SUFFOLK REGIMENT MUSEUM

BURY ST EDMUNDS

The museum was opened in 1935. It was housed in various buildings on the Regimental Depot site, including the Sergeants’ Mess and Officers’ Mess, before moving in 1968 to its present location in the former Armoury. The first floor room is where, by the 1930s, new recruits were fitted out with their uniform and equipment.

The displays tell the story of the regiment from its foundation in 1685 to amalgamation with the Royal Norfolk Regiment in 1959. The history covers the regular, militia, volunteer and war-time battalions as well as the experience of individual soldiers and is told through medals, uniforms, photographs, weapons, equipment and personal memorabilia. A small display at Moyses Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds gives an overview of the story, while the regimental archive and photograph collection are on deposit at the Bury St Edmunds branch of the Suffolk Record Office.

OBJECT OF THE MONTH

POW Escape Plan

A plan drawn up by 2nd Lieutenant J A Blanch of the 12th Battalion before an escape attempt from the Officers’ POW camp at Graudenz (now Grudziasz) In Poland near the end of the Great War. 22 Officers did escape although three were recaptured.