Mementos and memories of the First World War go on show

Next of Kin, an exhibition created by National Museums Scotland, opens on Saturday 18 February at the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. It presents a picture of Scotland during the First World War through treasured objects from official and private sources, passed to close relatives and down through generations.

The exhibition, which runs until 20 May, is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Scottish Government. It was previously shown at the National War Museum in Edinburgh Castle, and the Orkney Museum is the last of eight touring venues around Scotland. Each of the host venues has added material from their own collections to tell local stories which reflect the themes of the exhibition.

The exhibition in Kirkwall includes two Orkney stories. The first tells of a long-lost gold ring, given as an engagement present to Stanley Cubiss, who served aboard the destroyer HMS Opal and saw action at the Battle of Jutland. Stanley lost his life when the Opal and another destroyer, HMS Narborough, steamed into cliffs in South Ronaldsay during a night time blizzard. His ring – inscribed ‘To Stanley from Flo – 6 March 1916’ – was found by a diver in 2007 and later donated to the Scapa Flow Visitor Centre and Museum by Stanley’s nephew.

The second story involves the Clouston family who lived at a farm close to the Caldale air station near Kirkwall. Here the family welcomed men serving at Caldale into their home, treating them to farm produce like cheese, home-baked bannocks, cakes and jam. Two autograph albums filled with messages and drawings from the grateful servicemen were kept by the family as treasured possessions, as was an embroidered tablecloth with the men’s signatures picked out in white thread.

Orkney Museum exhibitions officer Tom Muir said:

“These are poignant stories of servicemen serving far from home. At Caldale farm, the men from the air station received what must have been a very welcome taste of family life and hospitality. Their gratitude is plain to see from the exhibits included in the exhibition. Stanley Cubiss’ ring is both a remarkable discovery and a vivid reminder of the terrible loss of life when two warships were wrecked on a single night in local waters.”

Harvey Johnston, Chair of Orkney Islands Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Committee, said:

“These very personal stories help bring to life the experiences of people serving in Orkney a century ago and the considerable impact the war would have had on our local community. I am very pleased that the Next of Kin exhibition is being shown in Orkney as part of a nationwide tour of Scotland.”

Stuart Allan of National Museums Scotland said:

“The First World War separated millions of people worldwide from their families and homes. The impact of the conflict was felt by families and communities in every part of Scotland as individuals served in the war in different ways. For those who experienced the conflict, keeping objects was a way of remembering this extraordinary period in their lives, or coping with the absence and loss of their loved ones. The Next of Kin touring exhibition brings these stories from the National collection to people across the country and through partner museum stories provides an insight into the local impact of the war.”

The material on loan from National Museums Scotland looks in detail at eight individual stories which both typify and illustrate the wider themes and impact of the War on servicemen and women and their families back home in Scotland. Objects include postcards and letters, photographs, medals and memorial plaques.

Examples include:

• Two autograph books in which Nurse Florence Mellor collected drawings, watercolours, verses, jokes and messages from the wounded soldiers in her care at Craiglockhart War Hospital.
• The pocket New Testament which Private James Scouller was carrying the day he died at Cambrai in 1917, returned to his family by a German soldier on the eve of the Second World War.
• Drawings and postcards by Henry (Harry) Hubbard, an architectural draughtsman in Glasgow who contracted illnesses so severe that he ended up spending 16 months in hospital.
• The last letter home from George Buchanan, Seaforth Highlanders, a railway plate-layer from Bathgate who was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of Loos, along with his memorial plaque and service medals.
• The shell fragment which wounded Private William Dick. He kept the fragment after it was removed from his leg, but later died from the wound.

As the exhibition tours, the host venues have developed additional content using their own objects and stories related to their respective local areas. The results of these additional contributions have been captured and preserved in the exhibition displays and a digital app interactive. Learning activities exploring the exhibition themes have been programmed at each venue. School and community groups will be able to interact with a bespoke handling collection made up of original and replica objects.

An associated training programme has developed new skills among the participating organisations. The tour started in Dumfries and the exhibition travelled to Rozelle House Galleries (Ayr), Hawick Museum, Low Parks Museum (Hamilton), Grampian Transport Museum (Alford), Inverness Museum and Art Gallery, Perth Museum and Art Gallery and the Black Watch Castle and Museum before coming to Orkney Museum. The full list of partner organisations and touring venues can be found on the National Museums of Scotland website.

Explaining the importance of the HLF support, the Head of HLF in Scotland, Lucy Casot said:

“The impact of the First World War was far reaching, touching and shaping every corner of the UK and beyond. The Heritage Lottery Fund has invested more than £60 million in projects – large and small - that are marking this global Centenary. With our grants, we are enabling communities like those involved in the Next of Kin exhibition to explore the continuing legacy of this conflict and help local young people in particular to broaden their understanding of how it has shaped our modern world.”

National Museums Scotland is one of the leading museum groups in Europe and looks after collections of national and international importance. The organisation provides loans, partnerships, research and training in Scotland and internationally. Our four museums are the National Museum of Scotland, the National Museum of Flight, the National Museum of Rural Life and the National War Museum. The National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh houses conservation and research facilities as well as collections not currently on display.

From the archaeology under our feet to the historic parks and buildings we love, from precious memories and collections to rare wildlife, we use National Lottery players' money to help people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect the heritage they care about. Find out more about the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Scottish Commemorations Panel was appointed by Scottish Ministers in 2013 to recommend a preferred approach for Scotland’s commemorations of the centenary of the First World War, and to oversee the delivery of the programme. The panel reports to Scottish Ministers. For more information about First World War commemorations in Scotland, see the WW100Scotland web pages.

The First World War Centenary Partnership, established by the Imperial War Museum, is a network of over 1,800 cultural and educational not-for-profit organisations from 39 countries that are producing a collective programme of events, activities and resources from 2014 to 2018 to mark the centenary, with over 500 new exhibitions and galleries opening around the world.