Walsall Museum was a small, local history museum located in the centre of
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...
in the
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
. The holdings of Walsall Museum ranged from seventeenth-century firemarks to twenty-first century posters. There was also a large collection of costume and textiles; notably
The Hodson Shop
Walsall Museum Service's nationally significant Hodson Shop Collection comprises the unsold shop stock of a general drapers' shop in the small town of Willenhall in the West Midlands of England. It contains everyday clothing from the mid-twentie ...
Collection, a unique collection of unsold shop stock of working-class clothing dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. The museum closed permanently in March 2015. The collections were placed in secure storage and remains under the care of Walsall Council's Museum Service.
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Collections
Walsall Museum’s collection included products of local industries, particularly those of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as curios and costume.
Metalworking
A very large collection of
lorinery
Tack is equipment or accessories equipped on horses and other equines in the course of their use as domesticated animals. This equipment includes such items as saddles, stirrups, bridles, halters, reins, bits, and harnesses. Equipping a horse ...
, locally-made locks, brass wares and chains.
Twentieth-century industry
Innovative stainless steel homewares made by
Old Hall
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
of
Bloxwich
Bloxwich is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands, England. It is located between the towns of Walsall, Cannock, Willenhall and Brownhills.
Early history
Bloxwich has its origins at least as early as th ...
, and Gaydon and
Beetleware items made by BIP's
Streetly Plastics, are represented in the collection.
Walsall at War
Objects from the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, including gas masks and soldiers' equipment.
The Hodson Shop
The nationally significant
Hodson Shop collection comprises the unsold stock of a small drapers' shop in Willenhall, and includes everyday clothing from the 1920s to the 1970s - the sort of garments that rarely find their way into museum collections.
Curios
The collection also included a
scold's bridle; a preserved crocodile; and a preserved child's arm, found in a chimney at the White Hart Inn on Caldmore Green. The arm was discovered in 1870 and thought to be a '
hand of glory', but tests showed it to be a medical specimen that has been injected with the preservative
formalin. It is known that a doctor was residing at the White Hart, but not how he came by the arm.
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Local notables
There were also a few items relating to famous Walsall figures including the local author
Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome Klapka Jerome (2 May 1859 – 14 June 1927) was an English writer and humourist, best known for the comic travelogue ''Three Men in a Boat'' (1889). Other works include the essay collections '' Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow'' (1886) a ...
, the nursing pioneer
Sister Dora
Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison, better known as Sister Dora (16 January 1832 – 24 December 1878), was a 19th-century Anglican nun and nurse who worked in Walsall, Staffordshire.
Life
Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison was born in Hauxwell, North Ridin ...
and
John Henry Carless
John Henry Carless (11 November 1896 – 17 November 1917) was a Great Britain, British recipient of the Victoria Cross during the World War I, First World War.
Early life
Carless was born in 1896 to John Thomas Carless, an iron foundry wor ...
, a recipient of the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
in the First World War.
References
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External links
Walsall Museum website
Buildings and structures in Walsall
Museums in the West Midlands (county)
Defunct museums in England
Local museums in the West Midlands (county)
Museums established in 1976
1976 establishments in England
Museums disestablished in 2015
2015 disestablishments in England