Britain at War – August 2019

92 http://www.britainatwar.com

COLLECTIONS|STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT MUSEUM STAFFORDSHIRE REGIMENT MUSEUM|COLLECTIONS

With a large number

of battle honours to its credit and

no fewer than 14 VCs awarded

to its soldiers, the Stafordshire

Regiment has a heritage to be

very proud of. Museum Director,

Danielle Crozier, proiles the

museum dedicated to this famous

regional ighting unit.

T

his fine county Regiment’s
museum was established
on its current site within
Defence Medical Service (DMS)
Whittington, generally referred to
locally as Whittington Barracks, in
the early 1960s. The location, close
to Lichfield, north of Birmingham, is
the regiment’s spiritual home, having
been associated with it since 1881.
The museum is a place where the
memories of Staffordshire’s soldiers

through the ages are recalled by using

regimental memorabilia, historic

artefacts, uniformed mannequins,

weapons collections and audio-visual

presentations.

The Staffordshire Regiment can trace

its long and glorious history back to

1705, when it was raised locally by

Colonel Luke Lillingston, at The King’s

Head public house in Lichfield. Four

Regiments of Foot, the 38th, 64th,

80th and 98th, then followed.

Local

VALOUR

E E

BELOW

The museum

holds regular living

history events

throughout the year.

(ALL IMAGES VIA

THE STAFFORDSHIRE

REGIMENT MUSEUM)

The South Staffordshire Regiment

and The Prince of Wales’s (North

Staffordshire) Regiment were created

out of these old Foot Regiments in

1881 following the Cardwell reforms.

At around the same time the old

county militias and volunteers were

linked directly with their regular

army counterparts. These bonds were

regularised further by the formation