FOI request (FOI-99121879)

Repatriation of human remains

Requested Mon 10 December 2018
Responded  Mon 17 December 2018

REPATRIATION OF HUMAN REMAINS

I am carrying out some research into the storage, retention and repatriation of non-European ethnological human remains held in UK regional museums or archives some of which are owned, managed or funded by UK local authorities.

To assist with this could you please let me have the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. All of these questions relate to human remains that are under 1,000 years of age. If your organisation is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act please consider supporting this research anyway and providing the information voluntarily. A link to the research will be provided to all contributors when it is published:

1. How many non-European human remains do you have in your collection or collections managed by organisations which you fund or control? If you do not have the exact number then please provide an approximation based on your normal method of counting.

2. How many human remains do you have in your collection which originated in:

a. Canada

b. New Zealand

c. Australia

3. How many requests for the repatriation of human remains have you had from communities, individuals or institutions outside of Europe since the Human Tissue Act 2004 came into force?

4. Of these requests, how many were:

a. Approved in full, with all of the requested remains being returned to the communities/individuals in question.

b. Approved in part with some of the requested remains being returned.

c. Not approved.

d. Still awaiting a decision.

5. For those requests which were not approved please provide a copy of the final decision letter setting out the reasons.

6. How many human remains have you repatriated to their country of origin proactively without receiving a request?

Response

1. Hastings Borough Council (HBC) have one mummified hand (Ancient Egyptian) and two scalps (Native North American, unattributed).

2. The scalps may have been collected by Blackfoot when she was in the Rockies but we don't know to whom they relate. HBC have no human remains from New Zealand or Australia.

3. HBC have had a few enquiries into our holdings but no requests for repatriation.

4. N/A

5. N/A

6. N/A