Researching the RE MLA Collection
The Royal Engineers Museum, Library and Archive (RE MLA) is a private charity.
Our main objectives, as stated in our mission statement,
are the preservation, presentation and provision of
access to our Designated Collection.
To this end the RE MLA ensures that all items of the
collection are available for public viewing, whether
in the gallery displays or by appointment in our Reading
Rooms. We are open to the public six days a week, fifty-one
weeks of the year. If you are a UK taxpayer you may
Gift Aid your ticket making it valid for 12 months.
The RE MLA is not an official government repository
for archives and records of the Corps. Our collection
has been developed over 200 years and reflects both
the general interests of past Royal Engineers and the
work undertaken by the Corps through its history. The
Library and Archive were established in 1813 to support
the training of serving Royal Engineers whilst the Museum
developed from a collection of mementoes gathered from
across the world by NCOs of the Royal Sappers and Miners
as well as members of the Institute of the Royal Engineers.
(see Evolution of the Corps)
A research visit to the RE MLA will allow you access
to the appropriate original material held in our collections.
Members of our curatorial team will also be on hand
to assist with any queries you may have. There are a
number of rules which we ask visitors to respect; these
are in place primarily for the safety and security of
our collection but also a stipulation of our landlord
the Ministry of Defence.
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Postal, Email and Opening details
Curatorial Team
Enquiries Service
Royal Engineers Museum
Prince Arthur Road
Gillingham
Kent
ME4 4UG
Museum Front Desk: 01634 822839
Curatorial Team: 01634 822221 or 822261
Email: mail@re-museum.co.uk
When sending e-mail we would also appreciate a postal address.
Opening Times:
- Tuesday - Friday 9.00am-5.00pm
- Saturday & Sunday 11.30am-5.00pm
- Open Bank Holiday Monday
- Closed Mondays and Christmas week.
Also see Visiting page for directions and other visitor
information
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- You need to sign a Research
Form (pdf 61kb) before gaining access to any of
the Collection.
- You need to abide by the Curator's or Librarian's
advice on handling the material and the provisions
of the general Reading
Room User Rules (pdf 62kb) .
An overview of our holdings is given below.
- Records, archives and general resources of use to family historians.
- Records and archives holding information on the history of Royal Engineer units.
- Information resources on technical equipment and developments in military engineering.
- General Corps and British military history.
- Picture library and reproduction.
Download Researching
the RE MLA Collection (pdf 58kb) information sheet
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
Link to:
- Collection Section page
Records, archives and general resources of use to family historians
The RE MLA collection does not include the service histories of past or serving Royal Engineers. These can either be found at The National Archives (for men serving up to 1920) or are still held by the Ministry of Defence (for men serving from 1921 to the present). The personal information of military personnel is subject to the Data Protection Act.
The RE MLA does, however, hold a number of records which may be of interest to those researching service histories, including medal awards.
- Some enlistment records dated 1908-1915 for the
Punjab, Malakand, Samana, Tirah, Sierra Leon, Sudan
and China.
- Register of transfers into the Corps from other
Army units dated 1881-1904.
- Discharge Register dated 1921-1980.
- Registers of officers in Survey Companies dated
1866-1937, 1871-1946, 1927-1952.
- Register of officers in Tunnelling Companies.
- Seniority and Nominal Roll of Foremen of Works dated
1925-1946 and 1927-1952.
- Nominal Roll of Clerks and Draftsmen dated 1925-1949.
- Seniority roll of Draftsmen of Works dated 1925-1945.
- Seniority Roll of Mechanics dated 1927-1952.
- Full set of Army Lists for Commissioned Officers.
- RE Lists for Commissioned Officers dated to the
present day. Note that some of this material is
unavailable to the public as it falls under the Data
Protection Act.
- Lists of Company and Squadron Commanding Officers
(listed in Company Skeleton Histories). Note that
these are listed by unit so you must know which of
these the officer was serving in.
- Register of Marriages dated 1934-1937.
- List of Deserters dated 1872-1886.
- Chelsea Pensioners Effects List.
- Parents and Orphans claims.
- Casualty Rolls for the Crimean War, Indian Mutiny,
Zulu and Basuto War, World War One, Bomb Disposal,
Singapore, Korean War, Malaysia, the Falklands and
Scots who died 1941-1982. Note that many of these
are not official rolls but the product of research
by staff and other individuals.
- Casualty cards dated 1939-1960. These give details
of injury, cause of death, service number and unit.
- World War Two Tracer Cards. These are the old MOD
catalogue cards for the service records of Royal Engineers
serving in World War Two. They vary in how much information
they contain but in general will provide information
on postings and give a service number. Note these
are only accessible to staff and not available to
researchers for browsing.
- Medal Rolls and cards for most campaign medals and
some gallantry. Note that these will not include citations
but we do have a run of the London Gazette from 1939-
today in which award notifications and citations were
published.
Note: None of the material listed above is available online and no
computer indexes are available.
- Personal effects including papers, medals, photograph albums, mementoes. Most of this material has been donated to the RE MLA by the families of past Royal Engineers. Note that speculative searches (when researchers do not definitely know that family material was donated) usually prove fruitless.
Download Records, archives and general resources of use to family historians (pdf 78kb) information sheet
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
Information on the history of the Corps of Royal Engineer and its units
The collection as a whole reflects the history of the Royal Engineers and contains many records relating to the companies, squadrons and regiments, as well as any other formations related to or making up the Corps.
