In Spring 2024, three students from the University of Plymouth History Department participated in paid internships at Bodmin Keep – Cornwall’s Army Museum. For six weeks, BA (Hons) History second year students, Emily Brown and Brandon Coyle and MA Heritage Theory and Practice student, Milly Thompson, researched and developed projects that shed light on little known aspects of the museum’s collections and archive. From these projects came three exhibits which have recently been put on display at the Charles Seale-Hayne Library at the University of Plymouth.
William Kent, Cornish Commando
One of the highlights of this project is an exhibit looking at the life of Cornish Commando William Kent. Born in St Austell in 1917, at the beginning of the Second World War Kent served as an army field cook with the Devonshire Regiment but soon volunteered for the newly formed No. 6 Commando in 1940. After training in Scotland, Kent’s first full-scale deployment was in North Africa where he tragically died in attack by the Luftwaffe in November 1942. Earlier this year, several items belonging to William were donated to Bodmin Keep by his relatives. They included letters from William sent back home, his field army cookbook and a rare No 6 Commando Green Beret.
We asked undergraduate history student, Emily Brown who curated the display about her experiences of working with Bodmin Keep on this project.
Why did you apply for the project on William Kent at Bodmin Keep?
I applied for the internship because I thought it would be an amazing opportunity to use some of the skills that I had learnt on my course module on Heritage and Public History. I’d also previously taken part in a collaboration with Bodmin Keep for Oral History course module where we interviewed veterans about their roles in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. I thought this project would be a good opportunity to use these skills that I had learnt as a way to see if this is a job that I’d like to do in the future.
What was the most interesting or powerful discovery you made?
In the donated collection, there were approximately 50 letters. Most of these had been kept by William, with only a few of them having been written by him. I was only able to fully transcribe a few of these letters, which included the last letter he wrote to his family which I included in the display.
The first few letters that I transcribed were written by a woman named Betty. I wasn’t entirely sure what the relationship between the two was until I discovered the first letter she ever wrote to him which detailed the beginning of their relationship when Willliam had come home on leave.
Handling and transcribing these letters was quite a surreal experience, for me they were a reminder that this story was about real people. This made me feel very passionate about the project and I hope I have done it justice.
Which is your favourite item in the display?
My favourite item in the display is the cookbook. It contains so many detailed drawings of the camp layout and the equipment that they used to cook for so many people. There are over 50 recipes inside it ranging from minestrone soup to ginger cake. This is my favourite item because I love to bake and cook so I found all these details really interesting.
What was the best part about the internship?
The best part of the internship for me was being able to handle all these items and uncovering the stories which they told. I also really enjoyed being able to decide what to include in the display and how to best present these objects. Being in control of how this story would be told was a huge honour and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity.
What skills did you gain at Bodmin Keep which will help with your career plans?
In one of the weeks during the internship we were asked to come up with ideas to advertise our projects, through this activity I figured out that I quite enjoyed coming up with these ideas. I’m now looking into going into a career in marketing and have started the process of applying for summer internships because of this internship.
Next year, we are looking to recruit new interns from the University of Plymouth to continue researching the museum collection and archive.