Fantastic news! Community delighted Ashcroft medal collection finds new home

Supporters of the Armed Forces community have expressed their delight that the world's largest collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses will be going on public display again.

Last year, the Imperial War Museum in London announced the permanent closure of the Lord Ashcroft Gallery, which housed more than 200 of the medals, saying it was part of a wider effort to better represent conflicts beyond the World Wars.

But the collection will now be housed at the National Army Museum in Chelsea.

• All you need to know about the Victoria Cross
• Armed Forces honours: What are the different medals that can be awarded?
• Victoria Cross awarded to axe-wielding officer who stormed enemy boat sells for £220,000

Back on display

Lord Ashcroft announced on X: "Delighted to announce I have reached an agreement with the National Army Museum, which will mean that my collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses – the largest in the world – will go on display there."

"This is fantastic news," one person posted in response.

"The National Army Museum was already well worth a visit, now it'll be doubly, trebly so. Located in Chelsea, a stroll from the King's Road. With free entry and already very geared up for school visits, Lord Ashcroft's collection has a worthy new home."

On Facebook, another posted: "Great news about the VC collection. Should be at the NAM by July."

While another message said: "It is an exceptional collection, and I took my grandson to see it before it closed at the IWM.

"Thank you, Lord Ashcroft, for investing so much in the collection."

A superb collection

Andrew Roberts, a historian and museum trustee, said: "As a trustee of the National Army Museum in Chelsea, I'm thrilled that Lord Ashcroft's superb collection of nearly 250 VCs and many GCs are coming to the museum."

And the National Army Museum used its official account on X to say: "We are pleased to announce that the National Army Museum will be the new home of the @LordAshcroft collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses.

"Further details of the new partnership... will be released over the coming months."

The public's response was immediate. "Excellent news. This collection helps tell an important part of British military history. Well done to the @NAM_London for stepping into the breach!"

Another said: "Such very good and deserving news. A happy corrective to a previous ill-thought-out strategy."

What's in the National Army Museum?

The collection consists of more than one million items, spanning a 600-year period.

These include:

:: 100,000 items of uniform badges and medals

:: 23,000 items of equipment and vehicles

:: More than 100,000 archives

:: 58,000 printed books and periodicals

:: 10,000 separate photographic collections, (containing over 240,000 photographs)

:: 3,670 maps and charts