Royal Engineers Museum
Encyclopedia
The Royal Engineers Museum, Library & Archive is a military engineering museum
and library
in Gillingham, Kent
, England
. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers
and British
military engineering in general.
On display are objects of great significance like the Waterloo map, complete with markings made by Wellington himself. It has the revolver used by Chard against the Zulus, Russian glass grenades from the Crimea, and a huge selection of objects belonging to Charles Gordon found on his travels in China and the Sudan. There is a relic of the Kashmir Gate and a set of armour reported to belong to the Last King of the Punjab, Duleep Sing. There is a Brennan Torpedo on display alongside an early prototype. The museum also has one of the largest public collections of orders, awards and medals in the country; most of which is on display, including 25 of the 52 Victoria Crosses awarded to REs, and three George Crosses.
The collection and museum galleries tell the story of the Corps and cover areas such as:
Aeronautics (the Corps was responsible for this prior to the formation of the RFC and RAF)
Bomb Disposal,
Bridging - the Bailey and other examples.
Camouflage,
Civil works (Pentonville Prison & the Royal Albert Hall are examples of RE engineering)
Submarine Mining & Diving,
Electrical (Searchlights),
Forestry,
Field (or Combat) Engineering (airborne, amphibious, armoured, commando,
Queen's Gurkha, tunnelling),
Gas Warfare,
Military Works - mining, water supply, roads, airfields, canals,
Photography including early aerial photographs and trench layouts,
Postal & Courier,
Quarrying,
Royal Engineers Band,
Survey (eg. Canada, Great Britain & India)
Telegraph and Signals,
Transportation (Railways, Ports).
Maps & Plans of places the Corps have been or built.
It has many prototype armoured vehicles, both inside the museum and externally in the grounds and within Chatham Dockyard. Also inside the museum is a complete Harrier Jump-Jet.
Currently the Library is situated on the Military Camp behind the museum building, but developments are proposed to bring this historic collection into the main building, where it will be stored in its very own purposed built area, a project expected to cost well over three million pounds.
The Model Bridge Gallery, again a purpose built display space, is currently under construction and will be ready later in the year to house a huge collection of bridging models - some very early Victorian teaching models - and all manner of associated objects, photographs and archives.
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
and library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
in Gillingham, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It tells the story of the Corps of Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
military engineering in general.
History
The Library was founded in 1812. The Museum and Library collection received 'Designated' status in 1998 (it is recognised as having an outstanding collection of national and international significance), one of only three military or regimental museums in the country to hold this status.Collections
The RE Museum and Library hold over 500,000 objects relating to the history of the Corps of Royal Engineers and the development of military engineering.On display are objects of great significance like the Waterloo map, complete with markings made by Wellington himself. It has the revolver used by Chard against the Zulus, Russian glass grenades from the Crimea, and a huge selection of objects belonging to Charles Gordon found on his travels in China and the Sudan. There is a relic of the Kashmir Gate and a set of armour reported to belong to the Last King of the Punjab, Duleep Sing. There is a Brennan Torpedo on display alongside an early prototype. The museum also has one of the largest public collections of orders, awards and medals in the country; most of which is on display, including 25 of the 52 Victoria Crosses awarded to REs, and three George Crosses.
The collection and museum galleries tell the story of the Corps and cover areas such as:
Aeronautics (the Corps was responsible for this prior to the formation of the RFC and RAF)
Bomb Disposal,
Bridging - the Bailey and other examples.
Camouflage,
Civil works (Pentonville Prison & the Royal Albert Hall are examples of RE engineering)
Submarine Mining & Diving,
Electrical (Searchlights),
Forestry,
Field (or Combat) Engineering (airborne, amphibious, armoured, commando,
Queen's Gurkha, tunnelling),
Gas Warfare,
Military Works - mining, water supply, roads, airfields, canals,
Photography including early aerial photographs and trench layouts,
Postal & Courier,
Quarrying,
Royal Engineers Band,
Survey (eg. Canada, Great Britain & India)
Telegraph and Signals,
Transportation (Railways, Ports).
Maps & Plans of places the Corps have been or built.
It has many prototype armoured vehicles, both inside the museum and externally in the grounds and within Chatham Dockyard. Also inside the museum is a complete Harrier Jump-Jet.
Currently the Library is situated on the Military Camp behind the museum building, but developments are proposed to bring this historic collection into the main building, where it will be stored in its very own purposed built area, a project expected to cost well over three million pounds.
The Model Bridge Gallery, again a purpose built display space, is currently under construction and will be ready later in the year to house a huge collection of bridging models - some very early Victorian teaching models - and all manner of associated objects, photographs and archives.