Edge's News: Jesus College at Cambridge will return Benin bronze cockerel to Nigeria 124 years after.....

The statue, known as  The Okukor, was stolen from the King of Benin in 1897.

On January 4, the British delegation was ambushed outside a village by Edo warriors, apparently without knowledge of the Oba.

Philips was slaughtered along with the entire British force - save for two men, Captain Alan Maxwell Boisragon, Commandant of the Constabulary of the Niger Coast Protectorate and Ralph Locke, District Commissioner of Warri. The incident became known as the 'Benin Massacre.'

Days later Rear-Admiral Harry Rawson was appointed by the Admiralty to lead a force to invade the Kingdom of Benin and sack Benin City. In February, a force of around 1,200 Royal Marines, sailors and troops from the Niger Coast Protectorate Forces arrived in Benin.

Master of Jesus College Sonita Alleyne and Prof. Abba Isa Tijani

A Cambridge University college will hand over to Nigeria a sculpture that was looted by British troops in 1897, setting a precedent that will put pressure on other institutions to return stolen artefacts.

The sculpture of a cockerel was one of hundreds of Benin Bronzes that were pillaged from the once mighty Kingdom of Benin, located in what is now Nigeria. They are among Africa's most culturally significant artefacts and Nigerian authorities have been calling for years for their return.

'This is the right thing to do out of respect for the unique heritage and history of this artefact,' said Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in a statement ahead of a ceremony to hand over the cockerel to a Nigerian delegation.

The college described the handover as 'the first institutional return of its kind'. The Legacy of Slavery Working Party made a recommendation it should be returned. The body is made up largely by academics with a few student and staff representatives.  

Germany has agreed to start returning Benin Bronzes held in its museums next year, but the British Museum in London, which holds the largest and most significant collection of them, has made no such commitment.

'We thank Jesus College for being a trailblazer and we look forward to a similar return of our artefacts by other institutions that are in possession of them,' said Lai Mohammed, Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture.

Looted Treasures from Benin 

After being looted, the cockerel was given to Jesus College in 1905 by the father of a student. The college announced in 2019 it would return it to Nigeria.

In recent years, a range of British institutions have been grappling with the cultural legacies of colonialism, particularly the issue of what to do about disputed heritage.

The British Museum and other European museums, along with Nigerian authorities, are involved in a Benin Dialogue Group that aims to facilitate the construction in Benin City of a new museum to house returned bronzes.