Imperial War Museum Celebrates 100th Birthday

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) is celebrating its 100th birthday.

The museum was founded in 1917 during the First World War, when it began collecting exhibition items.

But it was opened 100 years ago at the Crystal Palace by King George V.

It was created to recognise the "toil and sacrifice" involved in the First World War, and by 1924 it had registered four million visitors.

Susie Thornberry, Assistant Director of Public Engagement and Learning at IWM, said the museum was not setup as “a memorial to military glory” but instead “all about the human impact of conflict”.

During the Second World War, some of the museum's exhibits were even used, with 18 artillery pieces returned to action due to the equipment shortage following the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940.

In 1941, a German bomb hit the museum and destroyed a Short seaplane used in the Battle of Jutland of 1916.

The museum’s role broadened after the Korean War, and its exhibits now cover all conflicts involving British and Commonwealth forces.

It has also expanded to branches in Duxford, followed by HMS Belfast, the Churchill War Rooms and the Imperial War Museum North in Greater Manchester.

The museum is currently in lockdown, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but is considering how to mark upcoming anniversaries such as the dropping of the atomic bomb and VJ Day.

Ms Thornberry said whilst it is “sad” the museum is currently closed, she said the IWM has taken it as an “opportunity to share [the] collection as broadly as possible”.

“Since we’ve closed, we’ve been bringing history to the homes of schools and families all over the country, and all over the world, in fact,” she added.

Cover image: King George V at the opening ceremony of the Imperial War Museum at Crystal Palace on 9 June 1920 (Picture: PA).