Museum of the Manchester Regiment
The Museum of the Manchester Regiment is currently closed and we don’t have a timescale for the museum reopening yet. Work has begun on Ashton Town Hall as part of the town’s Levelling Up funding, but further funding will be required to reopen the museum. In the meantime, the Manchester Regiment collection is being cared for by Tameside’s museum service and is being used in education projects and exhibitions at Portland Basin Museum in Ashton. The museum service can still help with family history enquiries and offers of objects.
Many objects from the Manchester Regiment exhibition can be seen in the current exhibition at Portland Basin Museum.
Soldiers’ Stories: The Men of the Manchesters
Portland Basin Museum, Ashton-under-Lyne
11 November 2022 – 2 July 2023
This new exhibition offers an opportunity to see key objects from the Manchester Regiment collection, many of which have never previously been on display.
Spanning conflicts such as the Second Boer War (1899-1902), the world wars as well as national service, they include uniforms, medals, souvenirs, drums, trophies and badges, all of which tell personal stories.
Among them are a food tin on which Private Wilkinson engraved images documenting his time as a Japanese prisoner of war, fragments of the regimental colours carried by James Hulton Clutterbuck before he was killed in the Crimea, and the medals of Private Fred Finucane, a First World War boy soldier from Ashton who died of dysentery sailing to Egypt.
Thanks to funding from the Army Museums Ogilby Trust, Tameside Museums has been able to update more than 800 stories behind medals donated to the Manchester Regiment collection. This fascinating resource is available at www.themenbehindthemedals.org.uk
Cllr Sangita Patel, Tameside Council’s assistant executive member for culture, heritage and digital inclusivity, said: “The Manchester Regiment had a long and proud association with Tameside, and it is one which has continued through its successors, the Kings and Duke of Lancaster’s regiments. All three hold the freedom of Ashton or Tameside. This new exhibition at Portland Basin Museum outlines the stories of men who volunteered or were called up to serve their country. While each is unique to the individual soldier, they are all poignant and touching.”
Researching Military Family History:
If you are researching an individual's service history with the Manchester Regiment please be aware no Regimental records are available in the museum.
The Regimental archives are deposited with Tameside Local Studies and Archives Centre. The archives include thousands of photographs of men of the Regiment through the ages and documents and diaries that tell their stories along with many other sources of information for you to look at.
You can view the free information booklet below detailing many sources that may hold information about a man's service record and/or his unit's history or download a text only version of the booklet 
You can search the Manchester Regiment Image Archive at: www.manchester-regiment.org.uk 
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For more information about Manchester Regiment soldiers also see … https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/
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Museum of the Manchester Regiment
C/O Portland Basin Museum
Portland Place
Heritage Wharf
Ashton-under-Lyne
OL7 0QA
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