Allman, Robert B. (1854-1917)
Titles
Doctor
Description
Robert B. Allman served as the Principal Medical Officer of the Oil Rivers/Niger Coast Protectorate in 1891. He served in the Cross River, Eket and Okrikar expeditions, 1895–96; British Military Campaign on Benin, 1897; Oron expedition, 1897; Ekuri expedition, 1897–98; Ubium and Ishan expeditions, 1899; and Aro expedition, 1901–2. In 1901, he was a member of the Committee at the Colonial... Read more
Robert B. Allman served as the Principal Medical Officer of the Oil Rivers/Niger Coast Protectorate in 1891. He served in the Cross River, Eket and Okrikar expeditions, 1895–96; British Military Campaign on Benin, 1897; Oron expedition, 1897; Ekuri expedition, 1897–98; Ubium and Ishan expeditions, 1899; and Aro expedition, 1901–2. In 1901, he was a member of the Committee at the Colonial Office for Reorganisation of the West African Medical Staff (British Museum website).
In 1897, he was charged with preparing an official report on the sanitary conditions in Benin City in 1897; the report was published in 1898 (Parliamentary papers n°6, 1898). His account of the invasion of Benin was also published in the Lancet in July 1897; in it, he describes his perception of the city and the objects he saw there (Allman, 1897, 43-44; Bodenstein, 2022, 224-225).
He came back from the colonial expedition with a wide range of loot, which was gradually dispersed after his death (Hicks, 2020, 155-156) through his daughter, Florence K. E. Crawford (born Allman) (British Museum website) and son, R. B. Allman.
The biggest sale took place at Sotheby’s on 7 December 1953 (Fagg, 1953). Several pieces were bought by the National Museum in Lagos (Bodenstein, 2022, 231, 234). One of the most famous pieces was sold in 1960: the Iy’Ọba Idia ivory Uhunmwu-Ẹkuẹ (Pendant Mask), which today is in the Seattle Art Museum (n° 81.17.493).
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18 objects
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