150th Anniversary of 1874 Anglo-Ashanti war: British Museum to return Asante gold

The British Museum is exploring the possibility of lending valuable items brought from the Asantehene’s Palace in Kumasi during the third Anglo-Asante war of 1874.

The BBC reported Tuesday, May 16, 2023 that the gold collection will be used to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the end of the 1874 war and to support the Silver Jubilee coronation celebration of the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II next year.

Other sources said the artefacts will also be used for the centenary celebrations of the return of the Asantehene Prempeh I from exile in the Seychelles , where he spent 27 years .

The artefacts included a bracelet with gold ornaments and glass beads. According to the BBC, during his meeting with officials of the British Museum in London on Thursday, May 11, 2023, the Asantehene asked the Museum to return valuables including gold items taken from Asante by the British, to his country.

British laws

However, some of Britain’s most prestigious institutions, including the British Museum, are barred by law from making such a decision. The British Museum Act 1963 prohibits the museum from ‘disposing of objects’ except in very specific circumstances.

Nevertheless,it is possible to borrow items assuming the items will not be damaged.
The British Museum told the BBC that it is “assessing the possibility of loaning items” to Ghana, the country of origin.

Restitution Committee

The Ghanaian government has set up a restitution committee to deal with the return of items from the Asantehene’s Palace that are now in collections around the world.

A member of the committee, Nana Ofori Atta Ayim told the BBC: “These objects are largely sacred objects and there is more to their return than just a refund. It’s also about redemption and repair, for the places they were taken from, and for this one who did the taking.”

She added that they were looking for a new relationship “not based on exploitation or oppression, but on justice and mutual respect.” For some Ghanaians, loans can never be a long-term solution.

Loans first step

Ofori Atta Ayim, who is also Special Adviser to Ghana’s Minister of Culture, said: “Loans can be a first step to open up dialogue in institutions and structures that are slow to change.”

“Ultimately, objects like those from 1874 were stolen in terribly violent circumstances…there needs to be honesty, responsibility and action.” She added that the homes of the objects are “undeniably the places they were taken from”, although they could be returned to British institutions in the future.

Hostilities

In the 19th century, the Asante was one of the few African states to offered serious resistance to European colonizers. Its independence ended in 1874 when a British expeditionary force invaded Kumasi in retaliation for an Asante attack two years earlier.

Anniversaries

Commenting on the two important historic Asante anniversaries next year, historian, museum economist and development specialist, Ivor Agyeman-Duah, confirmed to The Thunder ifrom London on Tuesday, that the celebrations would be part of activities marking the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.

Mr Agyeman-Duah is one of two advisors of the Asantehene working on a technical framework for the return of regalia and other valuables taken away by British troops that invaded Ashanti in the 1874 war.
Some of the items are also in the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum.

Preparations in Britain

The V&A Museum is already developing a programme concept for next February which would mark the 150th year of the 1874 War. Mr Agyemang-Duah said a group of Ghanaian and British artists would jointly be engaged in a memorial in London.

1874 war

By 1872, the British colony of Gold Coast had grown as tensions with the Asante Kingdom to the north worsened.
General Garnet Wolseley led 2,500 British troops and several thousand Indian and African troops against the Asante Empire and for the first time the British defeated and destroy the Ashanti.

The then Asantehene Kofi Karikari’s palace was ransacked and destroyed by Queen Victoria’s troops..

Return of Prempeh I

King Prempeh I ascended to the Golden Stool on March 26, 1888. After he surrendered to the British in 1896, he was sent to Sierra Leone in 1897 and later exiled to the Seychelles where he remained until 1924 when he was allowed to return to Ghana.