CASE STUDY

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment was founded in 1688 and served with distinction around the world until being merged into the Royal Anglian Regiment in 1964. The Royal Tigers' Association and the Regimental Museum in Leicester now help the heritage of the Regiment. 

Background

The Regimental Trustees wanted to make some major changes to the management of their existing databases of soldier and medal records, which could not be updated themselves. Therefore it was imperative to encourage and open up the other forms of contact and mechanisms for accessing their growing archive through technology and the internet. 

The Regimental Trustees had previously met TownsWeb Archiving Ltd (TWA) through the Army Museums Ogilby Trust, and had seen some of the work that they had undertaken for other regiments and were interested to see how TWA might be able to help them. 

Project

The Regimental Trustees and TWA's technical team put together the following plan of action: 

TownsWeb would export the existing regimental data from an existing Council system based around Modes and Multimimsy. Then we work with the Trustees in order to 'cleanse' the data and import it into a new database. 

Our next task it to import the database into the PastView system. 

The TWA PastView system would be expanded to allow regimental staff and volunteers to log into their system (via any location that has an internet connection) in order to maintain their database of 65,000 soldier records (Have You A Tiger In Your Family) and their databases of medals and awards. 

A list of citations and associated images would be imported into the TWA PastView system. 

TownsWeb would scan all back copies of the 'Green Tiger' which is regimental journal. Dating back to 1904, it recorded news and events about the regiment for more than 60 years and then about the Regimental Old Comrades' Association for nearly 50 years. 

TownsWeb would then design a new website for the regiment and incorporate the soldier records, medal database, citations and the Green Tiger journals. Members of the public would be able to search for family names and ranks in the soldier and medal records. Members of the public and researchers would able be able to flick through past and present copies of the regimentals journal. 

The new website would also include regimental history, information about the museum and also news and events. 

The TWA PastView system would be developed in such a way that Trustees and volunteers were not only ale to maintain the soldier and medal databases but were also able to update other information on the website - such as  latest news and events (without any knowledge of website development). 

The website would incorporate a remembrance feature called 'Remember a Tiger Today'. Each day the website would display details of a soldier who died on that particular day in history. 

The museum would still be a good focal point of contact for those interested in the regiment and so TownsWeb Archiving would make all make all of this content available via a PC within the Museum. 

Implementation 

The new Royal Leicestershire Regiment website is now live and incorporates the following; 

• Have You a Tiger In Your Family: Allowing members of the public to search for family members by surname, forename, rank and army number. A soldier biography is displayed which can include information about their Unit, service details, places served, conflicts and death. Photographs and links to any associated medals and citations are also displayed.
• Medals & Honours Database: Allows members of the public to browse through pictures showing different types of medals and learn about when and why they were awarded. Regimental recipients of the medals are also listed along with applicable citations for gallantry awards. 
• Updates: Throughout the site members of the public are encouraged to contribute further information about soldiers or the regiment. This is done by means of a simple form. 
• Maintenance: The websites database and also news and events are now maintained and kept up-to-date by the Regimental Trustees and volunteers. 

Please Visit

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment website can be visited here. 

A message from the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Trustees 

We would like to extend our thanks and gratitude to TownsWeb Archiving and their professional, friendly staff. Their willingness to attend numerous meetings, visit the Museum and also work with appropriate staff of Leicester City Council was greatly appreciated. 

TownsWeb Archiving have helped us to bring control of our databases in-houses so that our own volunteers can maintain it. They have helped us understand what can be achieved with technology and have designed a website that, once the huge amount of data we hold has been uploaded, we feel will be one of the best Regimental websites in the UK. Furthermore, they have helped us install a PC at the Museum that enables traditional walk-in visitors to receive the same experience. 

TownsWeb Archiving delivered our project within budget and within an acceptable time-frame. We would highly recommend them to any organisations looking to do something similar. 

Colonel Anthony Swallow
Trustee