Royal Signals Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1930s (opened on present site 1967) |
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| Location | Blandford Camp, Tarrant Monkton, Dorset |
| Type | Regimental museum |
The Royal Signals Museum is a cool place to learn about how the British Army has communicated on the battlefield. It's a military museum located at Blandford Camp in Dorset, England. The museum shows you everything from the very first telegraphs used in the Crimean War to the secret world of cryptography (code-making and breaking) and cyber warfare today. It's all about how soldiers send messages and information!
How the Museum Started
The Royal Signals Museum first opened in the 1930s in a place called Catterick, North Yorkshire. Later, in 1967, it moved to its current home at Blandford Camp.
In the 1990s, people raised a lot of money – about £1 million! This money helped build a brand new part of the museum in 1995. All the exhibits were made new and exciting by 1997. The museum officially reopened its doors on May 28, 1997, looking fantastic!
What You Can See
The museum holds the most important collection of army communication items in the country. It shows how communication has been super important in wars and military missions for the last 150 years.
You can see many interesting things, like:
- A special chair used by important leaders of the Ashanti Empire (an old kingdom in West Africa). This chair was given to the museum in 1921.
- Items that belonged to Eric Lomax, who was a prisoner of war during World War II.
- The medal awarded to a brave pigeon named William of Orange. This pigeon received the Dickin Medal for its amazing service!
- A Ptarmigan message centre, which was a big system for sending messages.
- One of the very last cable wagons in the world. This wagon was used to lay communication cables between 1911 and 1937.
See also
- List of museums in Dorset
- Royal Corps of Signals
