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Brighton & Hove Museums will return 45 cultural artefacts to Botswana in what is being described as a landmark repatriation agreement between the two institutions.
The move follows a 2022 claim by the Khama III Memorial Museum and is considered one of the first significant restitutions of its kind by a UK museum.
The items—clothing, accessories, hunting tools and domestic objects—were collected in the 1890s by William Charles Willoughby from the Gammangwato region.
Curator Portia Tremlett, quoted by the BBC, said the return marks a meaningful restoration of cultural ownership.
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“This repatriation represents an important step in reconnecting these artefacts with the communities, histories and knowledge systems that give them meaning,” she said.
The initiative stems from the Making African Connections project led by the University of Sussex between 2019 and 2021, which established the partnership between the two museums.
The artefacts are expected to arrive in Botswana ahead of a permanent exhibition scheduled to open on May 27 in Serowe.
Curator Gase Kediseng said the repatriation carries significance beyond the return of physical objects.
“This process affirms dignity, identity and material culture, empowering Batswana to tell their own story on their own terms,” she said.
The exhibition will coincide with a two-day international summit co-hosted by the Botswana museum, the University of Sussex and the University of Botswana.
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