Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes (Revised and Updated Edition)

by Barnaby Phillips

Overview

A tragic story of the British empire run amok and the plunder of great works of art

A Prospect Best Book of 2021

‘A fascinating and timely book.’ William Boyd

‘Gripping...a must read.’ FT

‘Compelling...humane, reasonable, and ultimately optimistic.’ Evening Standard

‘[A] valuable guide to a complex narrative.’ The Times

In 1897, Britain sent a punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin, in what is today Nigeria, in retaliation for the killing of seven British officials and traders. British soldiers and sailors captured Benin, exiled its king and annexed the territory. They also made off with some of Africa’s greatest works of art.

The ‘Benin Bronzes’ are now amongst the most admired and valuable artworks in the world. But seeing them in the British Museum today is, in the words of one Benin City artist, like ‘visiting relatives behind bars’. In a time of huge controversy about the legacy of empire, racial justice and the future of museums, what does the future hold for the Bronzes?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861543137
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	06/28/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	395,303
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Barnaby Phillips spent over twenty-five years as a journalist, reporting for the BBC from Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria and South Africa before joining Al Jazeera English. He is the author of Another Man’s War: The Story of a Burma Boy in Britain’s Forgotten African Army and Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes. He grew up in Kenya and now lives in London.

Table of Contents

Clarifications ix

Maps x

Timeline xiii

List of Illustrations xvii

Preface: Relatives behind bars xix

1 The closer one gets to Benin, the farther away it is 1

2 Easily as big as the town of Haarlem and enclosed by a remarkable wall 17

3 The white men, greater than me and you, are coming shortly to fight and remove you 34

4 No revolvers, gentlemen, no revolvers 51

5 English justice, when outraged, is something to be feared 62

6 No force on Earth can stop the British from getting to Benin 73

7 A regular harvest of loot! 86

8 The white man is the only man who is King in this country 96

9 See how their families fared 110

10 Purely African, thoroughly and exclusively out and out African 121

11 Strange harvests come home to King Street 136

12 Like ripping pages out of our history 154

13 Family secrets 173

14 Toochly-Poochly 196

15 All done for the sake of Nigeria 210

16 Please, sir, when will Britain give back the Benin Bronzes? 229

17 A lot of history we just never heard about 250

18 How do you think your ancestors got these? 262

19 We can make it win-win 280

Afterword: May its journey be successful 295

Acknowledgements 307

Notes 311

Bibliography 357

Index 373

Editorial Reviews

‘Vivid, dramatic and colourful, Loot is a story of empire running amok. It still has huge resonance in the debate about colonialism and racism today.’

MP and author of Ghosts of Empire and War and Gold Kwasi Kwarteng

‘[A] balanced reconstruction of the Benin saga and probes the difficult choices facing European – and Nigerian – museums... Phillips excels at tracing the roundabout ways in which objects could find their way into museums.’

TLS

‘Damning’

Best Books of 2021 Prospect

‘A veteran journalist based for years in Africa, Mr. Phillips has written a humane and thoughtful book, devoid of the sort of posturing that mars the debate over the repatriation of objects brought to the West during the colonial era.’

Wall Street Journal

‘Debate continues to rage over whether the Benin Bronzes held in London’s British Museum should be returned to Africa. Barnaby Phillips focuses instead on their origins, investigating their medieval authors, and what they can tell us about Africa’s culture and history.’

BBC History

‘Rarely have books like Loot focussed so in-depth on the perspectives of Africans. As Loot makes clear, whether in the form of Nollywood films or oral histories handed down across generations, Nigerians have had a lot to say about the Benin Bronzes... Phillips kicks off his stylish tome with an in-depth history of the Kingdom of Benin... he paints a touching portrait of the kingdom and the people who inhabited it... it’s possible that a book like Loot could offer some readers the context needed to get behind Phillips’s cause.’

Art News

‘His compelling book is full of African voices... It is balanced, sternly critical of the Brits when that is appropriate, but at the same time humane, reasonable, and ultimately optimistic.’

