Glasgow bronzes looted from Benin could be returned

It is estimated over 4000 artefacts were taken by British forces during a 1897 raid on Benin City — with eight bronzes now kept in Glasgow’s museums.

A request for the return of the treasures was refused in 1996, but now a group could be reformed to work on the repatriation of artefacts.

Cllr David McDonald, chairman of Glasgow Life, which runs the city’s museums, and deputy leader of the council, will ask councillors to back a Working Group for Repatriation and Spoliation on Thursday.

He also wants permission for Glasgow Life to continue talks with organisations in Nigeria over the possible return of the items.

Cllr McDonald said: “Throughout Europe, there are increasing claims, and requests for collections information, by African-based organizations and African Diaspora communities for the return of African heritage from museums to their countries of origin.

“It is reasonable to anticipate that dialogues with communities from other countries and continents will also arise.

“Glasgow will continue to build on its established approach to restitution, founded on constructive engagement, with the people of Glasgow and the descendent communities or nations making the request, to support each individual situation.”

A group of national cultural institutions in the UK and Europe, known as the Benin Dialogue Group, is working with the Edo State Government, the Royal Court of Benin and the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria to find solutions to “decades of wrangling” over the 4000 bronze and ivory artefacts.

The dialogue group is focused on larger collections, but supports independent negotiations over smaller collections, and Glasgow Life, Aberdeen University and Bristol Museums are part of a regional group interested in holding talks.

Earlier this year, Aberdeen University approved the repatriation of a bronze head to Benin while last month the Ethnological Museum Berlin committed to returning artefacts from its collection.

In 1996, Glasgow refused a request by the late Bernie Grant MP for return of its Benin bronzes. As well as the bronzes, the city has another 21 artefacts, which include “objects typically placed on the ancestral altars of the Obas of Benin”.

“All these objects could be considered for discussion with regard to potential repatriation, should the Benin Royal Family so wish,” a council report reveals.

A spokesman for Glasgow Life said: “Glasgow has an established approach to requests for the return of parts of the city’s museum’s collection, founded on constructive engagement, between the people of Glasgow and the descendent communities or nations making the request, to support each situation.

“The 1990 repatriation of human remains from the collection to Queensland was the first recorded in Scotland, while the 1999 repatriation of the Ghost Dance shirt, ultimately decided by public hearing in November 1998, was the first of an artefact from a European Museum to an indigenous community.

“The proposed ‘Working Group for Repatriation and Spoliation of Artefacts’ would allow Glasgow to continue this approach to explore current claims.”