Capt. Herbert Walker Returns to Benin
Object or Group Name
Capt. Herbert Walker Returns to Benin
Case Summary
Mark Walker, a retired doctor from Wales and the grandson of British soldier Capt. Herbert Walker who took part in the 1897 punitive expedition to Benin City, voluntarily returned to Nigeria four of the objects that the British Naval Expedition had looted during its sack of the city and Royal Palace.
The so-called Benin Punitive Expedition brought 500 soldiers to Benin City (including Capt. Herbert Walker) with the express purpose of deposing the Oba, Ovonramwen, razing the palace and taking what they could. Capt. Walker died 15 years before his grandson was born, but Mark's grandmother showed him the journal, titled "To Benin and back," while he was staying with her in 1959.
Mark Walker was both amazed and shocked by the story, and got the sense that his grandfather was visibly uncomfortable with many of the orders that soldiers were given during the sacking. This sense of unease contributed to his later desire to see the objects he had inherited return to their rightful owners.
In 2014, Walker traveled to Nigeria to personally return a bronze bird sculpture (a so-called "Oro bird", also known as a "bird of prophecy"), as well as a bronze bell. Walker said upon the return: “For me, the most important thing is that the descendants of one of the soldiers who was responsible for the sacking of Benin are making a gesture of respect for that people and its culture.”
In 2019, Walker returned two more objects – both wooden paddles – when he learned they had likely also come from Benin after viewing similar examples retained by the Horniman Museum. He had loaned them to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford for curation, but they were never formally accessioned. Prof. Dan Hicks (the Pitt Rivers Museum's delegate to the Benin Dialogue Group) agreed to display them next to other items from Benin as research continued to facilitate the repatriation to the royal court of Benin.
This research included further investigation of the museum's archives to contextualize the accounts contained in Capt. Walker's journal, as well as to digitize Walker's diaries and photographs for posterity. This rare primary source document provided never-before-seen details and personal testimony about how the sacking of Benin City proceeded.
The so-called Benin Punitive Expedition brought 500 soldiers to Benin City (including Capt. Herbert Walker) with the express purpose of deposing the Oba, Ovonramwen, razing the palace and taking what they could. Capt. Walker died 15 years before his grandson was born, but Mark's grandmother showed him the journal, titled "To Benin and back," while he was staying with her in 1959.
Mark Walker was both amazed and shocked by the story, and got the sense that his grandfather was visibly uncomfortable with many of the orders that soldiers were given during the sacking. This sense of unease contributed to his later desire to see the objects he had inherited return to their rightful owners.
In 2014, Walker traveled to Nigeria to personally return a bronze bird sculpture (a so-called "Oro bird", also known as a "bird of prophecy"), as well as a bronze bell. Walker said upon the return: “For me, the most important thing is that the descendants of one of the soldiers who was responsible for the sacking of Benin are making a gesture of respect for that people and its culture.”
In 2019, Walker returned two more objects – both wooden paddles – when he learned they had likely also come from Benin after viewing similar examples retained by the Horniman Museum. He had loaned them to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford for curation, but they were never formally accessioned. Prof. Dan Hicks (the Pitt Rivers Museum's delegate to the Benin Dialogue Group) agreed to display them next to other items from Benin as research continued to facilitate the repatriation to the royal court of Benin.
This research included further investigation of the museum's archives to contextualize the accounts contained in Capt. Walker's journal, as well as to digitize Walker's diaries and photographs for posterity. This rare primary source document provided never-before-seen details and personal testimony about how the sacking of Benin City proceeded.
See Also
Number of Objects
4
Object Type
Sculpture – statues, carvings, bronzes, reliefs, figurines
Religious Work – crucifixes, shrine objects, icons, religious texts
Culture
Benin Kingdom
Private Collector
Mark Walker (inheritor)
Museum Name
Pitt Rivers Museum
Museum Accession Number
Pitt Rivers 2019.32.1 (Capt Walker's diary)
Receiving Country
Nigeria
Sources
Soldier's grandson to return items he looted from Benin City
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/17/soldiers-grandson-to-return-items-looted-from-benin-city-nigeria?CMP=share_btn_tw
The man who returned his grandfather’s looted art
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31605284
Hicks, D. 2021. The University Of Oxford’s Benin 1897 Collections: An Interim Report.
https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/prm/documents/media/benin_collections_interim_report_dan_hicks-2.pdf
Images
MOLA Contributor(s)
Damien Huffer
Peer Reviewed By
Jason Felch
Citation
“Capt. Herbert Walker Returns to Benin,” Museum of Looted Antiquities, accessed October 14, 2024, https://mola.omeka.net/items/show/2163.