A museum dedicated to charting the histories of Jewish men and women in British military service over the last 300 years is preparing to move to Hendon.

The Jewish Military Museum, founded by the Association of Jewish Ex-servicemen and Women (Ajex), has been housed in Stamford Hill for the last 35 years.

But after ten years of scouting about for a new venue, the museum, and headquarters of Ajex, is relocating to Shield House in Harmony Way, off Victoria Road.

Arthur Lawson, national chairman of Ajex, said: "We started off with a memorial room which gradually grew into a museum with various memorabilia and artefacts. But we do not have enough space there to display the collection, so we want to establish it as a stand-alone museum, with guides and information phones you can carry around as you look at the exhibits.

"Hendon is an area which is populated and easy to get to, so hopefully more people will be able to visit."

The museum's archives hold medals, uniforms, letters, soldiers' records and other artefacts about Jewish men and women who served in the British Army, Navy or RAF since the 18th Century.

Henry Morris, the museum's curator, said: "We have, for instance, over 100 letters written by an officer who was in the Somme in 1916, which are quite valuable."

He explained that the archives offer up such little-known treats as information about a Jewish sea captain named Shomberg who served in Nelson's navy and helped capture Quebec from the French in the early 18th Century.

Also featured is Frederick duPas, the first Jewish soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross in the First World War.

Another figurehead is Field Marshal Sir John Monash, who commanded the Australian forces during the First World War. A commander of divisions in Flanders and the Somme, he is credited with being the architect of the battle plan that ended the war.

"Hopefully the new museum will be a lasting gift to posterity," said Mr Morris.

He continued: "Also, we are computerising a card index file of all the 60,000 Jewish men and women who served in the Second World War. We continually get enquiries about service records, so this will really help the community."