Context (CMS Context)
See Spooner photo no. 1 in Collection file for object in Spooner family home.
Event Date 26/10/2015
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
The Spooner Collection was acquired by Arthur Casswell Spooner (1906-1996) during his colonial service in West Africa between 1929-1963, and also by his wife Sylvia from 1944. Following the Cambridge Colonial Service diploma (Clare College, 1928-9), he was posted to the Gold Coast in July 1929 as a Cadet in the Administrative Service. He was soon appointed Assistant District Commissioner and served in various areas of Ashanti and the Northern Territories until 1938. His tasks comprised office and court work as well as much travelling through the district.

In 1939 Spooner was seconded as Commissioner of the Labour Department in Kumasi, and in 1942 was appointed Assistant Director of Labour, General Headquarters West African Command, involved in raising Pioneer Groups in Sierra Leone and Nigeria primarily for the North African campaign. He was a member of the Gold Coast Defence Force and in 1942 appointed as a temporary Lieutenant Colonel. He married Sylvia Blest in Accra in 1944 and she accompanied him on all his postings. In 1945 he returned to the Administrative Service, and was appointed Senior District Commissioner, Ashanti, in 1946 and in 1951 Assistant Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast He retired in 1952, returning to the UK to work for Eastbury Estates Ltd.

He returned to Africa in 1956, working for the Gambian Government in the Establishments and Training Department until 1959. From 1961 to 1963 he was employed by the Government of Northern Nigeria to run the Resident's offices in Makurdi and Ilorin.

Following discussion with MAA from 2005 onwards the object and photograph collections were donated in 2015 by Sylvia's son Professor Edward T. Spooner per the Spooner family, with material also going to the teaching collections.

Arthur Spooner's correspondence and papers, 1928-95, are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Several items (including Konkomba dancing hats), copies of photographs and their associated copyright and a telegram relevant to the purchase of Sylvia Spooner's wedding ring were also given to the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum c.2008.
Event Date 21/9/2015
Author: Remke van der Velden

Context (CMS Context)
Notes by Arthur Spooner typed by his wife, Sylvia
read: ‘3, 4, & 5 [2015.235, 236 & 237] were carved for me by a wood carver in Min-Ahafo in 1930. The wood used is a wild rubber- almost grainless and takes a good polish. ACS used black boot polish. No. 5 is an Akua Ba, an Ashanti doll carried by women who wished to be blessed with children. The rings around the neck are worth noting. The Ashantis regard rings round their necks as a sign of beauty.’ R. v.d. Velden, 08/09/2015.
Event Date 8/9/2015
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Dark wooden figure of a woman, with the head of an Akua Ba doll. Standing on an integral base. Figure has a large round flattened head carved with linear and zigzag incisions on the reverse. Carved neck rings. A scratch runs from the proper left shoulder diagonally across the torso. Several fingers are chipped, proper right index finger broken off. Small yellow/brown accretions on side of the face. A circular white mark on the bottom of the base with the number '5' written on it indicates the Spooner Collection number.
Event Date 8/9/2015
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
A carved wooden figure of a woman, with the head of an Akua'ba doll. Standing on an integral base. With a large round flattened head carved with linear and zigzag incisions on the reverse and with carved neck rings. The figure is standing on an integral base. With dark staining and a highly polished finish. One finger has broken away and is missing.
Event Date 7/9/2021
Author: Annie Tomkins