Newsletter No. 7 Issued April 2008

Chairman: Professor Donald Ritchie CBE FRSE  DL     Hon Curator: Dennis Reeves Esq.

Hon Secretary: Major (retd) IL Riley TD FSA Scot     Hon Treasurer: Major K.Ravenscroft

Honorary Researcher: Philip Ross Esq

Pictures on this newsletter are copyright of the Museum Trust or have been authorized for use in this newsletter only by the owners of the copyright. Please do not reproduce or repost them without permission

Dear Newsletter Subscriber,

This is not quite the Newsletter Number 7 that we had planned for the summer. The impending closure of the Botanic Road premises of the museum is the main item and the main message is that if you wish to visit the Museum and have not yet done so, you need to do this soon. The Museum is now closed to visitors unless in exceptional circumstances; please see below - amended 5 June 2008

The background to this newsletter is the badge of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division

Topics

• E-Mail Enquiries
  
  

• The Closure of the Liverpool Scottish Museum at Botanic Road, Liverpool by 30 September 2008
  
  

• Future possibilities for the Museum
  
  

• Can You Help?
  
  

• 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Givenchy - Wreathlaying at Givenchy 1100 hrs (French time) Saturday 12 April 2008 at the 55th (West Lancashire) Division Memorial in the village
  
  

• 90th Anniversary of the Death of Captain Noel Chavasse VC and Bar MC - wreathlaying at Brandhoek and at the Menin Gate  Saturday 4 August 2007
  
  

• Colours of the 1st Battalion, The Liverpool Scottish, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (TA)
  
  

•  Museum Road Show - Lectures
  
  

• Publication: History of the Chavasse Family

Stop the Newsletter?

At some time in the past you have probably made an enquiry to the Liverpool Scottish Museum and have been added to our e-mail distribution list. If you wish to be removed, please accept my apologies for having been bothered and  REPLY to our original e-mail that you have just received advising you of this newsletter adding the word REMOVE to the subject line. The process is manual (that's me at a keyboard) and may take a short while to complete.  The intention is never to do more than two e-mailings a year except in exceptional circumstances.

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E-Mail Enquiries

Following the posting of the last newsletter of November 2007 at 2am with a subsequent departure for Ypres at 7am, the Honorary Secretary returned to his PC seven days later to find an Inbox containing 350 e-mails (after the spam had been filtered). Please  correspond (that is our raison d'être)  but please be aware that it may take some time for a reply especially after a newsletter is issued. In fairness, a proportion of the e-mails were 'failure' messages from defunct addresses and the address lists have been updated. Please let me know if you are getting  multiple copies, especially if there are more than two. It would be helpful to have notification as a 'reply' to a duplicated e-mail. 

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The Closure of the Liverpool Scottish Museum at Botanic Road, Liverpool by 30 September 2008

We will do our best to maintain our normal enquiry service  throughout this period and into the future but are unable to entertain visitors in the immediate future unless there are exceptional circumstances (e.g. visitors from overseas). The Museum's archive is likely to move to a convenient location in central Liverpool from where we will continue to conduct research and see visitors from (provisionally) October 2008. It is anticipated that the museum's extensive photographic and documentary collection will be available there for consultation. However, it is probable that an appointment will be necessary. There are, as yet, no plans for the display of the museum's artifacts which are to be placed in secure storage. Contact details remain the same. As a result of other very pressing and pre-planned commitments, the Honorary Secretary is less available than usual. 

(This amendment, in red, was added 5 June 2008)

About three weeks ago (i.e. third week of March 2008) we were notified that there was a strong possibility that we would have to vacate our excellent premises by 30 September 2008. This has now been confirmed.. The Liverpool Scottish ACF unit, currently flourishing in an inner-city area of high deprivation, is also affected.

• The Reserve Forces and Cadets Association for North West England and the Isle of Man holds a lease on these premises from the private owner to whom the old Edge Lane Barracks were sold by MoD Estates in around 2002. A rent review has resulted in the RFCA being asked pay a rental that could not be met from available funds. Attempts at negotiation have been unsuccessful.
  
