Seat of War in the East
Seat of War in the East
A series of colour prints by the war artist William Simpson showing scenes from the Crimean War (1854-55)
Henry VIII : Dressed to Kill
Henry VIII : Dressed to Kill
This stunning collection of digital images of Henry VIII's armours has been taken especially for the Dressed to Kill Exhibition at the Tower of London
Campaign in India, 1857-58
Campaign in India, 1857-58
A series of colour prints by the engineer Geroge Franklin Atkinson showing scenes from the Indian Mutiny
Indian arms and armour
Indian arms and armour
This collection shows some the Royal Armoruies world famous Indian arms and armour.

Welcome to the Royal Armouries online catalogues

The Royal Armouries is committed to enabling online access to its collections, and the current databases are very much ‘works in progress’. There is an ongoing programme to check every record and ensure its accuracy, but some records are incomplete, and others may contain errors and incorrect attributions. Further information on this project may be obtained by contacting the Head of Collections.

Royal Armouries Collection

The Collection consists of 70,000 examples of arms, armour and artillery dating from ancient times to the present day. It includes the royal armours of the Tudor and Stuart kings; arms and armour of the English Civil War from Littlecote House; British and foreign military weapons from the Board of Ordnance and Pattern Room collections; hunting and sporting weapons, and oriental arms and armour.

Many of the objects in the collection have good quality colour and b/w images, and these will be added to the online collections catalogue over the next few months. These can be purchased as digital images, and licences are available for commercial, editorial and academic use.

The online collection currently contains 50,000 records and approximately 2000 images.

Tower of London Archives [coming soon]

The Royal Armouries also has a special collection of images of the historic buildings at the Tower of London drawn from antique prints and drawings, paintings, early photographs, stereoscopes and lantern slides.

Royal Armouries Library

The Library acquires material relating to the history, development and use of arms, armour and artillery, and to the Tower of London. It has special collections of military manuals, drill books, and fencing manuals. The collection amounts to some 30,000 books and pamphlets, 10,000 journals and magazines, and 6,000 auction sales catalogues.

The online library currently contains 40,000 records.