Charlotte, a trained barrister, gave a wonderful insight into the diversity of careers and avenues connected to the Law profession and she spoke with great enthusiasm and detail about her move into academia. Charlotte is now Associate Professor at Warwick University where she specialises in restitution of cultural heritage from museums and claims for objects such as the Benin Bronzes and Nazi looted art, especially focussing on the moral strength of claims for cultural objects such as these.

During her talk, we all had our eyes and minds opened to the complexities of restitution and Charlotte looked at some specific cases with us. These included Dr Feldmann, whose collection of drawings were seized without consent by the Gestapo from his home in Czechoslovakia and much later acquired by the British Museum and Courtauld Institute. Charlotte also talked about less clear-cut examples such as the Koch family who had fled Nazi persecution and had to sell a collection of watches and clocks in order to rebuild their lives in London. These too were later acquired by the British Museum. This type of loss is known as a “Forced Sale”.

Charlotte outlined the renewed efforts made from 1990 onwards to return objects to their pre-war owners and also spoke about legal barriers to bringing claims before the courts, as well as explaining about the Spoliation Advisory Panel.

Whilst Charlotte’s talk focussed primarily on Nazi looked art and cultural objects, she did also reference other contested objects in museums, including the Benin Bronzes.

It is safe to say that the pupils were completely engaged throughout Charlotte’s talk with some incredibly interesting and varied responses and questions being posed by students.

We are so grateful to Charlotte and to the many other former pupils who so kindly come to School to speak with, and inspire, our current pupils.