They were enriched by slavery. Friday, January 22, London announced the debunking of two statues located in its historic heart: that of William Beckford (1709-1770), a former mayor of London who had built his fortune on sugar plantations in Jamaica, and that of the deputy John Cass (1661-1718), head of the Royal African Company, active in particular in the slave trade.
“The slave trade is a stain in our history; putting those who have benefited from it on a pedestal is not up to the level of a modern and multiethnic city ”, explained Caroline Addy, who co-leads the City’s task force against racism. This group had recommended the removal of these statues, endorsed by a vote Thursday. London plans to replace them with other works of art and commission a new memorial related to the slave trade.
Towards local consultations
The move comes days after the British government announced new rules providing for a permit and local consultation before any removal of a statue or historic monument, only possible “In exceptional circumstances”. “We cannot and should not try to rewrite or censor our past”, had justified the Minister in charge of communities, Robert Jenrick. “What has been erected for generations (…) cannot be removed on a whim. “
The UK has been made to question its colonial past and its symbols in the wake of the protests sparked by the death of African-American George Floyd, killed by a white policeman, which last year rekindled the Black Lives Matter movement. In June, demonstrators unbolted the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol (south-west England). In front of Westminster, a monument to Winston Churchill had been tagged with the inscription “Racist”.
