Charles Seligman Beatrice Blackwood PRM Museum John Hutton Henry Balfour Edward Tylor Augustus Fox

Summary of statistics for African collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum up to 1945

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For the purpose of this statistical exercise, the following countries have been considered as PART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE for entire period up to 1945:

Botswana

Egypt [1]

The Gambia

Ghana

Kenya

Lesotho

Malawi

Mauritius

Namibia[2] , [3]

Nigeria

Seychelles[4], [5]

Sierra Leone

Somalia[6]

South Africa[7]

St Helena [8]

Sudan

Swaziland[9]

Tanzania[10]

Tristan da Cunha[11]

Uganda[12]

Zambia

Zimbabwe

[blue colour indicates those countries that were not part of British Empire for entire period]

Non-British Colonies or always independent countries [Africa]

Algeria

Angola

Benin Republic

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon Cameroun[13]

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo, Democratic Republic of

Congo, People's Republic of

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast

Djibouti

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea[14]

Ethiopia

Gabon

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Liberia

Libya

Madagascar

[Madeira]

Mali

Mauritania

Mayotte

Melilla

Morocco

Mozambique (Moçambique)

Niger

Reunion

Rwanda

São Tomé & Príncipe

Senegal

Togo[15]

Tunisia

Western Sahara

List of African countries currently used on database:

Algeria

Angola

Benin Republic

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon Cameroun

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo, Democratic Republic of

Congo, People's Republic of

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast

Djibouti

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Gabon

The Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Morocco

Mozambique (Moçambique)

Namibia

Niger [omit Nigeria]

Nigeria

Rwanda

Senegal

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

Sudan

Swaziland

Tanzania

Togo

Tunisia

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Countries not included in statistics as there are no objects from them in the PRM collections

[article ID:2]

Ascension Island

Mayotte

Melilla

Reunion

São Tomé & Príncipe

St Helena

Tristan da Cunha

Western Sahara

NB Madeira is counted geographically as part of Africa but culturally it is part of Europe (there was no indigenous population before the Portuguese colonised it) I have therefore included it within Portugal within the European statistics.

1. Total number of objects from the continent

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47,114, or 26 per cent of the total collections up to 1945. Africa artefacts form the largest continental collection in the Pitt Rivers.

This is a very close match to the division globally (60 - 40)

Note that this includes 35 Madeiran entries that are otherwise excluded from the African statistics (they are also counted as European and have been included in those statistics)

African countries with the most objects, up to 1945

with Colonial countries marked in blue

Egypt - 8,673

Nigeria - 7,119

South Africa - 6,747

Sudan - 4,754

Ghana - 4,331

Algeria - 2,480

Cameroon Cameroun - 1,756

Congo, Democratic Republic of - 1,635

Uganda - 1,245

Zimbabwe - 1,170

Kenya - 1,085

Tanzania - 814

Zambia - 734

Angola - 702

Morocco - 635

Malawi - 546

Somalia - 436

Tunisia - 395

Gabon - 356

Niger - 309

Mozambique (Moçambique) - 259

Libya - 240

Mauritania - 193

Rwanda - 183

Chad - 182

Congo, People's Republic of - 178

Botswana - 177

Burundi - 173

Ethiopia - 172

Sierra Leone - 167

Madagascar - 147

Cape Verde - 133

Togo - 91

Mali - 77

Benin Republic - 58

The Gambia - 55

Namibia - 53

Central African Republic - 36

Senegal - 31

Liberia - 30

Djibouti - 25

Lesotho - 22

Burkina Faso - 19

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast - 19

Equatorial Guinea - 19

Guinea - 18

Guinea-Bissau - 13

Eritrea - 8

Seychelles - 6

Swaziland - 4

Mauritius - 3

Comoros - 2

Unsurprisingly lots of objects come from colonial areas. The non-colonial areas with the biggest collections in the top 20 for African countries are:

Algeria - 2,480

Cameroon Cameroun - 1,756

Congo, Democratic Republic of - 1,635

Angola - 702

Morocco - 635

Tunisia - 395

Gabon - 356

Niger - 309

Note that there are several British colonies from whom we have no objects:

Ascension Island

St Helena and Tristan da Cunha

Although the easy explanation for this is that the population of these places is very low (and therefore presumably the level of collected material culture).

