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Police have revealed that over 600 items, including military medals, jewellery and other culturally significant objects linked to Britain’s former empire, were stolen from a Bristol museum in September.
Avon and Somerset Police issued an appeal on Thursday for information about four men captured on CCTV outside the building on 25 September, where the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection had been stored.
Investigators said the burglary occurred between 1:00 am and 2:00 am, with the offenders making off with hundreds of artefacts of “significant cultural value.”
Detective Constable Dan Burgan described the loss as “a significant loss for the city”, noting that many of the stolen objects had been donated and formed part of a collection offering insight into complex chapters of British history.
Among the missing items are military decorations, jewellery, pins, silverware, carved ivory pieces and bronze figurines. Geological specimens and other natural history materials were also taken. Police said they want to identify four men seen in the CCTV footage carrying bags and wearing hoodies or caps.
The British Empire and Commonwealth Collection includes a wide range of objects from across the former empire, such as clothing from African nations, artefacts from the Pacific Islands, photographs, films, sound recordings and personal papers.
The collection aims to document the experiences and landscapes shaped by Britain’s imperial past.
Philip Walker, head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, said he was “deeply saddened” by the theft, emphasising the collection’s value in illuminating the lives of people affected by British colonialism.
He called it an “invaluable record” of a complex and often contentious period.
The collection, previously housed in the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum before its closure in 2012, remains under the care of Bristol City Council, Bristol Museums and the city archives.
The incident follows other high-profile museum thefts, including the removal of crown jewels from the Louvre in Paris in October and the revelation in August 2023 that a former British Museum employee had stolen around 1,800 items from its collections.
