King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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How we have changed!      page 4

80th Anniversary of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

The first item accessioned into the museum's collection is a cap donated by a Sergeant Atkinson of Lancaster, presently on permanent display.  The second item was a 'bomb throwing' medal won by the 7th Battalion at Christmas 1916.

'Bomb Throwing' contest medal, Christmas 1916, won by the 7th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, part of the 19th Division.
Accession Number KO0002/01

This medal was sent to the Regimental Depot for safe keeping in 1917, and then forwarded to the museum in October 1928 by Major L I Cowper:

The third accessioned item was a brass bed or kit box brass plate:

Private William Edwin Parkinson, number 3706023, enlisted into the King’s Own Royal Regiment, Lancaster, on 14 Nov 1922 for a term of seven years in the regular army and five years in the reserves.  He was 18 years and 12 days old and came from Pendleton.  He was discharged on 28 Mar 1923 under the terms of Paragraph 392 (iii)c of the King’s Regulations for the Army (1912) as a “recruit within three months of enlistment considered unfit for service.”  The plate was donated by Mr H Y Usher of Blackburn, however it is not known how he acquired it.
Accession Number KO0003/01

Mr H Y Usher - Regimental Collector

Mr H Y Usher was a keen collector of military and regimental items.  He worked for Lloyds Bank and by 1939 was manager at the Accrington branch, after the war he moved to Blackpool.  Usher donated a couple of items to the museum, and after his death the museum has been able to purchase one or two more.  The pair of powder horns, on permanent display and pictured below, being an early example.  The most recent of these are the medals of Colonel John Piper, bought at auction, from an American collector, with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2003.

A letter to Colonel Cowper from the Deputy Regimental Colonel, Brigadier Burke, in July 1956 stated “I certainly agree that we should try and obtain them [the Piper Medals] on Usher’s death.  When is that?  I gather he is a pretty healthy man.  I think it a very good idea to try and build up a purchase fund by any means we can and I will be grateful if you can initiate something in this direction in the museum.”


Powder horn, regimentally marked, circa 1830s.  Acquired by the museum from the Usher Collection.
Accession Number KO0587/03

Powder horn, regimentally marked, circa 1830s.  Acquired by the museum from the Usher Collection.
Accession Number KO0587/04


An impressive collection of King's Own regimental items in the private collection of Mr H Y Usher in 1939.
Accession Number KO0679/85

How we have changed - introduction
How we have changed - The Opening by Lord Derby
How we have changed - how the museum looked

© 2009 Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum