Edward Colston: Bristol statue to officially move to M Shed

Plans to formally move the statue of transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston to a museum have been approved.

The Grade II listed statue was pulled down during a protest in Bristol in 2020 before being put on temporary display at the city's M Shed Museum.

It has been out of public view since January 2022 but will now return to M Shed.

A new plaque for the plinth where the statue stood has also been planned but its wording is yet to be decided.

The move comes after a city-wide survey conducted by the We Are Bristol History Commission found that 80% of Bristolians agreed with the statue being placed in a museum.

The proposed wording for the plaque was recommended by the History Commission and reads:

"On 13th November 1895, a statue of Edward Colston (1636 - 1721) was unveiled here celebrating him as a city benefactor.

"In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the celebration of Colston was increasingly challenged given his prominent role in the enslavement of African people.

"On 7th June 2020, the statue was pulled down during Black Lives Matter protests and rolled into the harbour.

"Following consultation with the city in 2021, the statue entered the collections of Bristol City Council's museums."

During a Bristol City Council meeting on Wednesday, Liberal Democrat councillor Sarah Classick said the current suggested words for the plaque "water down the history" and "gloss over the reasons why it was taken down and the public feeling behind that".

"So I would like to see more control over what's put on the plinth," she said.

Green councillor Lorraine Francis said the museum is the "best place" for the statue but explained she was not happy about the draft statement for the new plaque.

"It doesn't represent my African heritage in any shape or size," she said.

However, Conservative councillor Chris Windows said he did not like the idea of "rewriting history" and felt it was an "unfair decision" the statue has to go into a museum to be "kept safe".

"The correct place for the statue is on its original plinth," he said.

Councillor Ani Stafford-Townsend, who led the meeting, thanked the History Commission and all of the council members who collaborated on the project.

The statue will be featured in an upcoming M Shed exhibition centred around the theme of protest, which will open in March.

A decision for the wording of the new plaque will be discussed at a committee meeting on 10 April.

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