A historian hunting for piles of African treasure has found a vital clue - a miniature cross - in Clevedon Salerooms near Bristol. The cross is due to go on auction this week.
More than 150 years ago in 1868, soldiers from Britain and British India headed into the east African mountain kingdom of Abyssinia, now better known as Ethiopia – defeated its emperor, freed his European captives and grabbed gold crowns, illuminated manuscripts and sacred carvings.
Andrew Heavens, whose book on the battle, The Prince and the Plunder which has just been published by The History Press, has been trying to track down all the haul. It includes several intricate Ethiopian Orthodox Christian processional crosses that the commander presented to each Indian regiment after the battle.
