It’s been a busy year for the Manchester Regiment Collection. In addition to several grant-aided projects, the exhibition Solders’ Stories at Portland Basin Museum has showcased key objects from the collection, including some that have not been on display before.

Spanning conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Second Boer War, the two World Wars, as well as National Service, the exhibition includes uniforms, medals, souvenirs, drums, trophies and badges, all of which tell personal stories about soldiers who served with the Manchester Regiment.

It’s the first major display of material since the Museum of the Manchester Regiment closed in 2015. It increases access to the collection and tells the important stories of the soldiers who served.

Among them are a mess tin on which Private Wilkinson engraved images documenting his time as a Japanese P.O.W during the Second World War; a set of keys found on the battlefield after the death of Wilfrith Elstob VC DSO MC; and the medals of Private Fred Finucane, a First World War boy soldier from Ashton who died of dysentery sailing to Egypt.

There’s still time to see the exhibition before it closes on 2 July.

Another display at Portland Basin Museum commemorated the 100th anniversary of the disbanding of the Machine Gun Corps in 1922. Using archive material and museum objects, the display included a Vickers Machine Gun and other objects from the First World War.

Members of the Manchester Regiment 1914-18 living history group also joined us for an event at the museum where they showed off the different types of machine guns and their vast array of memorabilia.

In 2020, Tameside Museums were lucky enough to secure funding from AMOT (Army Museums Ogilby Trust) to add another 80 sets of medals to the Men Behind the Medals website. This is a popular resource exploring the stories of the soldiers awarded medals that are held in the collections.

However, due to the pandemic the project was delayed and it was finally completed in 2022. A notable example of a new addition is Ensign James Hulton Clutterbuck’s medal from the Crimean War which has been inset into the mount of a painting of the soldier. Clutterbuck was killed at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854 whilst carrying the regimental colour.

Grant aid from AMOT also enabled the purchase and inclusion of a set of medals awarded to Ashton-born RQMS Harry Grantham MBE DCM who fought alongside VC winner Lieutenant William Thomas Forshaw at Gallipoli and was awarded the MBE for his services to the Territorial Army.

The collection was also fortunate enough to receive AMOT grant funding this year to assist in the creation of an online Manchester Regiment education resource. The ‘Conflict and Consequences’ resources are a series of films, scripts and lesson plans to support a study of the First World War for KS2 and beyond. These are complimented by a short film following Manchester Regiment soldier Tommy Atkins signing up for war, life in the trenches and the hardships he faces. To enhance the project a number of professional photographs were taken of key collections and archives items with a brief write-up about each artefact.

Finally, we would to acknowledge the sad passing of Captain Robert (Bob) Bonner MBE aged 94 on 30^th August 2022. He was associated with the Regiment for over 60 years, firstly as a soldier but was always a passionate and enthusiastic advocate for the Regiment and its history. As chairman of the Manchester Regiment Museum Advisory Committee he was instrumental in bringing the regimental collection and archives back to Ashton-under-Lyne from Manchester in 1987. He wrote a number of books on the regiment and was awarded the MBE in 2014 for service to military heritage. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

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