Sir Charles Knight Pearson
Sir Charles Knight Pearson was an army commander in the Crimean
War - where he was mentioned in despatches eleven times - and the
Anglo-Zulu war.
Sir Charles K was born at Thorne House, Thorne, near Yeovil in
1834, he was the son of another Sir Charles, a naval commander who
was at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Sir Charles Knight Pearson's military medals for the Crimean and
Anglo-Zulu wars along with the KCMG and the Order of the Bath were
left to the town of Yeovil in 1979. The bequest to the museum
included a sword presented to him by the people of Yeovil in 1879,
his father's naval dirk and medals.
Sir Charles K's medals are so important that since 1979, they
have been on display in military museums around the country finally
ending up at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London, who
agreed to return them to Yeovil and they arrived here on 3rd
October 2011.
They will be on loan to the Somerset Rural Life Museum in
Glastonbury for the Somerset Routes exhibition from 12th November
2011 until 2nd March 2012. This will be the first time that
they have ever been on display in Somerset. The Somerset
Routes exhibitions showcases objects from museums all over
Somerset.
When the medals return again to Yeovil in March 2012, they will
be available to view by appointment at the Community Heritage
Access Centre.
Open Afternoon
The Open Afternoon held at CHAC on the 17th February was a great
success. Around 200 people visited the centre in the two
hours that we were open and we hope that everyone who visited us
managed to get a taste of what we have here and what we do.
We would like to thank everyone who came. As we couldn't
focus on certain parts of the collection on the day, for example
the photograph, archaeology or the gloving collection, we hope to
do more Open Days focussing on certain parts of the
collection. These will be advertised in the local press so
please look out for them.