College to return its ‘spoils of war’ bronze looted by British in 1897
THE University of Cambridge is to return a bronze cockerel looted from Africa in the 19th century after a campaign from students rejecting the “spoils of war”.
The Benin bronze (inset, below) was taken by Victorian explorers and kept at Jesus College from 1905. It was removed from public view in March 2016 when students complained it celebrated a “colonial narrative” and came in the wake of the “Rhodes Must Fall” campaign to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes, the 19th century colonialist, from Oxford’s Oriel College.
Since its removal from public view, university dons have deliberated over whether to repatriate it to its native Nigeria. Yesterday Jesus College confirmed the sculpture would be returned.
A college statement read: “Following interim recommendations from our legacy of slavery working party, Jesus College has decided that a Benin Bronze statue of a cockerel will be returned, and that we will acknowledge and contextualise Tobias Rustat’s role in our history.”
Rustat was one of the college’s largest benefactors, who built upon his wealth by investing in the Royal African Company.
Historian William Pettigrew wrote in his recent book Freedom’s Debt that the company “shipped more enslaved African women, men and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade”.
This brutal and sustained trade exploited thousands of people and investors knew of its activities, intending to profit from them.
The college admitted its “academic excellence” was “undeniably shaped by Rustat’s financial support”. However, it added: “His involvement in the slave trade is not in doubt. The investigations of the working party and the decisions of the fellowship to acknowledge and contextualise Tobias Rustat’s contributions to the college are not trying to delete this part of our history. We have an obligation to remember his legacy in college today with proper contextualisation.”
Cambridge dons were reportedly nervous about accusations of pandering to “political correctness” and also about setting a precedent for demands to repatriate other artefacts from the “Benin bronze collection”, large numbers of which are in the British Museum.
The college said the statue was looted from the Court of Benin as part of a punitive expedition in 1897 and given to the college in 1905 by the father of a Jesus College student.
Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, added: “The work of the legacy of slavery working party has been diligent and careful. These decisions have not been taken to erase history. We are an honest community, and after thorough investigation into the provenance of the Benin bronze and Rustat’s investment in the slave trade, our job is to seek the best way forward.”
The student campaign was able to gain momentum after winning the backing of Prince Edun Akenzua, great-grandson of Oba [king] Ovonramwen, from whose kingdom the bronzes were stolen in 1897.
From his home in Benin City, southern Nigeria, Prince Akenzua disclosed he had now written to the Jesus College students’ union to express his support for the repatriation.
“It is something I have been campaigning for myself for many years without much success,” said Prince Akenzua, whose family still serve as traditional rulers in Benin City. “It is about time these statues came home to their original owners”.
He added: “It has been ridiculous – like tracking down a thief who has stolen your car only for him to tell you that you can’t have it back because there is a risk it might get stolen again.”
The Benin bronzes were a collection of 3,000 objects taken by British troops during reprisals for the killing of nine countrymen in a trade dispute between London and Benin.