10th hussars museum winchester

[tom compton]

dear pals have any of you had any dealings with the museum at winchester . i wrote last may enclosing a s.a.e .nothing back i emailed nothing back . i am trying to find out about my great uncle george tristram 10th hussars bandsman up to 1901 he then joined the royal marines band portsmouth .have any pals photos of these bands .goerge left the marines in 1917. thanks tom

[Moonraker]

I can't comment on this particular museum, but non-replies by various institutions to queries such as yours are very common, and have been discussed from time to time in this forum. Before email became common I wondered what happened to all my SAEs that never came back to me. Staffing is usually the problem, especially among regimental museums; most just aren't resourced to cope with queries - which in any case have increased in recent years along with the popularity of family history. Some rely on a couple of devoted volunteers to handle a mass of queries.

I would have thought that where an SAE has been provided, more museums could use it to send a sheet of paper explaining the situation and suggesting alternative sources of info. (One military society did this, overlooking the fact that my query related to a book it had published and that I would have liked my letter passed on to its author.) I've seen it suggested that there isn't time to do even this.

With emails I've sometimes had an acknowledgement and an undertaking to look into my query, but then have heard nothing more, leaving me to guess whether nothing has been done, or something has, without a result. Other emails have been ignored completely, which makes me wonder why some websites bother to provide a contact point. Some websites do warn of resource problems - perhaps more should?

I have mixed results with small local and specialist societies - where, again, I accept that resources may be an issue. Sometimes there's just one leading light, perhaps of a certain age, and in the case of non-replies I try to be generous and assume (s)he may be preoccupied with health or other problems.

Moonraker

[Martin B]

I've always found the Officer in charge and his staff at Winchester friendly and efficient. In their defence they have just been through a major six month museum refit and I would imagine that this has been the focus of their attentions. The HHQ (S), King's Royal Hussars, which is staffed by the same team, have also had to support their Regiment through a tour in Iraq so its perhaps understandable that less pressing matters might go unanswered.

I would try them again now that the dust has settled again.

[Audax]

The KRH Museum Winchester has now reopened and has been re-branded as 'Horsepower'. There are some nice phots of the opening of the newly refurbished Museum here: http://www.army.mod.uk/the_kings_royal_hussars/museum.htm

[tom compton]

thank you moonraker .martin and audax.i now will try again what i am after is photos etc of the 10th hussars bands up to 1901 and see if i can spot my great uncle. thanks tom

[pwenlock]

Hi Tom

As a volunteer curator & Trustee of the Oxfordshire Yeomanry Museum, I can only add my thoughts here.

You may find a request for photos fails to elicit a reply (as ignorant as this is) as the copyright of such items remains with the Trustees and although you are honestly looking for pictures to identify a relative, it has been known for some unscrupulous souls to copy pictures & then sell them on as originals.

Yours

OxfordYeoman

[tom compton]

dear pal yeoman i sent a photo and a s.a .e to the museum that should get a reply i also emailed them .what more can i do . i am willing to pay for any photos . i am doing some family history on my other side of my family and wrote to a church in suffolk enclosing s.a.e. twice. nothing back . i emailed god about it nothing back .tom

[Moonraker]

. i am doing some family history on my other side of my family and wrote to a church in suffolk enclosing s.a.e. twice. nothing back .

I guess that the church - presumably the rector - might get quite a few queries of this type, and if the rector is responsible for several parishes...

Have you done a search for any local family history society or village website that you could contact? However, I must admit my experiences of the latter are slightly disappointing; usually there's a history of the village with some old photos and I email in saying I've got a postcard showing some local (military) event and is anything known about it - and I never get a reply of any sort. I would have thought that at least they might be interested in receiving a scan of the card.

And in my earliest days of having an email address it was included in a post on the village (website) notice board; three days later the spam started to arrive...

Moonraker