Collections
The VC collection of businessman and politician Lord Ashcroft, amassed since 1986, contains 162 medals, over one-tenth of all VCs awarded. Ashcroft purchased his first medal in 1986 and the collection has become the largest private or public collection of such decorations ever accumulated. It was announced in July 2008 that Ashcroft was to donate £5 million for a permanent gallery at the Imperial War Museum where the 50 VCs held by the museum will be put on display alongside his own collection of 162 VCs. The Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum, containing both the museum's VC collection and Lord Ashcroft's, opened on 12 November 2010 containing a total of 210 VCs and 31 GCs. It is now the largest public collection of VCs in the world. This distinction was previously held by the Australian War Memorial, whose collection includes all nine VCs awarded to Australians at Gallipoli.
Museums with holdings of ten or more VCs include:
| In the UK | ||
|---|---|---|
| Museum | Location | Number of VCs |
| Lord Ashcroft Gallery, Imperial War Museum | Kennington, London | 210 |
| The National Army Museum | Chelsea, London | 39 |
| The Royal Green Jackets Museum | Winchester, Hampshire | 34 |
| The Royal Engineers Museum | Gillingham, Kent | 26 |
| The Army Medical Services Museum | Mytchett, Surrey | 22 |
| Firepower, The Royal Regiment of Artillery Museum | Woolwich, London | 20 |
| The Queen's Own Highlanders Museum | Ardersier, Inverness-shire | 16 |
| The South Wales Borderers Museum | Brecon, Wales | 16 |
| The Green Howards Regimental Museum | Richmond, Yorkshire | 15 |
| The Royal Fusiliers Museum | Tower of London | 12 |
| The Gordon Highlanders Museum | Aberdeen | 12 |
| The National Maritime Museum | Greenwich, London | 11 |
| The National War Museum of Scotland | Edinburgh Castle | 11 |
| The RAF Museum | Hendon, London | 11 |
| The Sherwood Foresters Museum | Nottingham | 11 |
| The Gurkha Museum | Winchester, Hampshire | 10 |
| The Royal Marines Museum | Portsmouth, Hampshire | 10 |
| The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum | Caernarfon Castle, Wales | 10 |
| Outside the UK | ||
| Australian War Memorial | Canberra, Australia | 65 |
| Canadian War Museum | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | 33 |
| QEII Army Memorial Museum | Waiouru, New Zealand | 11 |
(note 1 = Many VCs are on loan to the museums and are owned by individuals and not owned by the museums themselves.)
Read more about this topic: Victoria Cross
Famous quotes containing the word collections:
“Most of those who make collections of verse or epigram are like men eating cherries or oysters: they choose out the best at first, and end by eating all.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)