Regional breakdown of African figures

The regions are defined as follows, where countries in bold type and underlined were countries (either whole or part thereof) under British control at some point in the period 1880-1900, and countries in bold only were also under British control but not in 1880-1900:

North Africa  Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco (incl. Western Sahara), Mauritania

Northeast Africa Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti

West Africa Nigeria, The Gambia, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Chad

Guinea Coast Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Benin Republic, Guinea,

Liberia, Cote d Ivoire

Western Equatoria Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

Central Africa Zambia, DR of Congo, PR of Congo, Angola (incl. Cabinda)

East Africa Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zanzibar/Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi

Southern Africa Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique,

Namibia

Other Mauritius, Comoros Islands, Cape Verde, Madagascar [plus Seychelles, Ascension   Island,   Tristan da Cunha, St Helena, etc]

Total of North African objects up to 1945: 12,616

Total of NE African objects up to 1945: 5,395

Total of West African objects up to 1945: 7,792

Total of Guinea Coast objects up to 1945: 4,727

Total of Western Equatorial objects up to 1945: 2,167

Total of Central African objects up to 1945: 3,249

Total of East African objects up to 1945: 4,046

Total of Southern African objects up to 1945: 8,432

Total for Other Africa objects up to 1945: 291 + 2,133 [those countries not given specific country or countries provenance ] = 2,424

Note also that there are 2,132 objects for which no country has been identified, many of these are identified by loose regional associations such as West Africa etc. However we have not counted them in any of the statistics about countries or regions apart from this one

Because of the double counting between countries of one object (because it is not accurately enough provenanced by the original documentation) caution must be taken when examining statistics such as this however it does appear that North African objects form roughly a quarter of the entire African collections up to 1945, with West Africa and Southern Africa being next best represented.

Overall division of African objects into those that came from parts of the British Empire and those that did not:

Botswana - 177

Egypt - 8673

The Gambia - 55

Ghana - 4,331

Kenya - 1,085

Lesotho - 22

Malawi - 546

Mauritius - 3

Namibia - 53

Nigeria - 7,119

Seychelles - 6

Sierra Leone - 167

Somalia - 436

South Africa - 6,747

Sudan - 4,754

Swaziland - 4

Tanzania - 814

Uganda - 1,245

Zambia - 734

Zimbabwe - 1,170

Total for objects from African countries that were part of British Empire up to 1945: 38,141*

[ * Double counting between countries, some of which may be inside the British Empire and some outside will account for the total of colonial and non-colonial countries exceeding the total count of objects]

Non British Empire countries' objects:

Algeria - 2,480

Angola - 702

Benin Republic - 58

Burkina Faso - 19

Burundi - 173

Cameroon Cameroun - 1,756

Cape Verde - 133

Central African Republic - 36

Chad - 182

Comoros - 2

Congo, Democratic Republic of - 1,635

Congo, People's Republic of - 178

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast - 19

Djibouti - 25

Equatorial Guinea - 19

Eritrea - 8

Ethiopia - 172

Gabon - 356

Guinea - 18

Guinea-Bissau - 13

Liberia - 30

Libya - 240

Madagascar - 147

Mali - 77

Mauritania - 193

Morocco - 635

Mozambique (Moçambique) - 259

Niger - 309

Rwanda - 183

Senegal - 31

Togo - 91

Tunisia - 395

Total for objects from outside the British Empire in Africa up to 1945: 10,574*

[ * Double counting between countries, some of which may be inside the British Empire and some outside will account for the total of colonial and non-colonial countries exceeding the total count of objects]

When were the African collections acquired:

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Apart from the jump in the 1900s this appears to be an almost mathematical decade on decade increase. This is in contrast to the global figures which show a definite peak in the 1930s and a dip in the 1890s and 1900s. The figure for Africa for 1940 - 1945 is very high as it is only half a decade's worth.