  
• The Trustees of the Regimental Museum would like to be clear in expressing their gratitude to the RFCA in  providing  a home for us over the last seven years following the closure of Forbes House in Childwall.
  
  
• Although the long term viability of the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum has always been under review by the Museum's Trustees against the background of the available financial and human resources (i.e. money and volunteers), this is a considerable set back and one which we had not expected to have to face for some years.
  
  
• It is anticipated that displays will remain in place until the beginning of June when it is probable that they will begin to be dismantled. We will try to welcome people to the Museum through into September but our first priority will have to be the orderly packing of artifacts in a way in which the location of every item is documented. If you wish to visit the Museum and have not yet done so, you need to make arrangements to do this soon. Packing itself is a complex operation that needs to be done with an awareness of conservation issues given that items can remain in their packaging for many years. The packaging materials themselves need to be closely controlled; ordinary cardboard boxes will be detrimental to their contents over long periods because of their acidic nature. 
  
  
• Where items are on loan to the Museum, we would welcome approaches from lenders at an early stage to discuss the future of their loans. It would be helpful if contact was in the first instance by e-mail with a subject line starting LOAN ITEM  and with detail of  telephone contact and postal address. However, there cannot be an informed discussion until the Trustees, in consultation with the Regimental Council and the Regimental Trustees, have established their options and formulated a plan and this is unlikely to be the case until mid-May.
  
  
• As the future become clearer, the Trustees will have to consider the artifacts in their care. Our aim will be as far as possible to maintain  the integrity of the collection. It may be necessary to dispose of some accessions and we would wish to do this in line with an ethical disposal policy. 
  
  
• Our friends need to be aware that whilst many of the artifacts within the museum are the responsibility of the Trustees of the Museum, others (such as the War Memorials and much of the silver) are the responsibility of the Regimental Trustees (a different body).
  

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Future possibilities for the Museum

The Chairman of the Museum Trust, after consultations and meeting with the remainder of the Trustees, has produced a paper for the Regimental Council. There would appear to be four options, which could be interconnected.  In the next month, in consultation with the Regimental Trustees and Council, the possibilities below will be investigated  and the best option determined.

• Establishment of another museum at a different location operating as before. Considerations are the availabilty of a suitably secure and accessible location (in terms of tenure and physical security) giving a stable environment  (no damp, no excessive heat and reasonably constant temperature and humidity) suitable for the conservation of artifacts, the finances to provide such a location, the volunteer resources to set this up and the volunteer resources to maintain such a location. Within reason, the environment can be controlled mechanically but there are obviously resource implications.
  
  
• Establishment of a record office on a smaller scale that would allow secure  and environmentally stable  storage of the extensive archives. This would allow contact with visitors and research could continue. The digitization of the existing archives could continue. At present, the office from which we work contains about 300 books, six filing cabinets (housing archive items), two computers, two printers, a scanner  and a small copier as well as shelving for 60 boxes of albums and other material. It occupies about 200 square feet. Ideally it needs to be accessible to a limited numbers of visitors (say three of four in a typical session), some of whom may be elderly. Access to a lavatory is essential and to a kettle and sink is desirable. The archive is not only a resource for family history but is an important source  used by academic researchers. 
  
  
• Transfer of the entire collection to another museum.  
  
  The King's Regiment Collection is on loan the National Museums and Galleries Merseyside (now known as National Museums Liverpool) and was displayed through the Museum of Liverpool Life at the Albert Dock (now closed). The  Museum of Liverpool will open in a new building on the Pier Head/Albert Dock area in 2010. Much of the King's Regiment collection will remain  in store when the new museum opens (as is common in all museums) and displays are in an advanced state of planning.  
  
  The Museum of the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) at Fort George is the natural repository for items of Cameron interest; the Liverpool Scottish have been directly associated with the Queen's Own Camerons Highlanders and the successor regiments from 1937 to 1993 and for some time before that on a more informal basis (soldiers received Cameron numbers long before 1937). Fort George, a fine Georgian artillery fortress,  commands the Moray Firth and the approaches to Inverness. It is 400 miles from Liverpool. 
  
