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Mr Read is therefore of opinion that as the two bronze guns are practically identical, and as the iron ones are of more interest as ordnance than from the ethnographical point of view, the three objects forming the first consignment might be more appropriately deposited at the Tower.
He has consulted Major Gallwey who agrees to this disposal of the guns, but he (Mr Read) would propose to write to Sir Ralph Moor to explain what has been done.
From the above we see that the four cannon were offered by Sir Ralph Moor, at that time Commissioner and Consul-General of the Niger Coast Protectorate, to the British Museum in 1899, and that Charles H. Read (then Keeper of the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography) in consultation with Lord Dillion (then Keeper of the Armouries of the Tower of London) proposed to keep one of the cannon for the ethnographical collection of the British Museum, and to pass the other three cannons to the Tower of London.
In the Central Archives of the British Museum, in the "Report of Donations" (of the cited department) there is a register of Charles H. Read dated 9 June 1899 stating that Sir Ralph Moor, K.C.M.G., H.M. Commissioner for the Niger Coast Protectorate, donated to the Museum a bronze gun and a modern bronze plaque. It reads as follows.
A bronze gun with the arms of Portugal probably made in Benin, and a bronze plaque, a specimen of modern Benin casting.
(The accession numbers of the two objects, by which they are identified today, are respectively 1899, 6-10, 1 and 1899, 6-10, 2.)
The two documents from which I quote above have been located for me by Christopher Date, Assistant Museum Archivist, at the Central Archives of the British Museum. To Mr Date I heartily extend my thanks.
At my request Mr Date has also located for me what I believe is the only published reference to the British Museum cannon before 1995.
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Mr Read is therefore of opinion that as the two bronze guns are practically identical, and as the iron ones are of more interest as ordnance than from the ethongraphical point of view, the three objects forming the first consignment might be more appropriately deposited at the Tower.
He has consulted Major Gallwey who agrees to this dis- posal of the guns, but he (Mr Read) would propose to write to Sir Ralph Moor to explain what has been done.
From the above we see that the four cannon were offered by Sir Ralph Moor, at that time commissioner and Consul-General of the Niger coast Protectorate, to the British Museum in 1899, and that Charles H. Read (then Keeper of the then Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography) in consultation with Lord Dillion (then Keeper of the Armouries of the Tower of London) proposed to keep one of the cannon for the ethnographical collection of the British Museum, and to pass the other three cannons to the Tower of London.
In the Central Archives of the British Museum, in the "Report of Donations" (of the cited department) there is a register of Charles H. Read dated 9 June 1899 stating that Sir Ralph moor, K.C.M.G., H.M. Comissioner for the Niger Coast Protectorate, donated to the Museum a bronze gun and a modern bronze plaque. It reads as follows.
A bronze gun with the arms of Portugal probably made in Benin, and a bronze plaque, a specimen of 3 modern Benin casting.
(The accession numbers of the two objects, by which they are identified today, are respectively 1899, 6-10, 1 and 1899, 6-10, 2.)
The two documents from which I quote above have been located for me by Christopher Date, Assistant Museum Archivist, at the cen- tral Archives of the British Museum. To Mr Date I heartily extend my thanks.
At my request Mr Date has also located for me what I believe is the only published reference to the British Museum cannon before 1995.
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