NB a country by country accession by decade breakdown is available in the full African statistics. Naturally very few of them show the smooth mathematical progression noted above. The full statistics also discussions each country's accessions by decade against their colonial history. Here are the summaries for each of the British colonies:

Botswana:

In 1885 the British proclaimed a protectorate over their Tswana allies, extended in 1890 to cover more geographical area, Botswana was therefore a de facto member of the British Empire throughout the history of the Museum, there are small peaks in the 1900s, 1920s and 1930s but nothing significant.

Egypt:

The large peak in the part decade of the 1940s is due to the Seligman collections, whereas the 1920s peak comes from a variety of sources. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica on-line the British domination of Egypt began in 1882 and the Protectorate which was declared in 1914 formalised this colonial domination. The protectorate was ended in 1922 with a declaration of independence but Britain continued to control some matters including defence and in essence Egypt was not independent. This situation continued more or less until after the Second World War. Egypt can therefore be considered to be a de facto colony of the British throughout the period 1884 - 1945.

The Gambia:

Although there was British (and some French influence from Senegal) before 1889, the British did not get French agreement to British control before then. [According to one source Gambia became a Crown Colony in 1843] In 1894 a protectorate was established and 1900 the British imposed indirect rule on the interior. This continued until after the Second World War.

Ghana:

The Gold Coast was declared a British colony in 1874, before 1901 a protectorate was formed which continued until after the Second World War. The 1930s peak is probably due to 2 large collections from Rattray and Wild being received, and the 1920s peak is probably due to another collection from Wild.

Kenya:

In 1886 British interest in part of Kenya was recognized [sharing with Germany], in 1895 the East Africa Protectorate was declared, but not until 1920 was Kenya pronounced a Crown Colony. Certainly the collections from Kenya suggest that the most common time for accession was after 1900

Lesotho:

British rule began in 1884 (coincidentally) and this continued until independence.

Malawi:

The peak in the 1930s is due to a large donation from William Coleman Piercy, the peak in the 1900s does not appear to be due to one collector. The British started occupying Malawi in the 1880s and in 1891 the British established the Nyasaland Districts Protectorate (which changed its name to the British Central Africa Protectorate from 1893 and Nyasaland from 1907). This continued after the Second World War.

Mauritius:

In 1810 the British captured the island from the French and this was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1814 and continued until independence. All the Mauritian objects came via the same donor, Beatrice Braithwaite Batty.

Namibia:

There does not seem to be any particular collector responsible for the peak in the 1900s. In the 1880s Germany annexed Namibia as South West Africa. In 1914-5 South African troops invade and captured the area, the League of Nations awarded the mandate to GB after the First World War. Therefore the peak of collecting in Namibia occurred before British colonial rule.

Nigeria:

The peak in the 1940s is due to the Jeffreys collection, the other two peaks (1910s and 1930s) are not explainable by a single cause. By 1880s Britain controlled most of Nigeria, by 1914 the area now recognized as Nigeria was formed as the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria under a Governor based in Lagos.

Seychelles:

The Seychelles were formally ceded to the British in 1814 as part of the Treaty of Paris, in 1903 the Seychelles became a British Crown Colony.

Sierra Leone:

During the 19th century the British had increasing economic influence, in 1896 a British protectorate was declared. According to Sandra's sources in 1808 a Crown colony was declared. There does not seem to be an easily identifiable reason for the 1880s peak, although a good deal of these could have been collected before 1880 as they are from the Ashmolean, University Museum and the founding collection

Somalia:

Somalia was a 'theatre of competition' between Great Britain, Italy and France. A British protectorate was proclaimed over some areas in the late 1880s. France and Italy also seized control of areas of Somalia (France's part is now Djibouti). This confused situation continued until the Italians formed their short lived NE Africa empire in the 1930s. Most of the 1930s peak is due to a collection from Diana Powell-Cotton, the 1890s peak is due to another roguenot properly accessioned stone tool entry with unknown number of object and a guestimate

