Wives and Sweethearts

The exhibition highlights the fascinating and changing roles of soldiers' partners from 19th-century 'Women of the Regiment' who worked as cooks and laundresses to modern Army families, where both partners may serve in the Armed Forces.

From the wives of Wellington's armies to those currently missing a partner in Afghanistan, the Wives and Sweethearts exhibition brings alive for today's visitors the personal aspects of war and its continued relevance.

Key exhibition items from Napoleonic, Crimean, Boer, First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Falklands War and the Gulf War include:

• Love token sent by a soldier at Waterloo to his wife
• Roger Fenton photographs of 'Women of the Regiment' during the Crimean War
• A Boer War letter sent with a pressed flower
• Embroidered postcards from the First World War
• Diamond-encrusted sweetheart brooch from the Second World War
• Letters and photographs from the Falklands, Korean, and Gulf Wars
• Oral histories from current soldiers' wives and sweethearts