  Transfer is not a simple matter; artifacts have to be compatible with the formal acquisition policy of the receiving museum (museums will no longer necessarily acquire duplicates of items that they already hold). Additionally transfer has to comply with strict requirements of provenance to ensure that the donor museum had title to the items.  A National Museum has particularly rigorous policies in this respect. Museums have to consider to the storage space available to them and the financial aspects of its maintenance.
  
  
• Disposal of the collection. This again has to comply with an ethical disposal policy that is consistent with the Museum's registered status. The Museum Disposal Toolkit produced by the Museums Association can be seen here. A specimen acquisition and  disposal policy from the site of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council can be seen here. In most circumstances, items have to pass though a procedure of being offered to other museums over a time scale of several months before other action can be taken. The question of items donated to a museum is often difficult. A donation passes the responsibility for the item from the donor to museum. Reversing this donation, especially after a lapse of years, can be a difficult problem as in the imaginary case of Mrs X who donated Major X's medals to a museum. After her death, one of her three sons asks for the return of the medals but unfortunately he does not speak to one brother and has lost contact with the other who is somewhere in South America. Who might the correct person to receive the medals? Not all cases are that complicated but there are  obviously issues as to whom an item should be returned. This is equally applicable to items that have been on loan.

It is unlikely that the eventual solution will be confined to a single one of these options

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Can You Help?

• Yes! 
  
  
• Please let us know by e-mail or phone.
  
  
• Please let us know if you have or know of an office of 200/250 square feet that might suit the record office option although the Trustees are actively exploring. Our resources are unlikely to be able to support a commercial rent.
  
  
• Please let us know if you have dry secure storage space available. Again, we may not be able to take up your kind offer but we need to review all options.
  
  
• Please let us know of any space into which a new museum could be located.
  
  
• Offers of assistance in  packing and dismantling will be gratefully received. It is more helpful to have offers that involve a consistent commitment over a period of time so that volunteers can be familiar with the documentation or can take on a particular aspect. Please bear in mind that as we are all volunteers we cannot necessarily accept help on every day of the week

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90th Anniversary of the Battle of Givenchy - Wreathlaying at Givenchy 1100 hrs (French time) Saturday 12 April 2008 at the 55th (West Lancashire) Division Memorial in the village

April 2008 is the 90th Anniversary of  the action of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division at Givenchy and Festubert in France 

• A wreathlaying ceremony will take place at the 55th Division Memorial at Givenchy on Saturday 12 April 2008 at 1100 hours French time. The ceremony should last about 25 minutes and is  to be followed by a Vin d'Honneur. The Mayor of Givenchy will preside. 
  
  
• Wreaths have been sent by the City of Liverpool, the Boroughs of Sefton (the area from Southport south to Bootle), St Helens and Warrington, the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association for North West England and the Isle of Man (the successor to the West Lancashire TA Association), 75 Engineer Regiment, 55 Signal Squadron, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border), The Liverpool Scottish and a Wreath bearing the badge of the 55th Division.  
  
  
• Liaison in France is being carried out by M. Jack Thorpe of the Erquinghem Lys museum who took a leading rôle in the building of the Liverpool Scottish Cairn at Bois Grenier that was dedicated in 2005 as a memorial to the 2nd Battalion of the Liverpool Scottish (2/10 KLR).
  
  
• The 55th (West Lancashire) Division was the division of the Territorial Force (established 100 years ago this month) that had its Headquarters in Liverpool. It included six battalions of the King's Liverpool Regiment, including the Liverpool Scottish, with its soldiers drawn from the city as well as from the area up through Bootle and Crosby towards Southport and inland towards Ormskirk (and unofficially from the Wirral). Additionally the division contained territorial battalions from the South Lancashire Regiment (Warrington and St Helens), The King's Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment), the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and the Lancashire Fusiliers. The entire artillery, engineer, medical and service corps requirement was recruited from the Territorials of the area.
  
  
• The Liverpool Scottish went to France and Belgium separately in November 1914 and were followed by the other Territorial battalions, serving with a variety of regular army divisions  during 1915. The Divisional Artillery served though 1915 with the 2nd  Canadian Division. The West Lancashire Division was reformed in France under the command of Major General Hugh Stanford Jeudwine  in January 1916.
  