South Africa:

Union of South Africa formed in 1910, this could be said to be independence, The peaks in the 1920s and 30s is due to a large number of stone tool collections (with some guestimates about number of objects)

Sudan:

The British captured Sudan by 1899 and an Anglo-Egyptian Condominium was declared and the colony remained until after the Second World War. The peak in the 1940s coincides with the Seligman collection, amongst others, there are several entries in the 1920s which cover an unknown large number of objects and for which guestimates have been given

Swaziland:

The British via South Africa had influence from the 1880s, by the 1890s Britain was setting up a series of conventions which effectively passed control of the territory to them and from 1906 Swaziland was a colony

Tanzania:

Part of the German Empire until the First World War when control was moved to the British, although Zanzibar had long been a part of the British Empire.

Uganda:

From 1890 the Imperial British East Africa Company agreed to administer the country on behalf of the British government, it was declared a protectorate in 1894. By 1914 Uganda's boundaries had been fixed and British control had reached most areas. There is a large collection of Ugandan objects from Roscoe in the 1920s.

Zambia:

In 1889 the British government granted a charter to Rhodes' British South Africa Company bestowing powers of administration over the country, in 1924 power was handed over to the Colonial Office. There is quite a large collection from TS Fox Pitt in the 1930s and another large one from Balfour in 1900s

Zimbabwe:

The British South Africa Company gained administrative control of Zimbabwe in 1893, In 1923 it became a self-governing colony (these dates do not match Sandra's source). Amongst other collections there is a large collection from Henry Balfour in the 1900s.

African archaeology or ethnography:

[article ID:5]

This is very similar to the proportions for the collections up to 1945 globally for ethnography but there is a higher number of certain archaeological items from Africa than globally, a country by country division of objects by archaeology and ethnography is available in Part III of the fuller African statistics.

The percentage split for Africa as a whole is 60 per cent ethnography and 40 per cent archaeology which is very similar to the split for all objects in the PRM collections up to 1945. Although this match is present for Africa as a whole in fact there are a large number of African countries from whom there are only ethnographic objects and also other countries (typically ones with a larger number of objects) from whom a majority of archaeological objects have been donated:

Countries from which only ethnographic objects [shown in bold] , or a very high percentage, have been donated:

Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad [almost], Comoros, DR of Congo [almost], PR of Congo [almost], Côte D'Ivoire, Djibouti [almost], Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia [almost], Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho [almost], Liberia, Madagascar, Mali [almost], Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger [almost], Nigeria [very high percentage] , Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone [almost], Swaziland [almost], Tanzania [almost], Togo [almost],

Countries with a higher than average proportion of archaeological objects:

Algeria, Cape Verde, Egypt, Libya [not that much higher], Mauritania, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe

From which it can be seen that North African archaeology forms almost half of the total African archaeological collections up to 1945 and in fact Egypt is a very high percentage of this

Ethnography is much more evenly split between the regions than archaeological collections were, with only West Africa being a lot larger than all other areas.

Just as West African collections dominated the regional breakdown so does Nigeria on its own dominate the most significant countries ethnographic collections

Archaeological or Ethnographic African collections from British colonies:

Countries

Archaeology

Ethnography

Arch or Eth

Botswana

19

147

11

Egypt

7,847

707

119

The Gambia

0

55

0

Ghana

580

3,570

181

Kenya

123

960

2

Lesotho

2

20

0

Malawi

41

503

2

Mauritius

0

3

0

Namibia

0

53

0

Nigeria

900

6,162

57

Seychelles

0

6

0

Sierra Leone

2

160

5

Somalia

132

292

12

South Africa

4,171

2,434

142

Sudan

2,959

1,674

121

Swaziland

1

3

0

Tanzania

7

690

117

Uganda

453

792

0

Zambia

203

530

1

Zimbabwe

745

345

80

Total for British colonies

18,185

19,106

850

This is much more evenly split between archaeology and ethnography than the African collections as a whole, with proportionally more archaeology and less ethnography coming from British colonies (this may be affected by the large Egyptian archaeological collections).

