collection – Page 4 – Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum

18

Mar

Featured: The Great War POW Album and Pilot’s Log Book of Lt. Frederick Matthews Recently donated to the museum was an incredible collection of items relating to Frederick Matthews, often referred to as ‘Eric’, who served with the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars and later the Royal Flying Corps. Eric’s story is already featured in our Airpower display in the museum’s permanent exhibition space, alongside copies of images now part of…

10

Feb

Military Life: A Child’s Experience – Appeal for Objects & Stories From June until November 2022, we have a new exhibition, Military Life: A Child’s Experience and one of the themes it will explore is what life is like for the children of serving military. We are covering the 1950’s up to present day and have lots of current material but very little that cover 1950-1990. If you have any…

26

Nov

One of our recent acquisitions is Villa Patricia, which was donated by a local couple in Woodstock. The doll’s house was commissioned by Dr Richard Blaiklock who served with the Hampshire Regiment as Regimental Medical Officer. He was sent overseas to Southern Italy in 1944 to assist local hospitals, and from there was sent into several prisoner of war camps to assess the prisoner’s medical needs. One of the camps…

19

Nov

An incredible story from the SOFO Museum Archives, Captain J Shaw’s account of how he became a Great War POW and his involvement in a number of escape attempts was originally published in three instalments in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry’s Regimental Journal from September 1931 to January 1932. A few years later, in March 1939, the Journal would also publish a number of Shaw’s sketches of the tunnel which he…

Osmond Bartle Wordsworth (Image used with the kind permission of the Warden and Scholars of Winchester College)

11

Nov

Osmond Bartle Wordsworth – An Unknown Officer killed during the Great War has now been identified as collateral descendant of poet William Wordsworth In late October, volunteers at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock received good news after years of research that took them on a journey from a garden in Northern France to across the United Kingdom, Australia, The United States of America, Ireland, Canada -and back to…

21

Oct

Visiting the E H Shepard Archives In September our Collections Manager Peggy visited the University of Surrey archives to see their E H Shepard archives, with a view to a potential exhibition at SOFO in 2023. The initial research follows the story of Shepard during his service with the Royal Artillery in the Great War, and explores the stories of other creatives who served in the Army. Peggy said of…

15

Oct

Cavalry training manuals to go on display at SOFOFour cavalry training manuals from the collection at Blenheim Palace are due to go on display at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock in November 2021 including a copy of Field Service Regulations (1905) signed by Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. These manuals offer an insight into the manoeuvres and training of cavalry regiments including the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars (QOOH),…

Arnhem - John Frost Bridge (Image Copyright: Stephen Berridge)

26

Sep

On this day 26th September 1944 1ST AIRBORNE DIVISION – ARNHEM During the night 25th/26th the withdrawal, codenamed “Operation Berlin”, takes place under heavy German fire. Boats of the British and Canadian engineers ferry about 2500 men across the Rhine. ‘Market-Garden’ is over. Brigadier Lathbury (43rd) Commander 1st Parachute Brigade – Wounded & Evader. Major Haig (4th Bn & 52nd) Divisional Provost – Wounded twice & Evacuated. Major Wallis (4th Bn)…

25

Sep

On this day 25th September 1944 1ST AIRBORNE DIVISION – ARNHEM The situation had become hopeless. A mere eleven percent of the supplies dropped by the Royal Air Force had fallen within the perimeter. The troops were exhausted by lack of food, water and sleep. There was very little ammunition. The crossing of the Polish Parachute Brigade which had dropped near Driel had become a failure due to a shortage of…

24

Sep

On this day 24th September 1944 1ST AIRBORNE DIVISION – ARNHEM Since the formation of the Oosterbeek Perimeter, the 1st Airborne had accumulated an enormous quantity of wounded, both British and German, and by the morning of Sunday 24th September, the medical staff had approximately one thousand two hundred men in their care. On Sunday 24th, Colonel Graeme Warrack, the 1st Airborne Division’s senior medical officer, obtained permission to arrange a…

Category: collection

Featured: The Great War POW Album and Pilot’s Log Book of Lt. Frederick Matthews

Military Life: A Child’s Experience – Object Appeal

Welcome to Villa Patricia – Our Featured Object

A Great War Great Escape – Captain Shaw and the Holzminden Escape Tunnel

Osmond Bartle Wordsworth – The Missing Great War Officer Finally Identified

Visiting the E H Shepard Archives

Cavalry training manuals to go on display at SOFO

When the Oxf and Bucks went “A Bridge Too Far” – 26th September 1944

When the Oxf and Bucks went “A Bridge Too Far” – 25th September 1944

When the Oxf and Bucks went “A Bridge Too Far” – 24th September 1944