Exhibitions and Displays

Forgotten: the British African colonial soldiers of the Second World War

19 September to 28 November 2020

A photographic exhibition, free to visit, but due to Covid-19 please book in advance to guarantee the time that suits you best.

Call 0438 218881 or email museum@stevenage.gov.uk

During the Second World War over half a million African troops served with the British Army, the largest movement of African men overseas since the slave trade.

Only two in ten soldiers who fought in Burma were white: 90,000 African troops fought the Japanese. These photographs track African recruits through initial training, life in camp and on the battlefield and capture some of the celebrations when the conflict ended. Two short films tell individual stories of African men far from home and fighting in a global conflict, one an airman in the UK, the other a soldier in South East Asia.

Foyer Display

Recent donations

Find out what we collect and why and see what people have brought in, from a world champion cup stacker to watercolours by a locally born artist.