Archaeological or Ethnographic African collections from outside the British Empire:

Countries

Archaeology

Ethnography

Arch or Eth

Algeria

1,340

1,123

17

Angola

0

702

0

Benin Republic

13

44

1

Burkina Faso

0

19

0

Burundi

0

173

0

Cameroon Cameroun

828

927

1

Cape Verde

131

2

0

Central African Republic

0

36

0

Chad

3

179

0

Comoros

0

2

0

Congo, Democratic Republic of

15

1620

0

Congo, People's Republic of

5

173

0

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast

0

19

0

Djibouti

1

24

0

Equatorial Guinea

0

19

0

Eritrea

0

8

0

Ethiopia

2

170

0

Gabon

0

356

0

Guinea

7

11

0

Guinea-Bissau

0

13

0

Liberia

0

30

0

Libya

123

117

0

Madagascar

0

147

0

Mali

2

75

0

Mauritania

193

0

0

Morocco

95

539

1

Mozambique (Moçambique)

0

259

0

Niger

0

308

1

Rwanda

0

183

0

Senegal

0

31

0

Togo

0

89

2

Tunisia

317

71

7

Total for countries outside British Empire

3,075

7,469

29

Proportionally there is much more ethnography in the outside British Empire collections than there was from the British colonies, in addition there is proportionally more than from the African collections as a whole

Archaeology

Ethnography

Arch or Ethn

Total for British colonies

18,185

19,106

850

Total for countries outside British Empire

3,075

7,469

29

Items which were not clearly archaeological or ethnographic from outside the British Empire amounted to less than one per cent. British colonial collections in total represent about 79 per cent of the total collection (calculated by an other method the result was 78 per cent). The split in the colonial collections between archaeology and ethnography is pretty even, however ethnography from outside the British Empire is almost double the size of the archaeology collections from the same areas.

African objects by type:

[article ID:6]

All African objects by type in descending order:

Tool - 15,602 [definite tools excluding double-counting with weapons = 13,078]

Ornament & Bead - 8,320

Weapon - 7,453 [double counting with tools excluded = 4929 which would not affect its position]

