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MLA Museums Accreditation Scheme for Museum Awards 2007
In July 2007, our three museums sites - Low Parks Museum; Hunter House Museum and John Hastie Museum - were awarded full Accreditation with Commendation. We understand that a Commendation is unusual for a local authority service. The MLA stated:
“It is a great achievement and demonstrates that your museum has achieved the nationally agreed standards on how to care for and document collections, govern and manage collections, and deliver information and services to users.”
In the commendation section the MLA focuses on our
“approach to Forward Planning which it regards as an example of best practice in this field.”
New Acquisitions
It has been a busy year in the Collections Team, processing over 3100 objects this far in 2007, of which 331 are Cameronian related making some 10% of this years collecting. To give a better idea of what objects we are collecting we have broken the collections down into 5 categories. Of that we have collected 20 medals, 209 pieces of archive ranging from letters to books, 39 photographic objects, 47 objects from cap badges to wash stands and 16 paintings.
A large collection of index cards from the National Archives has been handed to Low Parks Museum, referencing the gallantry awards given during WW2, this collection is slowly being added to the database and scanned.
A collection of medals donated from Cpl. N. Tarver 2nd Battalion have been also been accessioned and photographed. This framed collection consists of a cap badge, 1939- 45 War Medal, Italy Star, Defence Medal and 1939 – 45 War Medal.
Enquiries
It has been a busy year again for enquiries. We have recorded the number of enquiries to the year end at 368, of which 149 were about The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). We have as usual been contacted from all over the world including, England, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Spain, Belgium, Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.
It should be noted that whilst interest in The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) continues, it is also believed that increased interest in Family History research motivates a considerable number of the total enquires in this area. The general public looks to The Museums Service to provide assistance in understanding the information they may invariably have sought and found themselves.
Friends of Low Parks Museums Society
Following on from their excellent work in 2006, 2007 has been another busy year for the Friends of Low Parks Museums Society. Transcription and digitisation of the 1st Battalion War Diary for Malaya, 1951 – 1953 has been completed. The transcribed version of the diary is now fully searchable, and is much more accessible to both Museum staff and members of the public alike. Thanks to this excellent work by the Friends, we were able to make full use of the Malayan war diary in our 2007 temporary exhibition, Without Glory, in which a printed copy of the diary is available in full.
At the beginning of 2007, the Friends completed the mammoth task of transcribing the John McNair letters from the museum collections. McNair was an officer who played a crucial role in the raising of the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry. Between 1794 and 1826, he wrote 117 letters from all over the UK and the West Indies to the Colonel, Thomas Graham.
The Friends have also completed the mammoth task of photographing and indexing all 13 of our Regimental Enlistment Books from the 1920s and 1930s. Searches can now be carried out across all 13 volumes for surname or Army Number in one complete index, which gives the volume and page number for each entry. With all pages now digitally photographed, after a simple search of the master index, the full entry for each individual can now be printed off at the touch of a button.
Future projects for the Friends include the transcription of the diary of Sergeant Lachlan Rattray, who served under Colonel Preston in the 26th during the early 18th Century. The museum acquired a microfilm copy of Rattray’s diary from the National Archives for Scotland, and the Friends have kindly agreed to transcribe it for us. The diary will be an interesting addition to our Cameronian archive, giving us an Other Ranks insight into a period of history from which we have very few primary sources.
It is hoped that work will soon be able to start on another digitisation project, in which information from our 6000 plus Officers index cards will be input into Vernon, our collections database. We are lucky to have inherited from the Cameronian museum an index card database of almost every single officer who served in the Regiment since 1689 until Disbandment in 1968. Having the information from these cards in our collections database will be extremely useful to us, not only for research, but also in fleshing out our collections records. Again, the Friends have valiantly agreed to undertake this valuable project.
The Friends have previously transcribed the parts of 4 War Diaries from the Second World War 1939-1945 that the Museum holds together with three other War Diaries from 20th century conflicts across the globe.
We at the museum are extremely grateful to the Friends for their continued dedication and hard work.
Cameronian Digitisation Projects
In 2006, the Cameronian Trustees generously agreed to fund the digitisation of some key books and documents that were out of print or were unique. The objective of this group of 27 projects was two-fold: firstly, to create a digital legacy of the Regiment to match the bricks, mortar and collections legacy. Secondly, it is intended that the projects will deliver better public access to the collections and the knowledge we hold on them.
Private Charles Bow’s (7th Battalion) Gallipoli Diary
This was planned to be the first and pilot diary to be worked on. Members of the Museum staff have transcribed it into a searchable document and have also scanned the hand-written original, added a glossary of the unusual words and compiled a summary of the service of the 7th Battalion in the Great War. A researcher at Kew has supplied some further information on Bow from The National Archives. The final part is to add photographs from the collection to illustrate the final version. We are very grateful to Mr Peter Goodwill who gifted the diary of his ancestor, Charles Bow and has provided much valuable information.
‘Recollections of an Infantry Subaltern’ by Lt-Col. J. D. Hill M.C.
