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News > World

UK Museum To Return Ethiopian Emperor’s Stolen Hair

  • A painting depicting Emperor Tewodros II's suicide at Meqdela war.

    A painting depicting Emperor Tewodros II's suicide at Meqdela war. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Published 5 March 2019
Opinion

A British museum has agreed to return an Ethiopian emperor’s hair which was stolen from his dead body by army personnel around 150 years ago.

A museum in Britain has agreed to return a ruler’s locks of hair cut from his corpse by a British soldier more than 150 years ago, Ethiopia said Monday.

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Emperor Tewodros II took his own life rather than being taken prisoner by the British at the Battle of Magdala in northern Ethiopia in 1868.

His son, Prince Alemayehu, was subsequently taken to Britain along with looted treasure, where he died in 1879 at age 18. His remains reside in Windsor Castle with Ethiopia demanding they be given back to the country.  

The locks, cut as a souvenir by an army artist, have been part of The National Army Museum’s collection in London since 1959, donated by the family of an artist who painted the emperor on his deathbed, the museum said.

The museum agreed to repatriate the items from its collection, considered to be human remains, after a request from Ethiopia’s minister of culture and tourism in April last year, they said in a statement.

“The objects are considered significant to the Museum’s collection for their historical connection to a major and unique campaign fought by the British Army in 1868 and were collected in good faith,” it said.

“The National Army Museum remains in discussions with the Embassy of Ethiopia in London on arrangements for formally returning the items.”

The Ethiopian government called the display of hair “inhumane.”

The Ethiopian Embassy in Britain “welcomes and commends the unanimous decision by the Trustees of the National Army Museum to return locks of hair belonging to Ethiopia’s Emperor Tewodros II,” it said a statement.

“For Ethiopians everywhere, as the locks of hair represent the remains of one of the country’s most revered and beloved leaders, a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when it is returned to its rightful home in Ethiopia,” it said.

Emperor Tewodros II claimed a bloodline dating back to the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The return of his hair follows a string of requests by Ethiopia for the repatriation of human remains and hundreds of illuminated manuscripts, gold crowns and other artifacts it says were stolen in 1868.

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