Le Clerc Egerton, George (1852 - 1940)
Titles
Admiral, Sir
Description
Admiral George Le Clerc Egerton was from Ringwood, Hampshire, and served in the Royal Navy from 1875 to 1910. He was chief of staff during the British Military Campaign on Benin in 1897 (Home, 1982, 126[126]; British Museum website[283]). He kept a diary documenting the British firepower during the colonial expedition (see the[ Egerton Papers at the Pitt Rivers Museum,... Read more
Admiral George Le Clerc Egerton was from Ringwood, Hampshire, and served in the Royal Navy from 1875 to 1910. He was chief of staff during the British Military Campaign on Benin in 1897 (Home, 1982, 126; British Museum website).
He kept a diary documenting the British firepower during the colonial expedition (see the Egerton Papers at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford) where he describes taking part in the destruction of religious structures in Benin City and in the burning of the ‘Queen Mother’s house’ (Iy’Ọba Palace) (Hicks, 2020, 112; 130 ).
Egerton’s looted collection is one of the most well documented of the members of the colonial expedition, which is why it is considered one of ‘the three most significant collections made by officers’ (Hicks, 2020, 155).
Current Digital Benin data (04.2022) situates forty-three pieces of his collection in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. Objects from his collection are also in the British Museum, London (seventeen pieces), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (two pieces). With three others, there are sixty-five in total.
Roles
Soldier,Member of the Royal Navy,Member of the British Colonial Military Campaign on Benin, February 1897,Collected in the fieldPlaces of contact
Benin City, NGExternal biography links
Edo designations
English designations
Categories
Institutions
Provenance names
60 objects
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