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Do you have a favourite battlefield location you like to visit?
Easy starter: Who are you and what do you do? Mark Smith the Curator of the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich.
How did you progress into the world of museums and find yourself in the position you hold now? Believe it or not this is a MoD posting for me. I have been a Civil Servant for 26 years now working in various MoD Branches which has taken me all over the world but back in 2003 I saw this post advertised, applied and got the job. Since then I have graduated from University College London with a Masters Degree in Museum Studies.
What would you say are the biggest challenges facing museums today? Money and then money and then money. Funding for museums is very problematical. The lack of funds means that every day is a struggle to make ends meet before you start to think about the upkeep of the collection. Also in a changing population the focus of museums has to change to meet a new audience. In the military museum world artillery is a very real part of some people’s lives and the portraying of such weapons must be sympathetic to the feelings of the entire community. A difficult task but one that is seen as a challenge rather than a problem by the Royal Artillery Museum.
Visits to Firepower are popular with HMVF members. What value do you place on enthusiasts bringing their military vehicles to events taking place at Woolwich? Personally being an avid military enthusiast anyway I always love to see re-enactors and vehicles bring to life the past we portray in the museum. The human element of war is an incredibly important aspect and as we move further away from the events of 1939-45 first hand accounts and witnesses fade away, the generations that follow must have an understanding of the events in history that has shaped the country we live in, war is an important part of that history. One of the best interactive modules we offer for school visits is “Meet the Soldier”, children are given the opportunity to ask a modern, WW2, Tudor or Roman soldier what it was like to wear the uniform, eat the food and how heavy were the weapons. The ability to bring a soldier to life in this way is invaluable.
Do you concentrate on giving talks on the Great War, or do you cover other periods of history? I have a great interest in the Great War, both my grandfathers fought on the Western Front and I have been taking visitors to the Battlefields as a guide since 1986. My interest in things military started with my father’s war stories, he was a Wireless Operator Air Gunner in the RAFVR from 1941 to 1946 and the stories of his 106 Operations filled my childhood with wonder. But to answer your question, I am happy to talk about WW1, WW2, D Day, Arnhem, The Blitz and the Battle of Britain.
The old HMVF chestnut: What is your favourite tank? The Panther. I read Sven Hassel extensively during my teenage years and this fuelled my imagination. To actually come across one in the Ardennes in a village square was quite a treat. A tank out in the open still on the Battlefield is always something special to see. I remember the Tiger Tank at Vimoutiers near Falaise in Normandy before it was pulled out of the ditch and that was always a fantastic sight. To see a tank where it was actually left, a moment in time captured.
On that basis, I suppose it makes sense to ask you what is your favourite gun or Firepower exhibit? Now that is a difficult question, I look after some 3,500,000 objects and it is very hard to choose just one. I do like our AS90 because it is the only example of the weapon in a museum, but I also like Tipu Sultan’s Tiger gun because it is just so bizarre. However, my speciality is medals so I will have to step away from the guns and say the Royal Artillery Museum Medal Collection, all 10,000 medals and 23 Victoria Crosses.
Are there any particular things you would like to have at Firepower which are missing from the collection? Oh yes, a 9.2-inch Howitzer, a 60-pr, and some of the tractor vehicles from the Great War and believe it or not a common or garden WW1 tin hat!
Unfortunately, the curator who held my post just after the Great War turned down virtually everything that he was offered, hence the lack of steel helmets and 1902 pattern service dress in the uniform collection. He was I suppose short of space as I am now, but his actions were very short sighted.
How difficult is it to acquire new exhibits for the museum? I assume you would rely on a mixture of private donations, kit given by the armed forces and from specific purchases? The museum receives approximately a dozen donations a month from medals, to uniforms to books to flags to photographs. I am able to bid through the museum world for large items and have just secured a Phoenix UAV. Space is the biggest problem, with so many items, and some quite large, storage is always at a premium.
How important are museums like Firepower in respect of educating children about past conflicts? It is always difficult to appeal to schools with regard to the overall subject matter so a focussed approach to education is paramount. The education department at the museum is linked directly into the current curriculum.
We offer a good schools programme which is very popular with local schools and,
as stated, allows children to “meet” with historical figures that can put context on the bones of what they are learning in an environment that stimulates further questions about the exhibits and history in general.
Do you think it is equally as important to take young people on visits of the Great War battlefields? I was privileged to accompany 12 veterans in July 1986 to the Somme. In one cemetery a group of children were running around making a noise. A shout echoed out for them to be silent but the veterans shouted "no let them, that’s what these chaps were fighting for”. That really summed it up for me; they fought and died to make the world a better place. To deny children the right to make a noise defeats the object. When I started back in ‘86 the battlefields were truly deserted, I could drive around all day and not see a soul. Now every turning meets with a coach many filled with school children. Some are plainly not interested but some are fascinated, when talking to parents here at the museum nearly all say what a tremendous experience it was for their child to see the cemeteries and the trenches. I think it is a credit that children today are more aware than previous generations of what happened and where.
Do you have a favourite battlefield location you like to visit? The Somme. Before I visited it always held a fascination for me, both my grandfathers fought there, one in 1916, horribly wounded and discharged the other in 1918. I am probably more at home there than any where else. My idea of a great holiday is walking the Front Line from Serre to Fricourt and dining in the restaurant in Auchonvillers.
Are you in favour of military vehicle and living history events and have you ever owned or fancied owning an MV? As stated yes, living history events make history alive for people. In this day and age of poor reading ability and computer games, short sharp bursts of history delivered by a witness, either real or dramatised are popular and exciting ways to portray historical events. The vehicles add another dimension bringing the sights, sounds and smells of modern war to the general public. In this day and age the re-enactors are vital tools in the museum arsenal.
I have often thought what fun a vehicle would be and have had a few mates over the years who have owned various jeeps, trucks and motor bikes but I am so un-mechanically minded that the idea was and still is futile. I will stick to my medals and enjoy other people’s vehicles.
Can you recommend any other museums you admire? From a purely museum curatorial point of view the War Museum in Peronne. Not every one’s cup of tea but what a display of uniforms and personal equipment in magnificently lit pits set into the floor, a Poilu, Tommy, Landser, and a French widow - stunning. I tried to copy it here at the RA museum for the VE/VJ Day exhibition in 2005 and I think, in a small way, succeeded but nothing on the dramatic scale of Peronne. It is well worth a visit
If you have the misfortune to run into HMVF owner Jack Beckett in a bar at any time, he’ll want to buy you a drink. What can he get you? A pint of bitter please.
Thanks for being a good sport.
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