HMS Victory gifted to naval museum
Development supported by £50m endowment
HMS Victory has secured a £50m cash injection following yesterday’s announcement that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is transferring the custodianship of the vessel to a new trust.
The development of the HMS Victory Preservation Trust is being supported by a £25m grant from the Gosling Foundation, a charity created by car park tycoon Donald Gosling. The MoD has agreed to match the Gosling Foundation’s money with a further £25m to create a £50m endowment.
The trust will be part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), which is based alongside HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
“This is fantastic news,” said Jonathon Band, chairman of the NMRN. “The headquarters of the NMRN is adjacent to the ship on a site where there has been a naval museum presence for over 100 years and where the ship lies alongside other heritage jewels such as the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior 1860.”
BAE Systems Surface Ships won a £16m contract to maintain HMS Victory last October. The contract involves the most extensive restoration since the ship returned from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and this work will continue under the new trust.
Victory was launched in Chatham in 1765 and 40 years later it became vice admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.
In the 1920s its future was secured for the nation by the Society for Nautical Research when it was brought into dry dock in Portsmouth Naval Base. It was then restored to the condition in which it would have fought under Nelson and opened to the public.
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The development of the HMS Victory Preservation Trust is being supported by a £25m grant from the Gosling Foundation, a charity created by car park tycoon Donald Gosling. The MoD has agreed to match the Gosling Foundation’s money with a further £25m to create a £50m endowment.
The trust will be part of the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN), which is based alongside HMS Victory at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.
“This is fantastic news,” said Jonathon Band, chairman of the NMRN. “The headquarters of the NMRN is adjacent to the ship on a site where there has been a naval museum presence for over 100 years and where the ship lies alongside other heritage jewels such as the Mary Rose and HMS Warrior 1860.”
BAE Systems Surface Ships won a £16m contract to maintain HMS Victory last October. The contract involves the most extensive restoration since the ship returned from the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and this work will continue under the new trust.
Victory was launched in Chatham in 1765 and 40 years later it became vice admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.
In the 1920s its future was secured for the nation by the Society for Nautical Research when it was brought into dry dock in Portsmouth Naval Base. It was then restored to the condition in which it would have fought under Nelson and opened to the public.
Link
Save our ships