We've no mummy issues say British Museum amid woke backlash at remains removal

Bosses at the British Museum have said they will keep their mummies on display amid a growing ‘woke’ row over the removal of human remains from Kelvingrove.

Experts at the London museum said mummies have an important educational, historical and scientific value and will continue to be on show.

But its stance clashes with the policy at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, which has withdrawn mummies from public view as a ‘mark of respect’.

The Mail revealed this week that Egyptian human remains were removed from display at Kelvingrove because museum chiefs said they had not received consent to showcase them from the ‘deceased individual’.

Chris McGovern, who advised the Policy Unit at Downing Street under Baroness Thatcher and Sir John Major, said the British Museum is the ‘greatest museum in the world’.

He said: ‘As a long-standing member of the British Museum, and a former government advisor on history, I am very concerned about the direction of travel of our museums.

‘They belong to the people, not to the powerful.

‘These days, UK museums are too concerned with censoring the past and filtering it in order to comply with the demands of woke fanatics.

‘They want to close down parts of our shared history.

‘If we carry on like this even the Bayeux Tapestry is likely to fall foul of the censors for displaying so much brutality, so many killings and so many corpses.’

The British Museum’s policy states that human remains help researchers understand everything from archaeology and disease to human biology and genetics, while also providing important context for other objects in museum collections.

It said human remains must be treated with ‘respect, care and dignity’, and explanatory and contextual information should accompany displays rather than ruling out their exhibition.

The policy also states that trustees – chaired by former Chancellor George Osborne – start from a presumption that human remains should remain in the collection because of their public benefit.

The trustees’ overarching presumption is that the collection should ‘remain intact’ and that the ‘public benefits of the retention of human remains in the collection’ include research, education and understanding ‘the varied ways that different societies have conceived of death and disposed of remains of the dead’.

The museum, which houses one of the world’s most significant collections of Egyptian antiquities, told the Mail it has ‘no plans to remove mummies from display’.

The approach contrasts with the policy at Kelvingrove, while the Hunterian Museum, part of the University of Glasgow, has hidden an Egyptian mummy from public view after museum chiefs ruled she ‘deserves privacy in death’.

Bosses at the Hunterian covered the remains known as Lady Shep-En-Hor with a conservation-grade textile-like material, meaning visitors can no longer see the ancient wrappings beneath it.

Glasgow Life, the arm’s-length charitable organisation funded by Glasgow City Council, said a mummified head was among the items removed at Kelvingrove.

The changes came to light after a visitor posted an image on social media platform X of a sign stating: ‘We have removed human remains from this display as a mark of respect.’

The items removed include a painted coffin containing the remains of the priest Nekht, a mummified male head, a mummified right hand recovered from the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt and a mummified foot.

Glasgow Life said: ‘Once we have completed work at Kelvingrove Museum, work will begin to remove a coffin and mummified human remains on display in St Mungo Museum.’

St Mungo Museum is the only museum dedicated to religion and art in the British Isles.

Kelvingrove, which opened in 1901 and attracts more than 1.3 million visitors a year, has long featured Egyptian mummies and other remains among the star attractions of its Ancient Egypt galleries.

Glasgow Life argued that the removal of human remains from display at Glasgow Life museums ‘reflects contemporary museum practice’.

A spokesman said: ‘Glasgow Life Museums’ draft Human Remains Policy proposes that human remains should only be displayed where there is documented and informed consent from the deceased individual or, in appropriate circumstances, their descendants.

‘In the absence of such consent, we believe removing ancient Egyptian human remains from display is more respectful to the deceased individuals.’