Bristol City Council Approves New Wording for Colston Plinth Plaque

An updated inscription has been finalized for a commemorative plaque situated on the pedestal that previously held the statue of a contentious slave trader. Edward Colston’s statue was toppled by demonstrators in Bristol on June 7, 2020, and subsequently cast into the harbor. The development control committee of Bristol City Council endorsed the revised text for the vacant plinth with a 7-1 vote, with Conservative councillor Richard Eddy casting the sole dissenting vote. Councillor Eddy characterized the alteration, which omits any reference to Colston as a “city benefactor,” as an “utterly shameful” exclusion. During the committee meeting, Mr. Eddy stated: “Deleting the reference to Edward Colston, one of Bristol’s greatest sons, being a benefactor is outrageous – an utterly historical revision that is worthy of the Nazis.“In my view and in the view of most Bristolians I’ve spoken to, the events of June 7 2020 are a stain and shameful on Bristol’s long past.“We saw a mob of criminals and hooligans vandalise a protected monument, which we as the local planning authority should have been protecting.” According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, opposing councillors reminded Mr. Eddy that Edward Colston’s wealth originated from the “forced transportation of 84,000 slaves, almost 20,000 of whom died.” The approved text for the plaque now states: “On 13 November 1895, a statue of Edward Colston (1636 – 1721) was unveiled here.”In the late 20th and early 21st Century, the celebration of Colston was increasingly challenged given his prominent role in the enslavement of African people.”On 7 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.” Green councillor Paula O’Rourke commented: “It’s not whitewashing history because historians, history books and people who tell the whole story will tell the story about how there was a plaque saying he was a benefactor and then that was taken down.” Labour councillor Fabian Breckels remarked: “History can be uncomfortable when you start to realise that cities including ours got rich on the back of enslavement of people.“If we’ve now got agreed words, we need to put this to bed. We need to get this plaque up to explain what happened.” The statue that was overthrown is currently on permanent exhibition at Bristol’s M Shed museum.