The Royal Artillery is being criticised following reports that it is not allowing the public to see a treasure looted by the British army from the Asante people in Ghana.
The Asante golden ram’s head is being kept in the regiment’s mess at Larkhill in Wiltshire and not in a museum. The item is part of the treasures that the British army looted from the royal palace in the capital of the Asante kingdom, Kumasi, in 1874, before later setting fire to the palace.
Now the capital city of the Ashanti Region in Ghana, Kumasi was the capital of the Asante Kingdom from the 10th century to the 20th century. Between the 15th and 19th centuries, the Asante boasted of wealth, dominance over trade and lands, as well as, strong warriors who fought to protect their kingdom from both local and foreign threats.
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By the early 19th century, the British had established themselves well in the Gold Coast and had taken control over the coastal areas, winning the trust of the Fanti, who had become allies. Despite having control over a great part of the Gold Coast, the British needed to defeat the Asante people to weaken their dominance and eventually take over the entire colony. This, among other factors, would result in over 100 years of battle between the British and the Asante people which is today known as the Anglo-Ashanti wars.
The spoils of the wars were sold and distributed among private and public collections, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum, as reported by the Guardian. In 2024, the British Museum returned 32 pieces of gold court regalia to the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana, including a 300-year-old state sword and royal badges. They were, however, returned under a long-term loan agreement. Today, the Asante golden ram’s head, well cast with spiralling horns about 19cm in width, is believed to be the most majestic of the looted objects.
Barnaby Phillips, a former BBC correspondent who reported from Africa for years, including Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, said he requested to see the artefact as part of his research for his forthcoming book, but wasn’t given access due to security reasons.
“It’s an army institution holding the spoils of war, but they say it’s not safe to show it to me. That’s somewhat ironic,” he said, according to the Guardian.
“The letter from the Royal Artillery’s regimental secretary was curt and categorical. The regiment was ‘unable to agree’ to my request to see its Asante gold ram’s head, held in the officers’ mess room at their barracks in Larkhill … ‘It has long been our policy, primarily on security grounds, not to allow public access to items held in the regiment’s private collection,’ wrote the secretary. He clarified that it was for insurance reasons,” Phillips added.
Phillips said the soldier who took the ram’s head also looted a glorious silver cross from a church on the 1868 military expedition to Abyssinia.
“Two of the most extraordinary objects that were looted by the British army are in this mess and nobody can see them, except for the regiment’s invited guests,” Phillips said. His upcoming book, titled The African Kingdom of Gold: Britain and the Asante Treasure, will be published next month.
In the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1874, when the golden ram’s head was taken, parts of Kumasi were destroyed by the British troops until 1926 when the Asante regained ceremonial control over Kumasi. By 1935, they had full control.
Ivor Agyeman-Duah, a historian, diplomat and director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, said the Asante king, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has asked him to help negotiate the return of Asante regalia with British institutions.
“We are interested in negotiating with the Royal Artillery. I hope to go to the officer’s mess when I’m next in England and I shall be writing to them. This piece is iconic evidence of Asante prowess over two centuries,” Agyeman-Duah said.