Religion - 4,322

Pottery - 3,671

Archery Weapon - 3,001

Vessel - 2,498

Figure - 2,384

Measurement - 2,358

Music - 2,134

Specimen - 1,933

Death - 1,766

Food - 1,359

Basketry - 1,295

Clothing - 1,180

Trade - 1,149

Narcotic - 1,112

Animalia - 1,074

Box - 1,014

Currency - 913

Toy & Game - 810

Ceremonial - 802

Medicine - 779

Status - 732

Photograph - 720

Technique - 647

Plant - 632

Toilet - 613

Textile - 600

Reproduction - 582

Geology - 581

Furniture Dwelling - 549

Writing - 441

Transport - 438

Divination Religion - 437

Picture - 417

Firearm Weapon - 409

Children - 365

Model - 362

Agriculture - 345

Bag - 343

Body Art - 335

Metallurgy - 332

Cordage - 331

Animal Gear - 315

Dance - 297

Hunting - 251

Fishing - 249

Lighting - 245

Insignia - 226

Physical Anthropology - 225

Fire - 217

Mask - 166

Navigation - 141

Marriage - 136

Barkcloth - 108

Fan - 99

Punishment and Torture - 96

Dwelling - 95

Food-gathering - 77

Lock - 76

Armour Weapon - 61

Carving - 36

Commemoration - 25

Sport - 20

Signal - 18

Theatre - 16

Time - 7

Headhunting - 6

Scientific Apparatus - 0

Global up to 1945

Africa up to 1945

Position

Type

No. of objects

Position

Type

No of objects

1

Tool

68,459

1

Tool

15,602

2

Weapon

32,794

2

Ornament & Bead

8,320

3

Ornament & Bead **

21,345

3

Weapon

7,453

4

Religion

15,125

4

Religion

4,322

5

Pottery

12,597

5

Pottery

3,671

6

Figure

9,571

6

Vessel

2,498

7

Vessel

7,463

7

Figure

2,384

8

Clothing

6,846

8

Measurement

2,358

9

Specimen

6,722

9

Music

2,134

10

Music

6,038

10

Specimen

1,933

11

Textile

5,755

11

Death

1,766

12

Toy & Game

5,645

12

Food

1,359

13

Food

4,907

13

Basketry

1,295

14

Death

4,843

14

Clothing

1,180

15

Box

4,645

15

Trade

1,149

16

Basketry

4,235

16

Narcotic

1,112

17

Currency

3,995

17

Animalia

1,074

18

Narcotic

3,701

18

Box

1,014

19

Writing

3,670

19

Currency

913

20

Measurement

3,325

20

Toy & Game

810

Generally speaking most African common types are in similar positions to those globally, Ornament and Bead swops position with Weapon, as does figure and vessel and music and specimen. Most other types towards the bottom of the top 20 are the same types but in different positions, however Measurement is no 8 in African terms but only 20th in global, Trade appears in the Africa top 20 [ at number 15] but is only 26th in global terms. Animalia also appears slightly more commonly in the African collections than globally [17 from 21]. We have added Measurement to the African country types research. However it is principally Ghanian [Asante gold] weights which make this such a common category

As usual tools in general and stone tools in particular form a very large part of the overall African collections, roughly a third of all African objects up to 1945 was a tool and nearly a third of all of them was in fact a stone tool. As usual it is not always possible to count what items are tools and which weapons, of the 15,602 items which could be tools 2,524 might also be weapons

Country by country breakdowns of classes and number of objects is given in the fuller African statistics. Some highlights are given below:

NB We adjusted the ornaments figure to allow for the overlap with weapons/ tools to compile this pie chart

African field collectors:

[article ID:7]

Here are the highlights, full versions in the fuller African statistics:

Angola -

Field collectors:

The main field collectors from Angola up to 1945 were Antoinette and Diana Powell-Cotton with 605 objects, 86 per cent of the overall Angolan collections

PRM Sources:

Correspondingly the main PRM source was Antoinette Powell-Cotton who donated 477 objects (all collected by her and her sister) [68 per cent of the Angolan collections up to 1945].

Burundi -

William Alfred Cunnington is the main field collector with 39 objects (100 of the objects are in fact sherds from one pot collected by ACA Wright - another guesstimate) and he is also the main PRM source, via Miss EB Cunnington.

Cameroon Cameroun -

Mervyn David Waldegrave Jeffreys is by far the most dominating field collector of Cameroon objects with 1553 objects in his collection as against a total of 1756 for Cameroon as a whole (and his source for the PRM, the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum is therefore the single most dominating PRM source for objects from this country. This is 88 per cent of the total Cameroons collections up to 1945

Cape Verde -

131 of the 133 Cape Verde objects were collected and obtained from Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford

Chad -

Field collectors and PRM sources:

Olive Temple - 47 [26 per cent]

Anthony John Arkell - 67 [37 per cent]

Percy Amaury Talbot - 26 [14 per cent]

R. Hottot - 18 [10 per cent]

Comoros -

The pair of shoes from the Comoros came to the PRM via the Ashmolean and may have been part of the Tradescant collection

Congo, Democratic Republic of -

The major field collectors appear to be:

Emil Torday: 393 [24 per cent]

F.O. Stohr: 148 [9 per cent]

Melville William Hilton-Simpson : 142 [9 per cent]

PRM sources (amongst others):

Emil Torday: 368

F.O. Stohr: 148

Melville William Hilton-Simpson : 141

Djibouti -

11 of the 25 Djibouti objects came from Wilfred Patrick Thesiger who also collected them.

Egypt -

Major Field Collectors:

Charles or Brenda Seligman - 1963

Francis Llewellyn Griffith - 2144

Flinders Petrie - 874

Major PRM Sources:

Charles or Brenda Seligman - 2146

Francis Llewellyn Griffith - 2112

Egypt Exploration Fund - 1072

Ethiopia -

The only major field collectors and donors of Ethiopian objects appears to Wilfred Patrick and Wilfred Gilbert Thesiger who collected over a third of the objects (68 out of 172) between them.

