Back to projects page © The Tank Museum, Bovington The 'Cambrai' flag before conservation, flown at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917 © Emma Telford The 'Cambrai' flag after conservation © Emma Telford

Three legendary flags at the Tank Museum : the Cambrai, Rhine and Berlin flags of the Tank Corps. The Legend Legend has it that in 1916, General Hugh Elles, Commander of the Tank Corps in France, visited a drapers shop in the French town of Cassell looking for coloured silk. Stock was limited and the best he could obtain were strips of brown, red and green silk. these were sewn into three flags of equal width horizontal stripes by Elles’ wife and became the colours of the Tank Corps as they still are today. The first flag was flown for the first time at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, the other two during WWII at the crossing of the Rhine, and the victory parade in Berlin when the war against Germany ended. Treatments : The Rhine flag The fragmented and brittle condition of this flag imposed limited conservation options. It was too fragile to stitch, too fragmented to pressure mount, and therefore required an adhesive treatment to provide adequate support for display. After removing the net, the stripes were separated and the red and brown stripes were supported onto appropriately dyed silk crepeline. A template was made of the exact positions of each fragment before removal, and the adhesive (Klucel G, hydroxyproyl cellulose) reactivated with industrial methylated spirit (IMS), thus securing the fragment to the crepeline. After reassembly the flag was stitched to a padded board and the green stripe, which was intact, was covered with a protective layer of silk crepeline. The Berlin flag Because this flag was largely in one piece, the favoured conservation option was a pressure mount (this has the advantage of being far less invasive than other forms of treatment). However the old adhesive treatment had to be reversed first. Tests showed that the adhesive was soluble in IMS. The flag was laid face down and the fabric and net gradually lifted away as the adhesive softened with the IMS. After removal, any creasing was flattened with a humidity poultice. Dyed inserts were applied under areas of loss to create an impression of completeness. Pressure mounting involves the laying of the ultra-violet filtered perspex sheet directly onto the flag and sealing it into the frame, the pressure of the mount providing all the necessary force to keep the elements in place. Consultation, initially with Annie Lord of the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, allowed a pool of experience to be brought to the project, and feedback on the use of pressure mounting developed our knowledge of the technique. We were fortunate to have one flag almost intact which enabled me to use a pressure mount: a much more cost effective and less invasive treatment, appropriate to the object and readily reversible. The Cambrai flag The old adhesive treatment on this flag was reversed in the manner described above for the Berlin flag, and then because of its fragmentary nature it was given an adhesive support, as described for the Rhine flag, before being stitched to a padded board. In the case of the Cambrai and Rhine flags, where adhesive supports were required, it was generally accepted that any new treatment would be the last that the flags could withstand, such was their fractured and brittle condition. It was therefore imperative for the flags’ survival in a recognisable form that the materials and techniques should last, and that preventative measures to ensure environmental buffering would be within the longterm means of the museum. The flags take a central place in the new Royal Tank Regiment exhibition The Royal Tank Regiment, the world’s first tank regiment, is one of the newest regiments in the British Army, its lineage traced back to the field of Cambrai. The new exhibition at the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, is designed to illustrate the regiment’s history and traditions through its actions and men. The new display was opened by the Colonel of the Regiment on the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai – the Regimental Day - the three flags taking a central place in the exhibition. Previously in store, this was the first time they had been seen by serving officers and veterans of the Regiment. For the opening I set up a temporary exhibition beside the flags, with photographs and examples of materials and equipment used, and gave a presentation on their conservation as well as interviews to the press who were attending. I was delighted by their interest in the work, and was moved by their emotional responses to the objects. The three flags are now on permanent display to the public, in environmentally buffered conditions, and fully interpreted. The project represents a departure for the museum from their hitherto ‘restorative’ approach to their collections, and is the first major conservation project of this kind that they have undertaken. This new path will be reinforced through my giving of training sessions on preventative conservation for textiles, and my continuing programme of remedial conservation once priorities have been established through a thorough survey of the collection. The ‘Berlin’ flag before conservation, after removal of adhered net © Emma Telford Sacred status Like flags and standards world wide, these flags assumed an almost sacred status, for the momentous events that they had flown over had in some way become part of their fabric. They not only came to embody the tradition of the Regiment, but to all of us had become memorials to the events and people who served and died under them. But time had shattered them. In parlous condition, the flags were unable to be displayed in the Tank Museum. Damaged by light, flood and humidity, as well as previous attempts to stabilise them, they remained in store. Such is their significance – considered the most important textiles in the collection – that they became a priority for conservation and redisplay. In 1999 the Museum obtained a grant from the Area Museums Council for the South West towards the cost of conserving and redisplaying them. ‘Painstaking work’ At the opening of the new Royal Tank Regiment exhibition at the Tank Museum, the Colonel of the Regiment observed that ‘the conservation of the three historic flags celebrated this evening, has been painstakingly carried out over the past twelve months’. The flags had been brought to my studio in June 1999. Careful examination at the outset provided a framework for the project planning, for an accurate forecast was imperative in order to meet the exhibition deadline, and to complete the work to the estimated cost. On preparing proposals for their conservation with estimates, funds were sought and provided by AMCSW. Collaborating closely with Liz Wallis, Accessions Officer, and Kate White, formerly the Exhibitions and Display Officer, throughout the project, ethical, historical, and aesthetic questions were addressed as they arose, and progress discussed on several studio visits. Investigation of the structure and materials used in the flags – recorded in photographs and notes – informed, too, the development and form of their subsequent interpretation to the public. Condition before treatment The three flags were in a very poor and fragile condition, but each presenting different problems for conservation. The Berlin and Cambrai flags were both unevenly glued to white net on top of green and yellow furnishing fabrics, the colours only serving to emphasise the extensive areas of loss in the flags. They also showed evidence of flood damage with water-marking and dye migration. The Rhine flag had been tightly sewn between layers of coarse net and also darned, the stitching causing tramline holes throughout and the net obscuring the colours considerably. There was also evidence that this flag was originally displayed on the other side, thus causing fading to both its sides. The Cambrai and Rhine flags were extremely fragmented, and the Berlin the most complete, although all three had extensive loss and severe fading. As a result of their age and exposure to light the silks were very brittle and degraded.