Maurice Stanley Cockin (1882 - 1961) was Assistant District Commissioner in Southern Nigeria between 1911 and 1914. Within this time he formed an important collection of African works of art, including many varied pieces and previously little-known styles from the tribes of the north of Benin. After being injured in The First World War Mr Cockin didn't return to Nigeria, however he maintained a high level of interest in African affairs. At one point he wrote an article on 'Nigeria's need for a museum', in which he criticised British authorities for their failure in this regard (Journal of the Royal African Society, XXXVII, October 1938, pp.502-3). His collection was expanded greatly when, according to J.B.Donne, his wife was able to purchase the large part of the Sir Cecil Armitage collection. The story goes that after Sir Cecil's death, some items were sold to the British Museum, ‘the remainder was sold sight unseen to Mrs Cockin for £100, as a result of a chance encounter with a dealer; the dealer had been on the point of putting all the woodwork on the bonfire in despair at not being able to sell it (Donne, p.91)'. After the death of Maurice in 1961, the collection was inherited by his daughter Celia Barclay, much of it was then acquired by the British Museum in 1978 and 1984 respectively.
J.B.Donne, ‘The Celia Barclay collection of African art’, The Connoisseur, 180 1972, pp.88-95.
British Museum Quarterly, September 1962, news supplement p.2
