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Monday 10:30am - 4pm Tuesday 10:30am - 4pm Friday 10:30am - 4pm Saturday 10:30am - 4pm Sunday 10:30am - 4pm

King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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The King's Own Museum tells the story of the regiment from 1680 to the 1960s

30/10/2026

🕯️ This year's Remembrance Sunday falls on November 8 and a number of services have been arranged across the Lancaster district.
Everyone is welcome to attend and remember the service and sacrifice of those who defended our freedoms in the World Wars and in conflicts since.
Events include:
👉 Lancaster
A service at the Priory Church will be held at 9am, following which a parade will set off at 10.20am to march through the city centre to Lancaster Town Hall. The service of remembrance will take place in the Memorial Gardens from 10.45am, with a two-minute silence at 11am. Refreshments will be served at the town hall after the service.
👉 Morecambe
At 10.40am, a parade will march from the Midland Hotel along the promenade to the Cenotaph, led by Morecambe Band. A commemorative service will begin at 10.55am, with a two-minute silence and wreath laying. At 11.15 am the parade will march back to The Platform where refreshments will be served.
👉 Carnforth
A parade will leave Carnforth Civic Hall on North Road at 10.30am to march to the War Memorial Gardens for a remembrance service from 10.50am. The parade will then march to the Civic Hall for 11.30am where refreshments will be served. Market Street will be temporarily closed to traffic during the service.

26/10/2026

📿Objects from the Abyssinia Campaign #11
We've recently completed a project to research and reinterpret the objects in our collection from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, and now we'd like to share a few of them with you here. This week we've got...

📜 Illustrated page from an Abyssinian manuscript.
A parchment manuscript page brought back from Abyssinia by General Sir E. R. P. Woodgate (then only a lowly Ensign), who served in the campaign. It is a single page from a larger illuminated manuscript - likely a book of homilies, psalms, prayers, or a collection of lives of the saints, given the combination of devotional imagery and liturgical text. It’s written in Ge'ez, the classical liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The text is a closing prayer for the manuscript, confirming the completion of the work and invoking a blessing upon the reader.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

15/10/2026

📿Objects from the Abyssinia Campaign #10
We've recently completed a project to research and reinterpret the objects in our collection from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, and now we'd like to share a few of them with you here. This week we've got...

🪙 An impression of Emperor Tewodros’ state seal.
Seals were used to authenticate official documents and letters, and this impression is a rare example of the Emperor’s personal insignia.
It would often have been used on letters sent to foreign powers, and the text around the edges is bilingual, demonstrating a pragmatic approach to international affairs. In addition to Amharic (the language spoken in Ethiopia), it uses Arabic, which was the language of international diplomacy in the wider region. The portion in Amharic reads: ንጉሠ ነገሥት ቴዎድሮስ ዘኢትዮጵያ (Negusa Nagast Tewodros za-Ityoppya), which translates as ‘King of Kings Tewodros of Ethiopia’. The Arabic text is similar: الملك المنصور تادرس ملك الحبشة (Al-Malik al-Manṣūr Tādrus, Malik al-Ḥabasha), meaning ‘The victorious king, Taodros, King of Abyssinia’.
The crowned lion depicted in the centre of the seal is known as the ‘Lion of Judah’, a symbol originating from the old testament of the Hebrew Bible. It gained profound historical and cultural significance in Ethiopia because the ruling dynasty claimed descent from the Israelite Royal House of Judah, through King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The lion represents strength, kingship, and pride. Ethiopian emperors used this motif in their royal insignia to recognise the old testament emphasis of Ethiopian Christianity and to declare their sacred duty to god. 'Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah' was a traditional title indicating the Emperor’s authority and divine election.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

08/10/2026

📿Objects from the Abyssinia Campaign #9
We've recently completed a project to research and reinterpret the objects in our collection from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, and now we'd like to share a few of them with you here. This week we've got...

