Brighton & Hove Museums in southern England will return 45 artefacts to Botswana. The objects, including clothing, accessories and hunting implements, were acquired by English reverend William Charles Willoughby in the 1890s and will be housed at the Khama III Memorial Museum in Serowe, where they will form part of a permanent exhibition opening on 27 May. A team from Brighton & Hove Museums is working with Botswanan curators on the return, which is scheduled for April.
The repatriation comes amid growing momentum around decolonisation and restitution debates in UK museums. The return represents an act of restoration, according to Gase Kediseng, curator of the Khama III Memorial Museum, and follows a partnership established through the University of Sussex's Making African Connections project. The case highlights how historical acquisitions during colonial periods are being reexamined, with institutions increasingly responding to formal repatriation requests from source communities.