British museum mulls Cork village’s claim on Napoleon’s stallion

A British museum has said it will deal “sensitively” with calls to permanently repatriate the skeleton of Napoleon’s famous white horse to a Cork town.

While the museum has told county councillors to prove their claim that the horse, Marengo, was sold at Cahermee horse fair, Buttevant, it has also left open the possibility of loaning the skeleton for exhibition in north Cork.

Members of the Mallow/Kanturk municipal district council have written to the National Army Museum, in London, seeking the return of the stallion’s skeleton, which has recently undergone extensive and costly restoration at the British Natural History Museum.