The Royal Signals Museum is a military museum based at

Blandford Camp Blandford Camp is a military base comprising some 390 hectares of downland lying 2 miles (3 km) north-east of Blandford Forum in the county of Dorset in southern England. Significant areas of the camp are Sites of Special Scientific Interest (S ...

in the civil parish of

Tarrant Monkton Tarrant Monkton is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Tarrant Valley about east-northeast of Blandford Forum. Within the parish boundary, over hills to the west, lies the major part of Blandford Camp army b ...

, northwest of the town of

Blandford Forum Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census. The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. The museum traces the history of the British Army's battlefield communications experts from the introduction of the telegraph in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

to the secretive story of

cryptography Cryptography, or cryptology (from "hidden, secret"; and ''graphein'', "to write", or ''-logy, -logia'', "study", respectively), is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of Adversary (cryptography), ...

and

cyber warfare Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic ...

History

The Royal Signals Museum was founded in

Catterick, North Yorkshire Catterick () is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-west of the county town of Northallerton just to the west of the River Swale. It lends it ...

during the 1930s. It moved to its current location of Blandford Camp in 1967. An appeal which generated £1 million enabled the construction of a new wing in 1995 and complete refurbishment of the exhibits completed in 1997. The museum was reopened in its new form on 28 May 1997.

Collections

The museum holds the national collection of army communications. It presents the role of communications in wars and military campaigns over the last 150 years. One of the objects on display includes a chair used by senior Ashanti chiefs when seated in public. Based on a European folding chair, the object was presented by Major General Sir Reginald Curtis in 1921. The museum displays a number of objects worn by

Eric Lomax Eric Sutherland Lomax (30 May 1919 – 8 October 2012) was a British Army officer who was sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in 1942. He is most notable for his book, '' The Railway Man'', about his experiences before, during, and after Wor ...

during his time as a Japanese POW, Pigeon NS 15125 William of Orange who received the

Dickin Medal The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in World War II. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried ...

, as well as the

Ptarmigan ''Lagopus'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains four living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The genus ''L ...

message centre. The museum also displays one of the world's last remaining cable wagons, which saw service between 1911 and 1937.

References

External links

Museum website

Entry
in the

24 Hour Museum Culture24, originally the 24 Hour Museum, is a British charity which publishes websites, ''Culture24'', ''Museum Crush'' and ''Show Me'', about visual culture and heritage in the United Kingdom, as well as supplying data and support services to ...

1930s establishments in England Army museums in England Technology museums in the United Kingdom Museums established in 1967 Museums in Dorset

Signals A signal is both the process and the result of Signal transmission, transmission of data over some transmission media, media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processin ...

Military communications of the United Kingdom Royal Corps of Signals {{UK-museum-stub

History

Collections

See also

References

External links