Powis Castle handles Clive Museum with ‘utmost respect and sensitivity’
Among the 300 items housed in the Museum are the ‘spoils of war’ belonging to two generations of the Clive family: Robert (who became known as Clive of India) and his son Edward, who married Henrietta Herbert, daughter of the 1st Earl of Powis.
The castle boasts that “the superb collection of artefacts from India displayed in the Clive Museum is the largest private collection of this type in the UK”.
But the way in which they were acquired has come under the microscope following the #BlackLivesMatter debates over race and colonial history that have spread worldwide in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.
According to the Castle’s web site, Robert served in India several times between 1744 and 1767. He was employed by the East India Company, which promoted trade between India and other countries. There was considerable local unrest and Clive was authorised by the British government to defeat local uprisings, which he did successfully, amassing huge personal fortune at the same time.
Other historical sources claim that changes the company made to taxes and agricultural policies are said to have led to the Bengal Famine of 1770, where, in certain areas, up to a third of the population died. Clive, by contrast, returned to England hugely wealthy and served as MP and mayor for Shrewsbury.
His son followed in his footsteps and was appointed Governor of Madras in 1798. Tension between the local population and the British increased in the late-18th century with the Indian opposition led by Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the southern Indian state of Mysore.
Events came to a head at the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799 when the British forces, led by the Governor General, Lord Mornington, assisted in administrative affairs by Edward Clive, defeated Tipu Sultan. Many of his possessions were acquired by the British as “spoils of war”, according to the Castle web site.
Last night the Castle, run by the National Trust, explained its position and made it clear that it was open to debate about how certain parts of our historical past should be depicted.
What Powis Castle said:
“The Clive Museum is something we have a duty to handle with the utmost respect and sensitivity. Our concern is to make clear and transparent the relationship of our places to our colonial past. As a conservation organisation we believe the physical legacies of our collective histories, including buildings and objects, can serve society by giving evidence and helping us learn and understand the past. They can often bring us face to face with painful and shameful periods in our history, and cause real distress, especially when they aren’t managed sensitively.
"The buildings and objects we look after are owned on behalf of the whole of society. They’re part of the nation’s material history. The way we interpret them is hugely important and we know we have a long way to go on that. We are working to bring out the often painful and challenging histories attached to our places and collection through interpretation and exploration, but this is a process that will take time.”
Sarah Johnson
Visitor Operations and Experience Manager
What the scholar says:
Extract from the BBC report focussing on the Clive statue in the Square in Shrewsbury:
Dr. Manu Sehgal, lecturer in South Asian history at University of Birmingham, said the controversies could be used as a platform to educate people about public figures of the past.
Clive “rises and falls, depending on who's looking at him when,” he said.
“People use the name (Clive of India), not paying much attention to what he represents in the first place.
“This gives us an opportunity to curate it in such a way that an ordinary person walking past would be able to glance at a statue and be able to interpret it in an appropriate context.
“You don't explain things better by destroying them.”
Dr Sehgal added: “As a practising historian, I would argue not to defend or rehabilitate (Clive), but to let understanding him be the ultimate judgement rather than getting rid of him.
“If the aim is to place the Empire on trial, that would really be letting him off the hook.
“The pedestal on which the statue stands could easily take the form of an interrogation box where a witness is made to stand.”
The Castle’s Museum page can be found here
PICTURE (Powis Castle web page): The gold, bejewelled tiger head finial at Powis Castle
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