New Royal Logistic Corps Museum To Open This Month

A new museum dedicated to the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) will open its doors to the public for the first time this month.

The Royal Logistic Corps Museum has relocated within Winchester, Hampshire, moving from Deepcut to Worthy Down, outside the main gate of the Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration.

The 'state-of-the-art' museum, due to open on 18 May, explores how the British Army was moved, equipped and supplied during its campaigns from the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 to Afghanistan.

It is home to a large collection of vehicles, uniforms, equipment, and artefacts used by the units and formations that have moved and supplied the Army over the centuries.

One of the new attractions will be the RCT (Royal Corps of Transport) Medal Collection.

It will display nearly every British medal from the Battle of Waterloo until 1993, including a number of gallantry awards.

This collection also holds all five of the Victoria Crosses attributed to the forming corps of the RLC.

The first temporary exhibition, which will run from May to December 2021, is 'The Art of War', a display of art and poetry produced by RLC soldiers and members of the forming corps. 

The museum also has poems dating back to the Crimean War of 1855 and trench art, in addition to cartoons and poetry from the two World Wars.

Other exhibits include the Rolls-Royce vehicle Field Marshal Montgomery was driven in when he landed in France shortly after D-Day and Napoleon's field bakery captured at the Battle of Waterloo.

There is also a large collection of horse-drawn and motorised military logistics vehicles, including a World War One horse ambulance and bomb disposal vehicles and equipment.

The museum offers free admission, guided tours and has a 30-seat cinema, museum shop and café.

Due to COVID restrictions, visitors must pre-book.

Cover image: The exterior of the new RLC museum (Picture: RHQ The RLC Media & Comms).