🥛 Horn Tumbler
This is another example of a traditional household item taken from Magdala. An English inscription runs around the rim: ‘This horn was brought from Magdala by CM Davidson, 4th King's Own Regiment, 1868’, and another is engraved on a small plaque on the side: ‘Henry GL Davidson, from his godfather, Henry Davidson, 1872’.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

03/10/2026

🙏 Apologies for the inconvenience, but at present, the Lancaster City Museums team do not have capacity to deal with King’s Own Royal Regiment family history research enquiries.
👉 We will update you as soon as this changes. Meanwhile, you can find some advice and links to help in conducting your own research here: https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/enquiries

02/10/2026

🪖 TOMORROW, drop into the King's Own Royal Regimental gallery at Lancaster City Museum for a special hands-on 'show & tell' session with WW1 equipment, from the Great War Society. Suitable for all ages.
🕥 Saturday 3 October - 10:30am to 3:30pm
🏵️ Lancaster City Museum
🎟️ Included with standard admission. No booking required.

01/10/2026

📿Objects from the Abyssinia Campaign #8
We've recently completed a project to research and reinterpret the objects in our collection from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, and now we'd like to share a few of them with you here. This week we've got...

🥛 Glass Tumbler
This 18th-century European glass tumbler, accompanied by its original storage basket, offers insights into the cultural exchange between Europe and Ethiopia. Emperor Tewodros may have acquired this object from one of the European artisans working in his court.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

27/09/2026

🌍 Officers of the Abyssinia Campaign #18
As part of our recent project to research and reinterpret our collection objects from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, we've been looking at the lives of the King's Own Officers on the expedition. This week we have...

🎖️ Herbert Charles Borrett
Borrett was born on 23 September 1841 at Saxmundham, Suffolk. The youngest son of the local squire, he enrolled as an Ensign in the King’s Own in 1858, eventually commanding the 1st Battalion in 1886-7. He became Assistant Adjutant General and later Inspector General of Recruiting at the War Office, then Major-General in 1899. He retired from the Army in 1903 and died in 1919.
In 1867 he married Charlotte Anne Bennett, daughter of Captain John Bennett of the 1st Bombay Fusiliers (pictured with him here).
His letters home to his wife form an important first hand account of the expedition. These are published in the book ‘My Dear Annie’, available in the museum shop.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

26/09/2026

🪖 NEXT WEEK, drop into the King's Own Royal Regimental gallery at Lancaster City Museum for a special hands-on 'show & tell' session with WW1 equipment, from the Great War Society. Suitable for all ages.
🕥 Saturday 3 October - 10:30am to 3:30pm
🏵️ Lancaster City Museum
🎟️ Included with standard admission. No booking required.

24/09/2026

📿Objects from the Abyssinia Campaign #7
We've recently completed a project to research and reinterpret the objects in our collection from the 1868 Abyssinia Campaign, and now we'd like to share a few of them with you here. This week we've got...

📖 Homilies of the Archangel Michael
This beautiful 18th-century book exemplifies the religious and cultural manuscripts originating from Magdala. These texts hold immense significance within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and Saint Michael has been the most venerated archangel in Ethiopia for more than 500 years.
The sermons in this compilation were read aloud on feast days. The manuscript also catalogues the miracles of St Michael and provides monthly liturgical readings. It’s written in a combination of the ancient Ethiopian language of Ge’ez and the more modern Amharic. There are twenty illuminations and a cycle of miniatures featuring the miracles of St Michael. It still has the original binding of thick wooden boards covered in dyed goatskin.
The manuscript mentions the King of Ethiopia at the time, King Iyoas I ኢዮአስ, with the throne name Adyam Sagad, አድያም ሰገድ, which dates it to the time of his rule, from 1755 to 1769. The names of the original owners are also included: a man named ኤውስጠቴዎስ (Ewosṭātewos) and wife ወለተ፡ ጽዮን (Walata Teson).
A note added in English tells us that it was taken during the Abyssinia campaign and later presented to Rev. J[?] Fisher Turner by J. L Stokes of the King’s Own.

👉 Find out more at www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum/abyssinia-project
(If clicking the link doesn't work, just copy it into your browser.)
👉 Or visit the museum to see the new displays. Open 10:30-4pm every day except Weds & Thurs.

Address

Market Square
Lancaster
LA11HT

Opening Hours

Monday	10:30am - 4pm
Tuesday	10:30am - 4pm
Friday	10:30am - 4pm
Saturday	10:30am - 4pm
Sunday	10:30am - 4pm

Website

https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/sites/museums/kings-own-royal-regiment-museum

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