The reminiscences of a young infantry subaltern from the first year of the Great War have recently been scanned and transcribed by the museum staff. Lt-Col. Hill wrote his memoirs in the early 1960s, describing his experiences as a junior officer with the 1st Battalion in France from August 1914 till September 1915. The original typed manuscript has been scanned by museum staff and made into a fully searchable .PDF document.
The Seven Battalion Histories from WW1 and WW2
These books have an enormous amount of information that is often easier to search than the four volumes of the Regimental History. A South Lanarkshire-based company has digitised all seven books and the digital versions are stored in the Council’s IT server where their fully searchable format means that they allow public enquiries using them to be completed much more quickly and easily.
They are:
Great War 1914-1918
• 5th Battalion
• 8th Battalion
• 10th Battalion
• 12th Battalion
2nd World War 1939-1945
• 6th Battalion
• 7th Battalion
• 12th Battalion
Private Wickens’ Diaries 1857
Charles Wickens' diaries of the Indian Mutiny have been transcribed by the Friends of Low Parks Museum. Wickens describes in detail the sinking of the 90th’s transport ship, the Transit. On arrival at Cawnpore, India, there was evidence of the earlier massacres of the British families: “There were little children’s socks and shoes and dresses of every description all covered with the blood and brains of the innocent.”
Future digitisation projects include a reprinting of the four volumes of the Regimental Histories. In addition, Field Marshal Sir Garnet Wolseley’s diaries, Lord Lynedoch’s diaries and the complete run of The Covenanter since 1921 are planned to be completed, together with three of General Henry Hope Crealock’s art albums from the Crimean War, 2nd China War (as a staff officer, neither the 26th or the 90th took part) and the Zulu War.
New Cameronian History
In 2005 the Trustees commissioned a new single-volume history of The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). This was to fill the gaps identified by many visitors to Low Parks Museum for an accessible history of the regiment that told the story behind the campaigns- what soldiering was like for the men of the regiment and their families from the 17th to the 20th century.
The text and images draft of the book has been reviewed by the Regimental Trustees and their comments are being incorporated in a revision. The research, writing and design are by
Katie Barclay MA MPhil, an Honorary Fellow at Glasgow University. It is hoped to publish the book in 2008.
Cameronian (Scottish Rifles) Exhibitions
Current exhibition: Without Glory – Counter-insurgency with The Cameronians
Featuring three insurgencies that the Cameronians were involved with: the American Revolution 1776, Malaya in the 1950s and Aden in the 1960s Without Glory is currently showing at the new ground floor temporary exhibition area in the Riding School until summer 2008.
Cameronian Exhibition 2008
2008 marks the 40th anniversary of the Disbandment of the 1st Battalion The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in 1968, and we are in the advanced planning stages of the exhibition to be mounted in the two largest temporary exhibition galleries at Low Parks Museum, Hamilton.
The exhibition is intended to be rich in objects and images and to be centred on several themes that are common to both Cameronians and civilians alike. Among the themes are travel and transport, recreation and social, relationships. Underpinning these themes are the stories of Cameronians across the Regiment’s 300 years of service. Watch out for the army animals, and some of the extraordinary stories that we plan to feature.
Other news
Cameronian Tree
The Regiment is now represented in the National Memorial Arboretum with a fine, young Scots Pine. Mr William Bannister (7th Bn) brought it to our attention that the Regiment did not have a memorial tree in the Army Parade at the National Memorial Arboretum. The matter was raised with the Regimental Trustees and it was agreed that arrangements should be made to rectify the absence.
We thank Mr Bannister for bringing the absence of a Cameronian tree to our attention, and for his continued updates and reports from the Arboretum.
Cameronian Images on SCRAN
We make no apologies for drawing this to your attention once more. SCRAN (The Scottish Cultural Resources Network) host many photographs by R C Money, a junior officer in the Great War. If you log onto SCRAN at your local library you will probably get the full access which lets you read the supporting text. For Money’s images, once you’ve logged on to SCRAN at scran.ac.uk search for “trenchlife” without quote marks and no spaces.
Another search is “crealock crimea” for drawings and sketches by Henry H Crealock, at the time of the Crimean War a Captain in the 90th Perthshire Light Infantry. Museum staff devised and carried out the work on these projects SCRAN grant aided these (and several other) projects, and we are grateful for volunteering work on these projects by Molly Magee of South Lanarkshire Council and Katie Barclay MA MPhil who is just completing a PhD at Glasgow University.
Shop at Low Parks Museum, Hamilton!
To purchase an item from the choice of Official Cameronian merchanduse, please contact the reception staff at Low Parks Museum for a price list.
Amongst the many choices of gifts are: Crystal pedestal clock. Pyramid paperweight, Border lager glass, Jura paperweight, Jacobite glass with airtwist stem, crystal coasters and many more. All are engraved with the Cameronian crest. Also in stock are limited edition plates displaying the Cameronian Battle honours, Regimental Plaques, Ties, Tie slide and cuff links, Polo shirts, sweat shirts and baseball caps.
Our stock is always changing and growing and we hope to be able to feature a selection of items on the website next year.
For further information contact
The Front of House Team at Low Parks Museum
129 Muir Street Hamilton ML3 6BJ,
or telephone 01698 328232.