More than 600 British Empire-era artefacts stolen from Bristol Museum

Detectives are appealing for assistance aft hundreds of artefacts documenting British assemblage past were stolen.

Police successful southwest England accidental much than 600 artefacts linked to the past of the British Empire and Commonwealth person been stolen from the Bristol Museum’s collection.

Avon and Somerset Police released images of 4 suspects connected Thursday arsenic portion of an entreaty for information.

Investigators accidental the items, described arsenic having “significant taste value”, were taken from a depository retention installation during the aboriginal hours of September 25.

Officers person not clarified wherefore the entreaty is being issued much than 2 months aft the theft, but accidental they privation to talk to 4 men seen successful the country astatine the time.

Bristol City Council confirmed that the stolen postulation spans medals, badges, pins, jewellery, carved ivory, silverware, bronze figures and geological samples.

Philip Walker, the council’s caput of civilization and originative industries, said the objects bespeak much than 2 centuries of Britain’s connections with countries incorporated into its empire.

“The postulation is of taste value to galore countries and provides an invaluable grounds and penetration into the lives of those progressive successful and affected by the British Empire,” Walker said.

This handout representation of information camera footage released by Avon and Somerset Police connected December 11, 2025, shows men carrying bags successful the aboriginal hours of September 25 successful the metropolis of Bristol [Handout/Avon and Somerset Police/AFP]

‘Significant loss’

Detective Constable Dan Burgan, who is starring the investigation, said the theft “is a important nonaccomplishment for the city”.

“These items, galore of which were donations, signifier portion of a postulation that provides penetration into a multilayered portion of British history, and we are hoping that members of the nationalist tin assistance america to bring those liable to justice,” helium said.

Bristol’s past is intimately tied to the transatlantic enslaved trade. Before the abolition of the commercialized successful 1807, ships sailing from the metropolis forcibly transported astatine slightest fractional a cardinal Africans into slavery.

Profits from that strategy helped concern the elegant Georgian architecture that inactive stands crossed Bristol today.

The museum’s broader postulation includes worldly from Pacific islands, historical covering from African nations, arsenic good arsenic photographs, film, idiosyncratic papers and audio recordings.

According to its website, these items connection “insights into divers lives and landscapes during a challenging and arguable play of history”.

The metropolis made headlines internationally successful 2020 erstwhile antiracism protesters pulled down a statue of 17th-century enslaved trader Edward Colston and threw it into the River Avon. The statue was aboriginal recovered and placed connected show successful a section museum.