Bristol George Floyd Protest: Colston Statue Toppled

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Bristol George Floyd protest: Colston statue toppled By Jack Grey The name Edward Colston can be seen all over Bristol, with streets and buildings named after the 17th Century merchant and slave trader. On Sunday, protesters at an anti-racism demonstration in the city toppled a statue of Colston and dumped it in Bristol Harbour. Thousands of people attended the demonstration in Bristol, one of many in the UK sparked by the death of George Floyd while he was under arrest in Minneapolis in the United States last month. A group of protesters surrounded the statue on Colston Avenue. The statue was put up in honour of a man whose ships sent about 80,000 men, women and children as slaves from Africa to the Americas between 1672 and 1689. Colston's memory has divided the city for years, with some thinking history can't be changed and others campaigning successfully for his name to be erased from streets, schools and venues. The statue in Colston Avenue was erected in 1895 There was clear frustration in Sunday's crowd, partly because the statue still stood in 2020, but also because it had simply been covered for the protest. Once the covering was removed, three protestors climbed atop the statue to fasten two ropes around the head. Thirty seconds later Colston was on the floor. Many jumped on the fallen statue, others holding a Black Lives Matter banner climbed the plinth where it had stood. The statue was then dragged the short distance to Bristol Harbour and dumped over the quayside. Who was Edward Colston? (1636-1721) Colston was born into a rich Bristol merchant's family and, although he lived in London for many years, was always closely tied with the city By 1672 he had his own business in the capital trading in slaves, cloth, wine and sugar A significant proportion of Colston's wealth came directly or indirectly from the slave trade In 1680, he became an official of the Royal African Company, which was a company that traded slaves, among other things He donated to churches and hospitals in Bristol, also founding a school Source: Adapted from BBC News Website .

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Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Colston, Edward (1636–1721) Kenneth Morgan
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Colston, Edward (1636–1721) Kenneth Morgan • Published in print: 23 September 2004 • Published online: 23 September 2004 • This version: 9th July 2020 Colston, Edward (1636–1721), merchant, slave trader, and philanthropist, was born on 2 November 1636 in Temple Street, Bristol, the eldest of probably eleven children (six boys and five girls are known) of William Colston (1608–1681), a merchant, and his wife, Sarah, née Batten (d. 1701). His father had served an apprenticeship with Richard Aldworth, one of the wealthiest Bristol merchants of the early Stuart period, and had prospered as a merchant. A royalist and an alderman, William Colston was removed from his office by order of parliament in 1645 after Prince Rupert surrendered the city to the roundhead forces. Until that point Edward Colston had been brought up in Bristol and probably at Winterbourne, south Gloucestershire, where his father had an estate. The Colston family moved to London during the English civil war. Little is known about Edward Colston's education, though it is possible that he was a private pupil at Christ's Hospital. In 1654 he was apprenticed to the London Mercers' Company for eight years. By 1672 he was shipping goods from London, and the following year he was enrolled in the Mercers' Company. He soon built up a lucrative mercantile business, trading with Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Africa. From the 1670s several of Colston’s immediate family members became involved in the Royal African Company, and Edward became a member himself on 26 March 1680. The Royal African Company was a chartered joint-stock Company based in London.
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