Regimental silver ( where is it all now )

[Peter Brydon]

One of the subjects discussed at the Liverpool ( Whiston ) Fair this morning was regimental silver. Paul S remembers the Kings Regiment having a "silver man " during the time he was attached to them.

I remembered a reference to a " silver man " and have found it in a Kings Regiment History. In either 1968 or 1969 Kingsman Gannon, known as Nippy who was the regimental Silverman retired after 37 years service. He had a bar to his LS and GC medal and is pictured with 7 good conduct stripes on his sleeve.

Apparently 2 years earlier, the officers had voted to give him a daily ration of 2 bottles of ale for the rest of his service as a token of his loyal service.

I remember some years ago either the Imperial War Museum or the National Army Museum had an exhibition of the silver of the disbanded Irish Regiments but with the disappearance of so many regiments, where has all the silver ended up ?

P.B.

[grey_green_acorn]

Peter,
I recall that in the 1990s an Officers' Mess could "borrow" silver from a repository (was it in Woolwich?) the only condition was that it must be insured. There are also many items in what remains of Regimental Museums.

Tim

[Peter Brydon]

Thanks Tim,

I may be wrong but I don't think the Kings Regiment Museum has much regimental silver, a lot of it may still be used by The Duke of Lancaster `s Regiment but what about the silver from the 5th,6th,7th and 8th Battalions.

The fact that a regiment could have a dedicated " Silverman " is perhaps an indication of the amount of silver the regiment had.

Peter