About
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum at Whittington Barracks near Lichfield is the regimental museum of the Staffordshire Regiment and its predecessor regiments — the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot and the 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot — whose combined history spans more than three centuries of British military service. The museum preserves and presents one of the most wide-ranging regimental collections in the Midlands, documenting the extraordinary service record of Staffordshire soldiers from the formation of the regiment in 1705 through the campaigns of the British Empire to the conflicts of the 20th and early 21st centuries.
The Staffordshire Regiment served in almost every major campaign of the British Army's history: the campaigns in the Americas during the Seven Years' War and War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the wars of Indian conquest and subsequent garrison, the Boer War, the First World War on the Western Front and in the Middle East, the Second World War in North Africa, Italy, and Northwest Europe, and the post-war campaigns in Malaya, Korea, Cyprus, Borneo, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Gulf, Bosnia, and Iraq. Each of these campaigns is represented in the museum's extensive holdings of medals, uniforms, weapons, photographs, documents, and personal artefacts.
In 2007 the Staffordshire Regiment was amalgamated with the Cheshire Regiment and the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment to form the new Mercian Regiment. The Staffordshire Regiment Museum preserves the distinct identity, traditions, and remarkable service record of the Staffordshire Regiment, ensuring that the contribution of Staffordshire people to the British armed forces is not absorbed and forgotten in the broader story of its successor regiment. The museum is housed at Whittington Barracks, the former regimental depot near Lichfield, which remains an active military base — visitors are required to comply with site security procedures on entry.
Free admission (with donations welcomed) makes the museum accessible to all, and the rich human dimension of the collection — the personal medals, the private letters, the photographs of individual soldiers — ensures that the story of Staffordshire's military service is told as a story of people rather than simply of battles and formations.
Categories:
Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Friday
💡 Weekday mornings in spring or autumn; telephone ahead to confirm access is unaffected by barracks activities
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is on an active military base — you must stop at the gatehouse on arrival, show ID, and sign in before proceeding to the museum. This is a routine security requirement, not an obstacle.
- The museum is open Tuesday to Friday only — it is closed all weekend and on Mondays. Always check the website before travelling as operational requirements can affect access.
- Free admission — one of the best free military museums in the Midlands. Donations to the museum trust support conservation of the collections.
- Combine with a visit to Lichfield Cathedral and city centre (4 km away) for a full day in this historically rich area
- Telephone ahead to confirm opening — the museum staff are helpful and can advise on any restrictions on the day
- The collections are particularly rewarding for visitors with family connections to the Staffordshire Regiment — the museum holds nominal rolls and other records that may help trace ancestors who served
- Parking within the barracks is free once you have cleared the security checkpoint
Highlights
The Victoria Cross and Medal Collections
The Staffordshire Regiment Museum holds one of the finest collections of campaign medals and gallantry awards in the Midlands, tracing the military service of the regiment across three centuries. The collection includes Victoria Crosses awarded to Staffordshire soldiers — the highest military decoration in the British honours system — alongside Distinguished Conduct Medals, Military Medals, Mentions in Despatches, and the full range of campaign medals from the earliest 19th-century awards to those of modern operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Each medal group carries a human story: the name, face, and circumstances of the man who earned it, bringing the statistics of military history into vivid personal focus.
The First World War Galleries
The museum's First World War galleries document the service of Staffordshire battalions on the Western Front, in Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia, and in other theatres of the global conflict.
The Staffordshire Regiment raised multiple service, reserve, and Territorial battalions during the war, and the collections include diaries, letters, photographs, uniforms, and equipment that bring the lived experience of Staffordshire soldiers to life. The distinctive 'Staffordshire Knot' cap badge appears throughout the displays, a reminder of the regiment's strong local identity in an army that drew many of its men from the industrial towns and mining communities of the Midlands.
The Colours and Battle Honours
The museum displays historic Colours — the silk battle flags that regiments carried into action and that served as rallying points for troops in the chaos of 19th-century combat.
Each set of Colours bears the battle honours earned by the regiment in its campaigns, from 'Guadaloupe 1759' through 'Minden' and 'Badajoz' to 'Ypres 1915' and 'Normandy 1944. ' The accumulated battle honours on these flags are a compressed military history of the British Army across three centuries, read through the specific story of Staffordshire's contribution.
The ceremony of trooping the Colour and the respect shown to these flags reflects the profound importance of unit identity in the British regimental tradition.
The Second World War in North Africa and Italy
The Staffordshire Regiment's service in the Second World War is comprehensively documented in the museum's galleries covering the desert campaigns in North Africa, the Allied landings in Sicily and Italy, and the campaign through Northwest Europe. The 1st Battalion served with the Eighth Army under Montgomery, participating in the battles of Alamein and the pursuit to Tunisia; subsequent service in Italy brought the regiment through the brutal fighting of the Gothic Line and the Po Valley.
Photographs, maps, personal accounts, and equipment illuminate this global war through the particular experience of Midlands men far from home in conditions of extreme difficulty.
Collections
Three Centuries of Service
The main gallery tracing the history of the Staffordshire Regiment from 1705 to the 2007 amalgamation, with displays on each major campaign period
The Medal Room
Dedicated display of Victoria Crosses, campaign medals, and gallantry awards with accompanying biographical information
Modern Operations
Gallery covering the regiment's post-war service from Korea to Iraq
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.