Baggage and Belonging: Military collections and the British Empire, 1750 - 1900
Baggage and Belonging: Military collections and the British Empire, 1750 - 1900
Baggage and Belonging: Military collections and the British Empire, 1750 - 1900
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Item type:Blog post, I don't do things by halves - The incredible conservation of the James Bruce drinking horn (Part 2)(2021-01-16)Messerschmidt, LydiaNearly a metre in length, 250 years old and broken into two shattered halves, the James Bruce drinking horn represented an epic challenge in my conservation career. This is the conclusion of the horn’s incredible conservation journey. - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Lecture, David Stewart of Garth, Scott’s “Highlander of the Old Stamp”(2020-06-28)Allan, StuartStuart’s title features David Stewart of Garth as Scott’s ‘Highlander of the Old Stamp’, which I believe is a quotation from a letter of Scott’s to J. G. Lockhart of 14 July 1828. The name rings a particularly sharp bell for me personally, since later that year Stewart, on the point of taking up a Governorship in the West Indies, wrote to Scott requesting that, as several ladies among his friends were anxious to have Scott’s autograph, he (Scott) would therefore ‘favour me with a few lines, and scribble your signature as often as the paper will hold’.1 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Journal article, Framing colonial war loot: The ‘captured’ spolia opima of Kunwar Singh(2022-07-01)Hartwell, Nicole MThis article investigates the provenance of four artefacts associated with the military commander Kunwar Singh (1777–1858), who fought a guerrilla campaign against the British during the Indian Uprising of 1857–8. By analysing how these objects were documented and inscribed, it can be shown that, through the invocation of what is characterized here as ‘martial discourse’, British officers framed the acquisition of the arms, armour and ceremonial possessions of an enemy commander in very specific ways. As an overlooked aspect of nineteenth-century British military culture, an examination of martial discourse helps to clarify how British officers presented acquisitions in colonial military contexts. Fundamental to the examples considered here – which include ‘taken in action’, ‘captured’ and ‘spolia opima’ – was an implicit and shared understanding within the British military establishment that artefacts deemed to signify victory and military prowess could be elevated above, and distinguished from those taken during acts of unsanctioned appropriation and looting.2 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Blog post, I don't do things by halves - The incredible conservation of the James Bruce drinking horn (Part 1)(2021-01-22)Messerschmidt, LydiaLast year I encountered the most challenging object in my career as conservator so far – the James Bruce drinking horn. Dirty, cracked and broken into two distinct parts it was a long way from its original condition over 250 years ago. This is the story of the horn’s incredible conservation journey. - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Book chapter, Afterword: material reckonings with military histories(2020-09)Lidchi, HenriettaLooking at European developments from 2017 to 2019, the Afterword situates the volume among the resurgent interest in questions of contested histories, calls for restitution, and the resurgence of provenance research. It argues that given the varied ways European nations are addressing questions of colonial collections, it seems contradictory that the collections of military museums are seemingly absent from the debate. The chapter consequently considers the affective values of objects, and the symbolic nature of return, arguing that there is a distinction to objects in UK military collections, linked to the idea of ‘sentiment’. Looking again at the conflict highlighted in the Introduction, it addresses two initiatives in 2018 in the UK which discussed the 1868 capture of the fortress at Maqdala and two items, again linked to Emperor Tewodros II, which over time have troubled their national custodians. It considers how such questions were addressed through display at the Victoria and Albert Museum and links this to the National Army Museum’s gesture of returning hair samples linked to Emperor Tewodros. Comparing these two initiatives it seeks to understand the historical moment in which such discussions, and therefore the issues addressed in Dividing the Spoils, can be more widely understood.2 2