  
• The 55th Division stoically and heroically defended Givenchy and Festubert between 9th and 15th April 1918, holding an open flank created when the Portuguese Division on their left gave way and faced by three German divisions. They were the only division attacked in strength during the German Spring offensive of 1918 that did not retreat. They were proud enough of their performance at Givenchy and Festubert to the north to place their fine memorial at the top of the main street of Givenchy. A hall in Givenchy that was a post-war gift from the people of Liverpool and another hall in Festubert was the gift of the people of Southport.

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90th Anniversary of the Death of Captain Noel Chavasse VC and Bar MC - wreathlaying at Brandhoek and at the Menin Gate  Saturday 4 August 2007 and 90th Anniversary of the the First Day of the Battle of 3rd Ypres, 31 July 2007

On 31 July 2007, the Honorary Secretary laid a Liverpool Scottish wreath at the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony in Ieper/Ypres, supported by the Rev. Harry Ross with Philip Ross and Andrew Ross, Jack and Sylvane Thorpe from Erquinghem-Lys and  John Archer. The Ross family had made a special trip over for the occasion and their support was much appreciated; Harry Ross participated by leading prayer during the ceremony. A lament was played by PIpe Major Henk Vandaele of the Fleming Pipe Band who carried the Liverpool Scottish Ieper Pipe banner presented to the city in 2000. The picture of Pipe Major Vandeale is courtesy of Mr. Peter Berghman via Mr. Erwin Ureel.

The 1/10th (Scottish) Battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment) had taken part on the attack on the first day of the Battle of Third Ypres with the other units of the 55th (West Lancashire) Division, remaining in the forefront of the battle until 2 August. It was in this battle that Captain Noel Chavasse VC was mortally wounded and in which he gained the posthumous bar to the Victoria Cross that he had won at Guillemont on the Somme in August 1916. We are very grateful for the help and support of the Last Post Association and the Fleming Pipe Band which has a WW1 uniformed alter ego as the Passchendaele 1917 Pipes and Drums.

On Saturday 4 August  2007 a wreath laying ceremony was held at the Brandhoek New Military Cemetery to mark the 90th Anniversary of the death of Noel Chavasse. It was preceded by a simpler ceremony at the memorial in Brandhoek Churchyard. Present were a good representative body of the Chavasse family led by Captain Edgar Chavasse supported by Belinda Chavasse, Hester Baillie and Martin Baillie, Sean Quinney and his family and other more distant relatives. The Hon. Secretary of the Museum was also present together with Fernand Vanrobaeys, Ivan and Marie Claire Sinneave, Jack Thorpe and  John Archer. Two senior buglers of the Last Post Association, accompanied by Jacky Platteeuw, played the Last Post and the Reveille and Pipe Major Henk Vandaele again played the lament. We were delighted to see Alderman Frans Lignel. We appreciate the help of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission through Tony Edwards and through Philip Noakes, who was present. The Royal Army Medical Corps was present in the forms of the representative Colonel Commandant,  Colonel David Morris and Mrs Morris, and by  Major Marie Ellis (Regimental Secretary RAMC), Capt Peter Starling (Curator, Army Medical Services Museum).

Pictures of the morning's events can be found here on the excellent Great War in Flanders Fields 'You Were There' site.  The pictures in this section of the newsletter belong to that site. The main site for Great War in Flanders Fields is here

The Chavasse family members to the (private) grounds of the Chateau d'Elverdinghe where the Liverpool Scottish officers celebrated the first Chavasse VC with a dinner. The party had lunch in Ieper and then followed a battlefield route through sites of significance starting at the grave of  Captain Harold Ackroyd VC MC RAMC who was killed  shortly after Noel Chavasse's death and is buried at Birr Cross Cemetery within site of the Liverpool Scottish Stone at Hooge and is coincidentally almost exactly at the same place were Noel Chavasse would have established his aid post when he won his MC on 16 June 1915. Peter Starling told the party about Harold Ackroyd (whose father seems to have come from Southport) and Colonel David Morris laid a wreath at the grave. Thereafter the group went to the Liverpool Scottish Stone and the Scottish Memorial (then yet to be unveiled) and then followed the course of the action of 31 July 1917 and subsequent days starting from the likely location of the Wieltje Dugout and then up to the St Julien Dressing Station Cemetery and back to the location of Setques Farm where there are bunkers close by that resemble the description given of the bunker in which Noel Chavasse received his mortal wounds.. The Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony that evening was principally dedicated to  Noel Chavasse. The family wreath was laid jointly by  Martin Baillie, Hester Baillie and Belinda Chavasse. The Exhortation was made by Colonel David Morris.