Gabon -

304 of the 356 Gabon objects came via the founding collection, of these 92 (nearly a quarter of the entire Gabon collection up to 1945) was field collected by Robert Bruce Napolean Walker .

Ghana -

Main field collectors:

Rattray - 1215

Robert Powley Wild - 1639

Main PRM Sources:

Rattray - 1154

Robert Powley Wild - 1776

Kenya -

Field collectors [and donors] include:

William Scoresby Routledge - 191 [18 per cent]

Alfred Claud Hollis - 128 [12 per cent]

EE Evans-Pritchard - 75 [7 per cent]

Libya -

PRM sources and field collectors:

William Boyd Kennedy Shaw - 37 [15 per cent]

Christopher Musgrave - 100? [42 per cent]

MHA Boyd - 60 [25 per cent]

The last two's figures are guesstimates

Madagascar -

The dominating field collector and donor of Madagascan objects up to 1945 was James Sibree a missionary who collected and donated 82 of the 147 objects (55 per cent)

Malawi -

The Universities Mission to Central Africa collected 318 of the 546 items from Malawi [58 per cent], of these William Coleman Piercy collected 232 [72 per cent of the UMCA donation, 42 per cent of the Malawi collections up to 1945]. Sheffield Airey Neave collected 43 [nearly 8 per cent].

Mali -

The most dominating field collector (and donor) of objects from Mali was Samuel P Powell who donated 60 of the 77 objects (NB a good proportion of this 60 objects are not certain to be from Mali but may come from another country)[78 per cent]

Mauritania -

All the Mauritanian collections came from Louis Didon (via HEP Breuil) and were field collected by him

Mauritius -

All 3 Mauritian objects were donated by Beatrice Braithwaite Batty and do not have a named field collector

Morocco -

Seligman - 79 objects [12 per cent]

Moseley - 64 [10 per cent]

Balfour - 59 [9 per cent]

Canziani - 131 [21 per cent]

seem to be the major field collectors and donors:

Mozambique (Moçambique) -

DF Stowell - 73 [28 per cent]

GA Turner - 79 [31 per cent]

seem to be the two main field collectors and donors, the other objects came to the museum from a variety of sources

Niger -

Samuel P Powell collected and donated 70 items [23 per cent] , Francis James Rennell Rodd collected and donated 217 [70 per cent]

Nigeria -

Mervyn David Waldegrave Jeffreys collected 3110 objects (they came to us via the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum). This is 44 per cent of the Nigerian collection. He was the major single collector of Nigeria objects, there are a number of other collectors who collected large numbers of objects from Nigeria but in the light of the large number of overall objects from there , their contributions do not form more than 5 per cent [eg Talbot, GI Jones]

Rwanda -

The two principal field collectors and donors of Rwandan (or possible Rwandan) objects were JET Philipps 28 objects [15 per cent] and Armine Charles Almroth Wright with 129 objects [70 per cent]

Senegal -

9 of the Senegalese objects came from GC Denton (he collected them also) (just under a third of the entire collection), 12 came from the founding collection (field collector mostly unknown)(more than a third of the collection).

Seychelles -

All but one of the 6 Seychelles objects came from William Allan or Allen, a missionary who also collected the objects

Sierra Leone -

Dr Sims or Simms - 45 seems to have been the single largest field collector [a quarter of the Sierra Leone collection] his objects were given via the Ashmolean Museum. AC Hollis also collected and gave 16 objects [around 10 per cent]

Somalia -

Diana Powell-Cotton collected and donated 217 objects [50 per cent of the Somali collections] HW Seton-Karr gave 132 objects [30 per cent]

South Africa -

Henry Balfour [fc] 430 [prms] 441

James Swan 756

Penelope Ward [fc] 1272

The remainder of the collections are made up of smaller donations / collections.

