Toppled But Not Forgotten: How the Edward Colston Statue Sparked Debate

At the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, the world watched as anti-racist demonstrators in Bristol pulled down a statue of Edward Colston, a notorious slave trader, and rolled it into the harbour. 

This act was met with cheers and celebration from the protestors and many supporters around the country but was simultaneously viewed by others as an outrageous act of vandalism and a direct attack on British history. 

Two days later, the statue was removed from the harbour and is now on display in the M Shed Museum in Bristol, placed on its side, still covered in the red and blue graffiti that the protestors sprayed on it that day. 

However, this moment sparked a heated debate, with people beginning to question why figures with links to the slave trade are honoured with statues. As a result, calls for the removal of these monuments have increased, as part of broader attempts to decolonise and reshape the way that Britain’s imperial history is remembered and commemorated. 

David Olusoga, a professor at the University of Manchester, argued that statues run the risk of presenting controversial figures as heroes. This is because many plaques commemorate these figures and their achievements, while overlooking their contributions to slavery, which funded these domestic projects, improving British infrastructure. 

This was true for Colston’s statue, as his plaque initially celebrated him as ‘one of the most virtuous and wise sons of their city,’ since he funded schools, hospitals, and churches with the money he acquired from his monopolies. 

A poll of 14,000 people by the Museums Journal revealed that 65% of Bristolians supported the forcible removal of Colston’s statue because of his role in the slave trade. However, it also found that others disagreed with the protestors, arguing that the statue should have remained, as British history cannot be forgotten and should not be covered up. 

While many support efforts to decolonise public spaces, the government expressed outrage over Colston’s statue being toppled. Former Home Secretary Priti Patel deemed the act ‘utterly disgraceful,’ while former Chancellor Sajid Javid described it as ‘not OK,’ and argued that the statue should have been removed ‘democratically, not by criminal damage.’ 

The Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson, also raised major concerns over removing statues, arguing on X (formerly known as Twitter) that ‘we cannot now try to edit or censor our past … those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults.’ 

Despite opposition from government officials, this monumental event has led to official efforts to reassess how Britain acknowledges and memorialises its colonial past. As part of this, other statues, such as those of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Oxford and Robert Milligan outside the Museum of London Docklands, have been removed. 

But many statues remain. One of the most notable is the statue of the Duke of Wellington in Glasgow, who is known as ‘the most ardently pro-slavery politician of the nineteenth century.’ However, the public shows their disdain towards Wellington, as he almost always has a traffic cone on his head, symbolising their refusal to honour someone who famously supported slavery. 

In addition to statues, street names have also been changed, such as Black Boy Lane in Tottenham, now La Rose Lane. Buildings such as Gladstone Hall at Liverpool University, which was initially named after former Prime Minister William Gladstone, whose family had links to the slave trade, have also been renamed. It is now known as Dorothy Kuya Hall. 

Additionally, museums such as The Maritime Museum in Greenwich have begun to include exhibits that retell narratives surrounding the transatlantic slave trade. ‘The World Reimagined’ featured 36 globes, each painted with different artworks, and aimed to change how ‘the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade…has been untold, unheard, or mistaught.’ 

However, while these efforts represent a step in the right direction, they ultimately remain superficial if deeper structural issues, such as institutional racism, which are tied to Britain’s imperial history, are not addressed. Removing statues and renaming streets are small victories, but this ultimately fails to address persistent racial disparities that remain in many sectors. A 2020 report found that ethnic minorities are more likely to live in poverty than white people. Therefore, concrete plans, such as decolonising the national curriculum and implementing severe economic reforms, need to be put in place to adequately address these inequalities and promote lasting change in a postcolonial society. 

Bibliography 

Adams, Geraldine Kendall, 'Colston statue should be displayed in a museum, say Bristol residents', Museums Association, February 2022, https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2022/02/colston-statue-should-be-displayed-in-a-museum-say-bristol-residents/#. 

Edmiston, Daniel, Falling Faster amidst a Cost-of-Living Crisis: Poverty, Inequality and Ethnicity in the UK (Runnymede Trust, 2022), https://www.runnymedetrust.org/publications/falling-faster-amidst-a-cost-of-living-crisis-poverty-inequality-and-ethnicity-in-the-uk. 

Gogarty, Conor, 'Colston statue toppling: Sajid Javid slams 'criminal damage' in Bristol Black Lives Matter protest', INKL, June 2020, https://www.inkl.com/news/colston-statue-toppling-sajid-javid-slams-criminal-damage-in-bristol-black-lives-matter-protest. 

Gogarty, Conor, 'Priti Patel says toppling of Colston statue is 'utterly disgraceful' - but Piers Morgan hits back', Bristol Live, June 2020, https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/priti-patel-says-toppling-colston-4202300. 

Hickey, Sean, 'People only take notice of these statues when people suggest they come down', LBC, 9 June 2020, https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/shelagh-fogarty/edward-colston-statue-removed-bristol-oxford/. 

Valentine, Edward, 'Bristol’s Reckoning with its “Most Wise and Virtuous Son”', Epoch Magazine, March 2021, https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/bristol-s-reckoning-with-its-most-wise-and-virtuous-son. 

Walker, Peter, '‘We cannot edit our past’: Boris Johnson's statue tweets explained', The Guardian, June 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/12/we-cannot-edit-our-past-boris-johnsons-statue-tweets-explained. 

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