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Colours of the 1st Battalion, The Liverpool Scottish, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (TA)

The colours of the Liverpool Scottish, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders (TA) will be on parade at Preston in June 2008 when three sets of new colours will be presented to the 1st, 2nd and 4th Battalions of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border). The Liverpool Scottish colours will march off parade at the start of the ceremony. The Liverpool Scottish  colours were presented by George VI at Goodison Park (home of Everton Football Club) in  1938 and were paid for through the subscription of the officers and men of the battalion. 

The intention is that they will then be laid-up in accordance with Queen's Regulations. It was intended that they should be housed in the Liverpool Scottish Museum. However, the Regimental Council and Regimental Trustees are working to identify a suitable location in which they may be laid up; this does not necessarily have to be a cathedral or church but can be a museum, a mess or a suitable public building. Once laid-up, they are taken out of use for any purpose other than display in situ.  They are presently being restored by a textile specialist to ensure that they are fit for the parade and it is likely they will need further conservation before they are laid-up. 

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Museum Road Show - Lectures

The Museum Secretary has delivered lectures/presentations recently outside the Museum

In November 2007 at Liverpool Cricket Club in conjunction with Bill Sergeant of the Noel Chavasse VC Memorial Association, Ian Riley spoke on The Wartime Field Service of Captain Noel Chavasse VC and Bar based the battlefield tour that he conducted for the Chavasse family and illustrated with modern photos of the area. This was accompanied by readings from contemporary diaries and documents. This event, organized by Chris Jones of the Cricket Club, was very well attended and raised nearly £900 for the statue appeal. Bill Sergeant can be contacted at  billtanat8@hotmailNOSPAM.co.uk (Remove the NOSPAM letters that have been placed there to protect his address from automated harvesting programmes). Please do not reproduce or repost this picture without permission.

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In February 2008, the Honorary Secretary spoke to the Cheshire Heraldry Society in Macclesfield on the subject of Pipe Banners  The link leads to a somewhat old page written by the Secretary several years ago that is in need of update. This talk was researched by a journey through the Highlands, plundering to resources of the Queen's Own Highlanders Museum at Fort George, the Museum of the Gordon Highlanders in Aberdeen and the Museum of the Black Watch in Perth. Additionally, he received help from the Museum of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the Museum of the Royal Signals (a fine pipe banner belonging to the HRH the late Princess Mary, the Princess Royal) and the Museum of the London Scottish. We are very grateful for the help offered in London by Colonel Stephen Henwood TD (an ex-Liverpool Scot) who took several hours to photograph images of the fine banners of his regiment.

Despite the uncertainty as to the Museum's future, other talks are scheduled for this year and the Liverpool Scottish Museum Trust will continue to do its best to maintain the memory of the members of the Liverpool Scottish who have served over the last 108 years.

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Publication -  Chavasse: Family History 1669-2006

This 500 page book, very recently published, has been produced to professional standards. It is the work of Colonel KGF Chavasse DSO and Bar, The Very Rev. Paul Chavasse and EFJ Chavasse. Edgar Chavasse has very kindly donated a copy to the Museum. It is a closely researched book plotting the fortunes of members of the Chavasse family across the world and recording their massive contribution to professional, academic, clerical, military and civil life. 

Unfortunately, we have been pre-occupied with the shape of the museum's future in recent weeks and I have not had a chance to review this handsome book further as yet. The cost is £30 including postage; if interested please contact the museum in the first instance.  

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Yours sincerely,

Ian Riley