staff and the Board. School visits and guided tours for historical groups have continued, as does de- mand for family research. These activities remain a good stream of income for the museum.
In April the museum reached the milestone of 250,000 visitors to the museum since opening in July 2011. Given that we are in a rural location not served by public transport, we do really well and are in that top third of visitors to military museums.
Main events for the year were:
May 11 to 18 the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cassino in which three of The Royal Lancers’ antecedent regiments, the 12L, 16/5L and 17/21L took part. To mark this event, the Cura- tor assisted The Royal Lancers on a battlefield study to Cassino in late July.
The 75th anniversary of “D-Day” exhibition which ran from 25- 30 June and attracted over 2,400 visitors in just three days. The exhibition featured preparations and actions of the Sherwood
Rangers Yeomanry South Notts Hussars and the 24L as well as the Thoresby Estate connection with the training of troops prior to D-Day. The exhibition included vintage Second World War and current vehicles from The Royal Lancers. On Saturday 29 June, the museum hosted an event for the Friends of the Mu- seum which was well received.
August saw the 50th anniversary of Operation BANNER. This exhibition covered the start of additional military deployment in Northern Ireland and was the longest campaign in the history of the British Army. The exhibition proved popular, particularly with veterans who had served during that campaign.
Another important event in August was the vesting of the QRL collection into newly created, The Royal Lancers Museum Trust. This in effect will mean no real changes to the museum at this time, save for signage to reflect the name change to The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum. It is envisaged going forward, that artefacts from the 9/12L Museum will form part of the displays at Thoresby and vice versa as well as collaboration on exhibitions on both sites.
In September a reception was held at the Museum for the re- tiring Curator. But don’t worry as he will not be going far and will continue his role with the Museum on a consultancy basis. I would like to pass on my sincere thanks and appreciation to all those who attended the event and for the most kind presentation of an armada dish, from my Yeomanry friends and colleagues.
JMH
The Museum continues to accept interesting dona- tions for the collections. We were delighted to re- ceive a group of 9L First World War medals named to Private Frederick Day which were generously donated by his grandson Mr Paul Day. Frederick’s service papers have survived and they provide an interesting insight into his early life and army
service.
 AMT
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