- The History of the Corps of Royal Engineers.
This is the eleven volume official history of the
Corps, written by past officers of the Corps.
- The History of the Royal Sappers and
Miners. Three volume history written
in the 1870's by QMS TWJ Connolly, the first Corps
historian.
- The History of the Indian Sappers and Miners, written by Lt Col EWC Sandes RE.
- The Military Engineers in India. Two volumes written by Lt Col EWC Sandes RE.
- War Diaries recording the day to day activities of companies and squadrons, usually written by the Commanding Officer or another senior officer. The RE MLA holds copies of most World War One units, about 20 World War Two units and a few from the Korean War, Northern Ireland, the Gulf War and Bosnia.
- Unit files containing records relating to the activities of specific units and compiled from material sent to the Library by units.
- Letter Books from major UK and overseas Royal Engineer garrisons dated 1780c-1860c. These contain manuscript copies of correspondence entering and exiting the garrison headquarters.
- Formation table of RE Volunteer and TA Units providing details of when and where volunteer units were raised.
- Unpublished unit histories and memoirs.
- Personal papers and diaries of Royal Engineers dating back to the foundation of the Corps and donated to the RE MLA by soldiers and their families.
- Royal Engineer Journal dating from 1871 to today (including the Supplement from 1905), contributed to by members of the Institution of Royal Engineers and containing articles of professional relevance, many giving detailed accounts of unit involvement in particular operations and exercises.
- Sapper Magazine dating from 1895 to today, this magazine was written for the whole Corps, including other ranks. Provides a good record of the social history of the Corps including match reports from Corps sports clubs, station news, anecdotes as well as items of professional interest.
Note: None of the material listed above is available online and only a few are listed on basic indexes or catalogues.
- Skeleton Unit Histories. These list Company/Squadron locations and dates of arrival at new postings, they also list Commanding Officers. They were compiled by the RE MLA from a number of sources of varied reliability. Note that these are available on the Unit History page
Download Information on the history of the Corps of Royal Engineer and its units (pdf 78kb) information sheet
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
Information resources on technical equipment, techniques and developments in military engineering
The collection reflects the work that the Corps has undertaken throughout its two hundred year history and includes many items on the equipment and systems used by the Corps.
- Training material from the foundation of the Engineering Establishment in 1812.
- Field Engineering manuals and pocketbooks dating from the 19th Century.
- Manuals on equipment ranging from the Chieftain AVRE (tank) to water purification units.
- Equipment specifications. Over 150 boxes of mostly un-catalogued Specifications, for example, SP0001 Loose specification Booklet (a) Lof C 7-28 No 277(a), Pattern Number RE 134. Bell alarum, polarized L with magneto generator, 9 pages & 2 loose illustrations (b) Lof C 7-28 No 277(b), Pattern Number RE 134. Bell alarum, polarized L with magneto generator, 9 pages & 2 illustrations.
- Photographs of equipment, mainly bridge and vehicle, trials dating from the 1850s. Note that our catalogue for the photograph collection is not that accurate, identifying specific marks/type of equipment from the catalogue is rarely possible.
- Vehicle Record Cards dating from the 1940s and detailing the service career of RE vehicles. Note these are listed in registration number order and are not a complete record of all RE vehicles.
- Professional Papers dating
from the 1860s are collections of technical papers,
including many good quality illustrations, written
by Royal Engineer officers on a range of subjects
as varied as the qualities of different draft animals
during the Peninsular War and the ventilation system
in Pentonville prison.
- Royal Engineers Journal dating from 1871 and containing a variety of articles focusing on all activities of the Corps throughout its entire history.
- Actual equipment, uniforms and vehicles either on display or in storage and available to study.
Note: None of the material listed above is available online and only a few are listed on basic indexes or catalogues.
Download Information resources on technical equipment and developments in military engineering (pdf 78kb) information sheet
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
General British history
Whilst there is an obvious emphasis on the history of the Corps of Royal Engineers and the development of military engineering, the collection holds much of use and interest to those interested in general military history, local history, social history of the armed forces, photograph and ethnography. A small example of this being:
- The Peninsular War Collection - The RE MLA has a fine collection of archival material from serving Royal Engineers in Spain and Portugal, as well as correspondence and orders from the Duke of Wellington. The Library also holds a large section of books, including many first editions, covering this period.
- The Zulu War Collection - As well as a good collection of published material on the War the collection also includes the original orders sending Lt Col. A Durnford to Isandlwana, material on the inquest into the defeat at Isandlwana, reports on Lt John Chard VC and correspondence from other Royal Engineers serving in South Africa.
- The General Gordon Collection - This includes some of his last letters from Khartoum as well as a large printed book collection on his life.
Download General Corps and British military history (pdf 78kb) information sheet.
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
Picture Library and Reproduction
- The RE MLA has a growing library of digital photographs and copies of items in the collection. At the present time, however, it does only hold a few hundred images from a collection numbering over a million items. This image library is currently only accessible to RE MLA staff but there is a long term aim of making sections available online.
- We do offer a reproduction service for items in the collection, including those not yet held on the image library. However, when set against our Reading Room facilities and other curatorial priorities, this is only a secondary service - we do not have a professional photographer, studio or equipment.
For more details on reproduction and charges see
Download Picture library and reproduction (pdf 78kb) information sheet.
Download free Adobe® Reader® software to read pdf (portable
document format) files.
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