A Brief History of the Ministry of Defence Pattern Room

Abstract

This article provides a brief history of the British Ministry of Defence Pattern Room collection, incorporating a personal perspective upon its final days from the author, the final Custodian of the collection. The article explains the origins and original purpose of the Pattern Room, before tracing its growth into a world-renowned collection of small arms and light weapons. A little over a decade after relocating from Enfield, Middlesex, the facility was earmarked for closure and the collection put up for disposal by the owner on the basis that it no longer met the Ministry’s “core activity”. The author describes the resulting ordeal of trying to find a new owner, while at the same time keeping the collection complete and having to meet deadlines for site closure. Finally, the article relates the ultimate transfer of the Pattern Room objects to the only organisation able to offer a new home for the complete collection—the Royal Armouries Museum—and the eventual opening of the National Firearms Centre on 1 September 2005.