Portia Tremlett Curator of World Art (left) with fellow Curator Sandra Bauza Santos @ Brighton & Hove Museums packs away historical items bound for Botswana as part of the repatriations programme ****Pic by David McHugh / Brighton Pictures
GABORONE/BRIGHTON, April 28 — Forty-five cultural artefacts collected in Botswana in the 1890s arrive in Serowe today following their repatriation from Brighton & Hove Museums in the UK.
The return follows a 2022 claim by the Khama III Memorial Museum, which collaborated with Brighton on the Making African Connections provenance research project between 2019 and 2021.
The artefacts — clothing, accessories, hunting implements and domestic items — were gifted to Brighton Museum in 1899 after being acquired by missionary William Charles Willoughby in the Gammangwato region.
The James Henry Green Charitable Trust is funding the repatriation and supporting the development of a new permanent exhibition at Khama III Memorial Museum.
The exhibition opens on May 27 and will be accompanied by a two-day international summit with the University of Botswana and the University of Sussex, focusing on heritage, repatriation, conservation and tourism.
A cultural festival will also celebrate Botswana’s identity and creativity.
Khama III Memorial Museum curator Gase Kediseng said the return “represents more than just a physical relocation; it is an act of restoration… affirming dignity, identity, and material culture.”
Brighton curator Portia Tremlett described the move as “an important step in reconnecting these artefacts with the communities, histories and knowledge systems that give them meaning.”
The artefacts’ journey reflects Botswana’s broader efforts to reclaim heritage. Khama III himself travelled to Britain in 1895 to petition for protectorate status, a reminder of the deep historical ties now being revisited through today’s repatriation.