Sudan -

Seligmans = 409 [9 per cent]

FL Griffith - 2782 [59 per cent]

The above are the principal field collectors though of course a lot of other famous Sudan people eg Evans-Pritchard and Arkell gave sizeable collections but they are not over five per cent of total Sudanese collections

Swaziland -

Half of the Swaziland collection of 4 objects came from Henry Reade Woodroofe

Tunisia -

Garrod - 67 [17 per cent]

Seligmans - 50 [13 per cent]

John Abercromby - 50 [13 per cent]

Louis Didon - 35 [9 per cent]

Marius Latapie - 119 [30 per cent]

The above are the larger field collectors from Tunisia

Uganda -

J Roscoe - 381 [31 per cent]

EJ Wayland - 195 [16 per cent]

ACA Wright - 104 [8 per cent]

Zambia -

Balfour donated 224 Zambian objects [31 per cent], TS Fox Pitt gave 267 [36 per cent], both collected there as well as donating objects

Zimbabwe -

Balfour donated 573 Zimbabwean objects [49 per cent] , EM Andrews gave 263 [22 per cent] , both collected and donated from there

Overall Africa

Africa Field Collectors of note:

MDW Jeffreys - 4,671

Henry Balfour - 1,955

F Ll Griffith - 2,872

Seligmans - 3,288

RP Wild - 1,665

Rattray - 1,218

P Ward - 1,277

Note that as a consequence of the different way in which this database is worked out from the way we worked out field collectors Leakey who is a prominent African field collector does not have a significant field collection according to this database (because the majority of his items were not accessioned by 1945). If he had been included his collection is larger than Jeffreys (of course he is not included in the total African count either so the percentages if he were included for all collectors would change).

Significant PRM sources of African material:

Wellcome - 4,692

Seligman - 3,503

Balfour - 2,849

Griffith [and wife] - 2,840

Pitt Rivers - 1,686

As with field collectors Arkell's and Leakey's very significant collections are not included because most of it was accessioned after 1945

'Relational Museum' project team

October 2003



[1] Egypt was never a formal colony as such but can be considered to be so for the purposes of this exercise

[2] Namibia was part of South Africa (and therefore for the purposes of this exercise part of British Empire) from 1919, before that date it was German: it may not be possible to divide the object neatly to being collected before and after this date

[3] NB Namibia not included as part of British Empire in Sandra's pilot project, the position post 1900 changes

[4] The Seychelles formally became a British crown colony in 1903 and was declared independent in 1976

[5] NB Seychelles not included as part of British Empire in Sandra's pilot project, the position post 1900 changes

[6] Note that part of Somalia was for a time part of Italy but it will not be possible to identify the provenance of most (?all) objects so precisely that it will be possible to identify which these are so for these purposes it has all been considered part of British Empire.

[7] South Africa was technically a protectorate rather than a colony for most of the relevant period, however in effect it was part of the British Empire

[8] NB St Helena not included as part of British Empire in Sandra's pilot project

[9] Again was not incorporated into what became South Africa until 1894 but it is probably too difficult (?impossible) to sort out those items which came into the collections prior to 1894

[10] Tanzania was German until 1919

[11] NB Tristan da Cunha not included as part of British Empire in Sandra's pilot project

[12] Uganda was formally part of British Empire from 1894

[13] Part of Cameroon was British for the relevant period BUT it was a relatively small part, as the northern part of British Cameroon joined Nigeria, only the southern part became part of the Republic of Cameroon. I have therefore decided to exclude the whole country, the majority of which was for most of the relevant period part of the French Empire.

[14] Was British from 1941, but such a short period that difficult to access statistically (I would have to be sure that the object had been COLLECTEDprior to 1941)

[15] Togo was originally German and from 1914 was shared between the British and French although it does not appear to have been a very important British colony (the French part pre-dominating). I have therefore decided to consider the whole NOT a British colony despite the fact that part was for over half the colonial period (this also reflects the practical implications that it is extremely unlikely that I can provenance objects well enough to know if they come from French or British Togoland).

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The financial support of this project by the ESRC is gratefully acknowledged.