The Mystery of Lord Nelson’s

The Return of looted antiquities to their country of origin is a matter that is of great concern to students of Ethiopian history and to this ancient nation in general.
Following several decades of unsuccessful attempts by a procession of regimes and unkept promises by the ‘custodian’ nation, the looted Aksum obelisk was finally returned to Ethiopia in April 2005.
This historic registration of one of Ethiopia’s most important architectural relics has ignited a resurgence of dedicated efforts by various bodies and individuals to hasten the return of many other artifacts, sacred iconography manuscripts and of late, the remains of Prince Alemayehu. In a life that resembles a Victorian tragedy, the young son of Emperor Tewodros, died a lonely death in London shortly after he was taken there by an officer in General Napier’s army.
Prince Alemayehu is interred on the grounds of Windsor Castle-forgotten and barely recognized. Ethiopians expect and hope that the United Kingdom will co-operate in the repatriation of Prince Alemayehu’s mortal remains to his final resting place Ethiopia.
Activities are underway to re-erect the retuned Obelisk to the exact spot it had stood for centuries before it was chiseled into four pieces and taken to Rome.
Lattanzi SRL is the Italian engineering firm that is tasked with the historically accurate assembly and installation work. The work is expected to be completed in 18 months and should be a milestone event not only for the ancient town of Aksum but also to Ethiopia, Africa and the African diaspora.
It is to be recalled that Professor Richard Pankhurst among others, spearheaded the process leading up to the return of the Obelisk. In today’s Pankhurst’s Corner, the Ethiopian Studies Scholar delights history buffs and Ethiophiles everywhere with yet another nugget from the amazing story of the Aksum obelisk.
Admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) was, as we all know, a great British naval hero. Killed at the victory of Trafalgar in 1805, and buried in St Paul’s, London, he was, without doubt, the most famous of English seamen, perhaps indeed of all seamen.
Nelson died on 21 October 1805, and a decision to build a monument to his memory was taken only eleven days later – before in fact the news of his victory at Trafalgar, and of his death, reached England, on 6 November. Those, dear reader, were of course the days before wireless, let alone the Iinternet!
It was decided to erect a Monument, or Seamark, at Portsdown Hill, on the south coast of England, to assist shipping sailing to and from Portsmouth Harbour. Some of the money for this was raised by public subscription, but the rest was provided by the British Royal Navy. The driving force for this project, as we now learn from a detailed study by Jane Smith of the Nelson Society in Portsmouth, was another naval officer, Captain Freemantle of H.M.S. Neptune.
After some vicissitudes it was agreed to entrust the work to a John Thomas Groves (1761-1811), an architect with an interest in history, who was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.
Freemantle was not unfamiliar with the East. He was the captain, it is interesting to note, of the ship on which Henry Salt (the British traveller to Ethiopia) sailed home to Britain, The latter had by then completed the first of his two visits to Ethiopia – and had already made a number of fine sketches of the country, many of which were later published as engravings: (see the Picture book “Ethiopia Engraved” which Leila Ingrams and I published with Kegan Paul International).
One of these historic sketches depicted the ancient standing obelisk of Aksum – and seems to have had a direct bearing on the Nelson story. This was because there is every probability, as Jane Smith argues, that Salt ‘showed this sketch to the good Captain during their long sea voyage home.
Freemantle, we may assume, was greatly impressed by the beauty of ancient Aksumite design, as embodied in the Aksumite obelisk. He probably told Groves about the sketch – or arranged for the latter to inspect it. The exact details of the story are not recorded, but what is clearly evident is that Groves took the ancient Ethiopian obelisk as his inspiration for the Nelson Monument on Portsdown Hill. The latter, it may be noted, was almost identical in size, measuring 28 metres in height, as against the obelisk’s 24 metres.
One interesting, and to Ethiopian eyes, novel aspect relates to the curved-shaped apex. In the Aksumite original this feature (copied for example in Addis Ababa’s Aksum Hotel) is purely decorative – but in the Monument serves to frame a bust of the hero Horatio Nelson.
The Monument, though indisputably influenced by the art of ancient Ethiopia, was also a creation of its time: the time of Napoleonic wars. Salt’s visit to Ethiopia resulted, it will be recalled, as a direct consequence of Napoleon’s advent in Egypt, British fear of growing French influence in that country – and the desire to establish a British presence to the south thereof. It is no less interesting to note that Salt was actually at Aksum, drawing the obelisk, on the very day, as Jane Smith notes, that the Battle of Trafalgar was fought.
[The author is indebted to Professor David Phillipson for drawing his attention to Jane Smith’s study, “The Nelson’s Monument. Portsdown Hill (Portsmouth, 2007]