Return of collection was requested by Khama III Memorial Museum in 2022
27 April 2026
Brighton & Hove Museums has announced that it will this month return 45 cultural artefacts to Botswana following a 2022 repatriation claim by the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe.
The two museums worked together on the collaborative provenance research project Making African Connections between 2019 and 2021, which led to the memorial museum formally requesting the return of clothing, accessories, hunting implements and other domestic items from Brighton’s collections.
The James Henry Green Charitable Trust is financially supporting the request and will also contribute to the development of a new permanent exhibition in Serowe, where the items will be displayed for the first time.
A team from Brighton & Hove Museums is working with curators at Khama III Memorial Museum to develop the permanent exhibition, which is due to open on 27 May.
The opening will be accompanied by a two-day international summit hosted by Khama III Memorial Museum in collaboration with the University of Sussex and the University of Botswana, fostering dialogue on heritage, repatriation, museums, conservation and tourism.
A cultural festival inspired by the repatriation initiative will also take place in Serowe to celebrate Botswana’s identity, memory and creativity.
Gase Kediseng, curator at the Khama III Memorial Museum, said:
“The return [of the items] represents more than just a physical relocation; it is an act of restoration.
“Repatriation reconnects objects to living knowledge, memory, and cultural practices, reflecting similar efforts worldwide in which communities reclaim their heritage.
Rooted in botho [kindness and humanity], this process affirms dignity, identity, and material culture, empowering Batswana to tell their own story on their own terms through objects that represent who we were, and who we continue to be.”
Portia Tremlett, curator of world cultures at Brighton & Hove Museums, said:
“This repatriation represents an important step in reconnecting these artefacts with the communities, histories and knowledge systems that give them meaning.
We are proud to be working in partnership with Khama III Memorial Museum to support their return and to contribute to a future where collections are shaped through collaboration, transparency and shared stewardship.”
How did these objects end up in Brighton?
The artefacts were acquired in the Gammangwato region of Botswana in the 1890s by Reverend William Charles Willoughby, a missionary who lived in Old Palapye and worked with Kgosi (Chief) Khama III as a translator and advisor.
The provenance research found the items were likely collected as discards from African Christian families or purchased from locals, artisans or storekeepers during a period of significant social and political change.
In 1895, Khama III travelled to the UK with two other chiefs from the Tswana-speaking regions of southern Africa and Willoughby to petition the British government to maintain Botswana as a protectorate.
The items were gifted to Brighton Museum in 1899.
Source: https://shorturl.at/VgcKH
