The National Museum of the Royal Navy

Adopt an Object to support the new Royal Marines Museum: A chromolithograph of the Battle of Tamai

Help the new Royal Marines Museum share the stories of its historic collections. The Adopt an Object scheme will offer the opportunity to put your name to some of the most interesting, informative and educational artefact in our collection.
£250
raised of £250 target
by 1 supporter
RCN 1126283

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Story

Help the new Royal Marines Museum share the stories of its historic collections by joining with other supporters to Adopt an Object.

From 2019 to the opening of the new museum, we will offer the opportunity to put your name to some of the most interesting, informative and educational items in our collection.

We have an unique and beautiful artefact, a chromolithograph (published by George Washington Bacon & Co.) of a bird's eye view of the Battle of Tamanieb (Tamai), Sudan, which took place on 13 March 1884 between a British force under Sir Gerald Graham and a Mahdist Sudanese army led by Osman Digna and is pictured above.

British Regiments at the Battle of Tamai included the presence of a Naval Brigade; 162 men with two 9 pounders, six Gatling and Gardiner guns together with men from the Royal Marine Light infantry.

On the night of 12 March 1884 the British formed an encampment, not far from Osman Digna's positions. From around 1 o'clock until dawn, Mahdist riflemen approached the camp and opened fire, but their shooting was imprecise, and they inflicted few casualties. During this battle, the British suffered more losses than in any other battle of the Mahdist war, 214 soldiers being wounded or killed. The Mahdists also suffered heavily, losing 4,000 men.

For their conspicuous bravery during the battle, Private Thomas Edwards of the Black Watch and Lieutenant Percival Marling of the King's Royal Rifle Corps were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration in the British Army.

The museum's collections are the living memorial to those who have served, charting battles and operations and the stories which bring them to life. The new museum will enable us to tell those stories more effectively and create a deeper understanding of the vital contribution of the Royal Marines to our society.

The collections depict the history of the Corps from 1664 to the present day through a unique collection of artefacts, pictures and documents. One of the most significant parts of the collection is the medal collection consisting of over 8,000 items including gallantry, campaign and foreign awards including an outstanding collection of Victoria Crosses.

There is no minimum donation but you can become a Senior Adopter of an object for £500. Senior Adopters will be invited to a special event ahead of the opening of the new museum. Recognition will be made of all donations over £120 within the new museum when it opens.

The new Royal Marines Museum, at the very heart of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, will place the 354-year history of the Royal Marines firmly within the story of the Royal Navy. For the first time the story of the Royal Marines a national story, but also a story with impact across the globe will be told in a building appropriate to its scale.

After clicking 'Donate', please enter the amount before continuing. Once you have made payment there will be an option to tick a box I'm happy to be contacted by NMRN to hear more about the impact of my donation, its appeals, events and other ways to donate, by email and post. If you do not click to accept further contact or send us your contact details we will be unable to send you your adopter acknowledgement. Please be assured that we will not send you further marketing materials unrelated to your adoption and you can opt out at any time.

If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of adopting an object please e-mail fundraising@nmrn.org.uk.

All anonymous adopters must contact fundraising@nmrn.org.uk to receive their adoption pack as your contact details are not forwarded to us.

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About the charity

Ours is the epic story of the Royal Navy, its impact on Britain and the world from its origins in 625 A.D. to the present day.

Donation summary

Total raised
£250.00
Online donations
£150.00
Offline donations
£100.00
Direct donations
£150.00
Donations via fundraisers
£0.00

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