The Magnificence of The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum

Posted by Jhon Smith
6
Feb 15, 2016
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The pleasures of the sights like the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum are something that one has to experience in the best way posssible.

The Soldiers of Gloucestershire Musuem is situated inside the historical docks in Gloucester and is indeed a wonderful place to visit while on tours in London.

The History of the Musuem

This is a musuem which was initially opened by The Duke of Gloucester HRH and in the year 1980 it got remodeled way back in the eighties and then got reopened in the earlier Custom House at the Gloucester Docks in 1990. The museum then was reopened to the public after it underwent a majestic refurbishment with a lot of grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The musuem today tells us a tale of two of the very popular county regiments. These are the Gloucestershire Regiment and the 28th Regiment of Foot and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars . Initially there were some regiments which were brought in from Gloucestershire and then the other areas were inclusive of Cheltenham, Stroud, Circentster, Tewkesbury, The Forest of Dean and also the city of Bristol. People stay in hotels like shaftesbury hotel Paddington and enjoy the pleasures here.

The Display Items in The Museum

The items on display here have been collected since the last three centuries and the exhibits here are inclusive of the life size dioramas and the archive films. There are many sound effects which are a part of the campaigns in the Napoleanic wars. Then there are other wars like The First Anglo Sikh War, the Indian Mutiny , the Second Anglo Sikh War and the First World War too. There are other duties like peace keeping duties in Bosnia, Cyprus, and Northern Ireland . Then there are other amalgamation tehniques like in 1994 and then first into the Royal Gloucestershire and the Wiltshire Regiment . The museum has had all the currency of the exhibits in areas like Afghanistan and Iraq are also shown. The musuem have been held by the soldiers of the Regiment who were awarded with Three Victoria Crosses. Then there is the library and  the archives of the Gloucestershire Regiment which are found in the same building . These may be seen by taking a prior appointment.  Travellers coming here enjoy the facilities of paddington hotel special offers which provide convenience to tourists.

The Benefits of The Museum

The musuem has a website which has the best kind of databases with details of around 10,000 soldiers which are from the 18th and the 19th centuries. This is the database of the World War I which has details of more than 43,000 individuals.  There are at least 12,000 artefacts which have images as well as descriptions which can be viewed on line. There are many exhibits which have a significant acquisition like the service revolver which was collected from Gloster Hill. This is where the Glosters made their last stand way back in 1951. This was during the end of the Battle of the Imjin River.

Other Aspects of Gloucestershire Museum

The early years of the museum show some miniature paintings of all the officers right from the eighteenth and  the nineteenth centuries. These paintings are all interesting and fascinating belonging to the Gloucestershire Militias way back in the nineteenth century. The Napoleanic Room here is one of the best views which provides one of the best equipment as well as uniform annd there are also some of the finest medals from the Waterloo War and the Peninsular War. Then there are the other sights like the 19th Century Room which have some beautiful examples of memorabilia and early uniforms from the time of the Crimean War. Then there is the World War I Room which has drawings, weapons and artefacts from that period.  The World War II room are of special note which have the best kind of audio visual display which shows the bitter actions which have been fought by the rearguard at Dunkirk way back in the year 1940.

The Rooms In the Gloucestershire Museum

The Royal Gloucestershire Musuem has other rooms like the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Room which include some of the best uniforms, silverware, paintings right from their inception way back in the 1790s till the Second World War got over. Then there is the Korean War Room which has the best artefacts along with an audio visual display of the amazing story that have been told by the soldiers themselves who fought wars at the River Imjin in the year 1951. The National Service Room has many items which are on display covering the time from the late 1940s to the early half of 1960s. This was the period of British Army National Service which served the country during that time. The First and the Second World War Rooms are another attraction which have a lifelike tableaux of a trench which was dugout from the year 1916 and also from the fighting in the year 1944 in Burma. Then there are medal cabinets which consisted of 24 drawers which had interesting medal groups of soldiers from the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars as well as Gloucestershire Regiment.

The Pleasures of the Custom  House

The Custom House is the place where the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum is located on the  Commercial Road in Gloucester. The building is of Victorian construction and was completed in the year 1845 by the architect Sydney Smirke who designed the entire building in his own way. It was then occupied by the Imperial War Musuem in Lambeth. By the early half of 1840 it has become very clear that the Old Custom House was not suffficient for the trade that used to go on through the Port of Gloucester. In the year 1843 the site was found suritable  for a totally new building which was adjacent to the docks. The entire construction took more than a year to get completed with the legal formalities. 

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