IN-PERSON London Heritages. Section A

Abstract

Missing Britain is an ongoing research project that combines questions of heritage with speculative fiction to explore new perspectives on the repatriation of cultural artefacts. Motivated by an interest in the rhetoric of the Parthenon sculptures debate, Britain is repositioned as a nation seeking the repatriation of its own cultural icons, not one holding those of others. This fictive reversal disrupts the politics of cultural heritage and national identity, pertinent to current calls for repatriation amongst international governments and cultural institutions. The paper focuses on the first of five real artefacts considered in the project, Lord Nelson’s Trafalgar undress uniform coat and waistcoat, in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. If we accept Victorian ‘curiosity’ dealer T.A. Evans’ account of how the coat became the museum’s property in 1845, we also learn how it nearly became his own instead. The paper pursues this alternative scenario, presenting research into the broader circumstances around Prince Albert’s gift of the coat to Greenwich Hospital. Threads are drawn together to establish a credible platform for an alternative, fictional narrative. This leads to the coat’s reappearance at The Museum in St Petersburg, after one hundred and seventy years of absence. As the fiction is pursued, Britain consistently seeks repatriation of the coat from Russia. A loop of co-created, nullifying diplomatic rhetoric stalls all prospect of progress or resolution. The paper calls for greater imagination and better diplomacy to address international repatriation disputes.