ARMY MUSEUMS OGILBY TRUST

The Army Museums Ogilby Trust is a small effective charity. It is widely acknowledged that no other single body has done more for the development of the Army’s regimental and corps museums, and hence for the preservation of our military heritage. The Trust provides grants, advice and support to 136 museums across the United Kingdom. It is not government funded and relies entirely on its own resources and the generosity of others to achieve its objectives.

The Army Museums Ogilby Trust is a registered charity founded in 1954 by the late Colonel Robert Ogilby DSO, DL whose personal experiences in two world wars persuaded him that the fighting spirit of the British soldier stemmed from the esprit de corps engendered by the Army’s regimental structure. This spirit is enshrined in the many regimental and corps museums which seek to inspire and educate their visitors. The Trust has played, and continues to play, a very significant part in the establishment and development of some 136 such museums in the United Kingdom today. They are as varied and individual as the regiments they represent. A visit to any of them will produce evidence of the Trust's activities: objects purchased with the assistance of a grant-in-aid; endowments to support their establishment or development and improvements to the preservation, conservation, display and recording of objects and archive material achieved through professional advice funded by the Trust. Most museums are now charitable trusts themselves and the legal costs associated with establishing them were, in most cases, borne by the Trust. The Trust has contributed to professional military, museum and heritage journals and has sponsored or supported the publication of a number of works of reference. More recently it has created and now maintains a website, www.armymuseums.org.uk, which is recognised as the definitive guide to regimental and corps museums. The site carries advice on tracing army ancestors and includes a 4, 000 volume regimental bibliography. The Trust also responds to inquiries from the general public. Its latest project was the production of The AMOT Guide to Military Museums – a glove box guide to all the regimental and corps museums listed on the website as well as prestigious national museums with collections of military significance.