A Wartime Rarity

The real thing NEWS that the Lord Ashcroft Collection of Victoria Crosses and George Crosses is to find a new home at the National Army Museum (NAM) has been met with much relief in the medal collecting community. Whilst the Collection’s previous home in the eponymous Gallery at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) wasn’t to everyone’s tastes, there was no appetite to see the Collection go into storage for the foreseeable future. The decision by the IWM to close the Gallery in 2025 after 15 years came as something of a shock to collectors, not least to Lord Ashcroft himself, and whilst there was a small reprieve (it had been due to close on June 1 but stayed open until September), there seemed little hope that the Collection would ever be in one place at one time again. Whilst the medals were always only “on loan” to the IWM, it was expected by most, including his Lordship, that the loan would be extended further. Instead, the museum decided they wanted to feature exhibits from more modern conflicts (the Falklands, the Gulf War, etc.) and said they needed the space. Whether that was true, or whether there was something else behind the move, we will never know but, whatever the reasons, it looked like the Collection was going to be lost from public view. Lord Ashcroft produced a website to showcase the men and the awards but, somehow, it just wasn’t the same and so to hear that a deal has been struck with the NAM to allow the medals to be displayed once again is heartening. What exactly that display will look like, whether it will feature in its own space or be used within wider exhibits, we don’t know yet. We do know that the Lord Ashcroft Collection is likely to be in its new home “within two years” and that, in the meantime, parts of it will appear in “pop up” exhibits, but nothing else. We don’t even know if the NAM is to be the Collection’s permanent home, but I am sure we will find out all of these things in due course. Exactly a year ago, I wrote in this Editorial comment that I believed the IWM was, “denying us the chance to see the greatest collection of British (and Empire/Commonwealth) gallantry awards anywhere on the planet, a collection the vast majority of which could now be put into storage never to see the light of day again.” That this isn’t happening is undoubtedly a cause for celebration, and it doesn’t actually matter whether the NAM is going to have a new Lord Ashcroft Gallery in the model of the previous one or whether its existing exhibits will be enhanced; what matters is we will still get the chance to see these pieces “in the metal”. But hold on, why does that matter so much in the first place anyway? The old Lord Ashcroft Gallery didn’t always appeal to everyone, we know that, you can never please all of the people all of the time, but what did appeal to almost all visitors was the fact that the Gallery allowed you to see the actual medal, the Victoria Cross, the George Cross (and associated campaign medals where applicable) that the recipient (or his family in the case of posthumous awards) was given. For some reason, it was very important to those who went along that it was the actual medals, rather than copies, that were on display and Lord Ashcroft was always very insistent that should be the case. Often, ever mindful of security implications, museums will put replicas out on display but even though, especially from a distance and behind glass, visitors would be hard pressed to tell a replica from the original, it just never seems the same and to be in the presence of so many actual VCs and GCs was mind-blowing. But I’ve yet to work out why! Why is it so important to see the originals? We can’t touch them, can’t examine them, can only view them at a distance so what difference does it make if they are the actual medals or not? I can’t actually explain it, but whenever I have been to a museum and have been viewing a display that is “representative” of the recipient’s awards rather than the originals, I feel somehow cheated; I shouldn’t. The story is the same, the recipient’s heroism is undiminished by the inclusion of a replica group in the display, and if I weren’t to have been told I probably wouldn’t have known, but for whatever reason if it’s not the real thing it’s just not the same. Do you feel as I do? Do you only want to see the actual medal(s) on display? If so, can you explain it? I certainly can’t. Thankfully, in the case of the Ashcroft Collection, I won’t have to think too much about it and I very much look forward to seeing the real medals in their new home when it’s ready. As a related aside, this reminds me of when I was visiting a regimental museum some years ago (which shall remain nameless). They had a World War I display that included a VC along with a 1914–15 Trio. Viewing the exhibit was an older lady, who turned to me and said: “It’s not the real one you know”. I replied that: “No, I knew that,” as often museums would put copies of Victoria Crosses out for insurance reasons. Her reply was: ”No it’s not that, I know its not real, I have the real one at home in my nightstand.” It turns out she was the great-niece of the recipient and had inherited the medal some years before and it was just sitting in her bedside cabinet at home. I often wonder what happened to it!