New exhibition at Warwick’s Lord Leycester shines spotlight on lives of early veterans who resided in its historic buildings
The lives of the ex-servicemen who have made their home in one of the country’s oldest veterans charities is the focus of a new exhibition in Warwick.
The Lord Leycester is holding the new exhibition in partnership with the University of Warwick that explores the lives of the Brethren who lived in the medieval buildings between its foundation in 1571 and 1700.
The collection of half-timbered buildings was built by the powerful Warwick Guilds in the late 1300s to conduct Guild business from the town centre but in the reign of Elizabeth I, those Guilds gave the buildings to Robert Dudley, the Queen’s favourite courtier, to create a home for soldiers injured in the wars of the Tudor age.
Centuries on, the site remains home to the Brethren who live within its walls and welcome visitors, conducting tours and sharing their own military stories.
Now, the lives of their predecessors are being highlighted by the exhibition curated by Angus Crawford (M4C PhD student) and Dr Naomi Pullin in the history department at the University of Warwick.
‘More Than Almsmen: Brotherhood and Belonging at the Lord Leycester’ will run throughout June and is free to attend with a general admission ticket to the attraction.
The exhibit organisers said: “For centuries, attention has focused on the hospital’s founder, Robert Dudley, and his heirs, the Sidney family.
“This exhibition shifts the spotlight away from these well-known figures to the brethren themselves, asking who they were, how they were chosen and what daily life at the hospital was like.
“Despite the later reputation of the Lord Leycester as a home for ex-servicemen, this exhibition shows that the Lord Leycester was home to a remarkably diverse group of people.
“Through their stories, we see how complex webs of power operated that connected monarchs to their subjects, how patronage operated within major aristocratic households, and how ordinary people lived nearly four hundred years ago. ”
The exhibition is the latest move in shining a spotlight on the unique role of the Lord Leycester not only as an historic site, but a piece of living history thanks to its role as a charity housing veterans continuously for over 450 years.
It comes after the monthly Brethren’s prayers – a piece of ceremony conducted with exactly the same wording for the last 455 years – were opened up to for the public to attend for the first time.
The exhibition was also supported by Midlands4Cities, The Warwick Institute of Engagement and the Warwick History Department.