Evening Standard

‘Persuasive... Phillips is scrupulously fair yet damning. He points to the racist hypocrisy that rationalised colonial plunder...[and] covers the ritzy, often clandestine, history of the Bronzes on the western market, where some objects have been sold for up to £10m. Above all, his tale is one of competing ways of assessing material culture.’

Prospect

‘Well-balanced and highly readable.’

Peter Frankopan

‘Mr Phillips, a veteran British correspondent in Africa who knows Nigeria well, adds new and much-needed context to the story of the Edo empire and its bloody finale... Mr Phillips is at pains to show how deeply the Edo people feel the loss of their physical culture... But Mr Phillips is clear-sighted about the political and financial obstacles that must still be overcome.’

Economist

‘This is a thoroughly researched, well written and timely contribution to the live debate about cultural restitution. Accessible yet nuanced, we hear the voices of a contested history from the looters themselves and the bronze casters of Benin City, to the leaders of the world’s major cultural institutions and so many other players in this drama. Barnaby takes us on a journey raising important questions about empire and the meaning of art, civilisation and culture.’

BBC Chief Correspondent and Presenter Clive Myrie

‘The storytelling is crisp, balanced and authoritative... As Britain continues to twist on the thorny issue of racism...this book’s laser-sharp focus on the casenotes from one instance of colonial cruelty allows for a much more informed understanding of the wider issue. Whereas before the now highly valuable Benin Bronzes might have had us looking in the attic for some forgotten heirloom, perhaps now we are left examining our consciences.’

Tim Butcher

‘Reading Barnaby Phillips’s Loot is like walking a sniffing dog through the minds, homes, and storerooms of government agents, military adventurers, museums, art dealers, and collectors... Brilliant and evidenced-based... It is a highly recommended book that will thrill the reader to the last page.’

Dr Uyilawa Usuanlele

'Brilliant'

South African Mail and Guardian

‘This timely, thoughtful and beautifully crafted volume deftly guides us through a truly astounding passage of events. These are the kind of histories that change the way that we look at things we thought we knew – whilst shocking us at the things that we simply hadn’t grasped.’

Director of V&A East and former Director of the Sm Gus Casely-Hayford

‘For the first time a comprehensive account of the famed Benin Bronzes, from their creation to their pillaging by British troops to subsequent attempts at recovery. Phillips writes with ease and erudition, highlighting the many complexities that arise with each attempt at addressing this historical injustice.’

Alexander Herman

‘[A] valuable guide to a complex narrative... Throughout this tortured history, Phillips writes with journalistic detail, gathering his accounts from many sources, attempting fairness.’

The Times

‘A fascinating and timely book. A brilliant model of expertly marshalled historical research and compelling narrative.’

author of Any Human Heart and A Good Man in Africa William Boyd

‘Phillips weaves a compelling and evocative narrative from the off, peopled by a cast that propels the story forward, sending the reader on a voyage of discovery that raises some very important questions indeed... accessible, packed with drama and utterly fascinating. It should appeal to a wide audience, from those with an interest in the history of colonialism to art historians and readers who are simply looking for a book that will be difficult to put down.’

All About History

‘Gripping...a must read.’

FT

‘Readers interested in the diversity of Nigerian views about the Benin Bronzes will be better served by [Loot]... Phillips’s incorporation of local perspectives produces a nuanced picture.’

International Journal of Cultural Property

‘Mr Phillips, a veteran British correspondent in Africa who knows Nigeria well, adds new and much-needed context to the story of the Edo empire and its bloody finale... Mr Phillips is at pains to show how deeply the Edo people feel the loss of their physical culture... But Mr Phillips is clear-sighted about the political and financial obstacles that must still be overcome.’

Economist

‘A gripping military history which brings African witnesses to the dying days of the British Empire out of the shadows.’

TLS on Another Man’s War

‘[Phillips] captures nuances of Nigeria that only a man who knows and loves a place and people can... an extraordinary story, very well told.’

Spectator on Another Man’s War