The Staffordshire Regiment Museum is a military museum in Staffordshire, England, preserving the history of the Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's), its antecedent regiments and its successor regiment, the Mercian Regiment, from 1705 to the present. The Staffordshire Regiment was an Infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of the South Staffordshire Regiment and the North Staffordshire Regiment. The museum is adjacent to Whittington Barracks, the former home of The Staffordshire Regiment's antecedent regiments since 1881, and the current base for the Regimental Headquarters of The Mercian Regiment and the Defence Medical Services. It is located in Whittington, Staffordshire on the A51 Lichfield-Tamworth Road, 3 miles from Lichfield and 4 miles from Tamworth. The museum is 6 miles from the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire. History The museum was established on its present buildings in 1969, incorporating the formerly separate museums of The North Staffordshire Regiment and The South Staffordshire Regiment, both of which were founded in the 1930s. Exhibits There are exhibits from the 38th Regiment of Foot, 64th Regiment of Foot, 80th Regiment of Foot and the 98th Regiment of Foot, their successors – the North Staffordshire Regiment and the South Staffordshire Regiment – The Staffordshire Regiment and the regiment of today (The Mercian Regiment); and also from the militia, volunteers and Territorial Army. The main indoor exhibition is in chronological sequence with a wide selection of uniforms, weapons and associated items from campaigns in India, Burma, the Crimea, Persia, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan, as well as from the First and Second World Wars. More recent material covers the Regiment's involvement in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Kosovo, the Gulf Wars (Operation GRANBY and Op TELIC) and Afghanistan (Op HERRICK). The oldest item is a Grenadier Company Officer's cap of the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot dating from around 1760. The medals display includes those of eight of the fourteen members of the Regiment awarded the Victoria Cross and medals from all campaigns in which the Regiment has taken part. The collection includes around 11,000 items. A major exhibit is an outdoor replica of a First World War British Army defensive trench system. It is named after Lance Corporal William Harold Coltman, who was awarded a Victoria Cross whilst serving with the North Staffordshire Regiment as a stretcher-bearer. The trench is 100m long and 2m wide, it includes dug-outs and