A school in South London has opted to change its name from Sir Francis Drake Primary School to Twin Oaks Primary School. In a letter to parents, Governors stated that “the slave trade links associated with the current name sit at odds with our values”.

450 parents, teachers, pupils and residents took part in a consultation between September and November 2022, of which 88% voted for a new name. The new name - Twin Oaks  - was selected by pupils and inspired by the two large oak trees that grow by the school’s front gate.

Twin Oaks has stated to parents that pupils will be able to continue to use existing uniforms to minimise cost and disruption, and uniform with the new logo will be available for the next academic year.

Links:
London school votes to change name over slave trade link - BBC News
Name_change_announcement.pdf (sirfrancisdrake.org.uk)
 

The Wellcome Collection has closed its popular Medicine Man Exhibition on the grounds that it perpetuates “racist, sexist and ableist theories and language”. 

The Wellcome Collection, based on Euston Road in London was opened in 2007 to showcase a number of items owned by the Wellcome Trust. The Trust itself was established in 1936 after the passing of Sir Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur who bequeathed a considerable sum of money to support scientific research and the study of medicine.

”Medicine Man” was a permanent exhibition displaying objects relating to “examples of the many ways in which people, through time and across cultures, sought to understand the workings of the human body, to protect themselves, and care for one another”. 
In a press release, the Trust stated that “colonial power shaped how the collection was put together and understood”. Since 2021, objects in the collection had been accompanied by notices composed by artists and academics which drew attention to these colonial legacies. One in particular called for the Collection to “dismantle Wellcome’s enduring colonialism, its white infrastructure”. 

Following the announcement of the exhibition’s closure, the Collection stated that it would be “taking some time to consider how we will use this space in future. We will draw on the museum’s research as well as input from the public to tell more and different stories about human life and health in the gallery.”

A Twitter thread on the decision published by the Wellcome Collection’s Account asked: What’s the point of museums? Truthfully, we’re asking ourselves the same question”.

The Trust’s Constitution states that its mission is:

“to protect, preserve and advance all or any aspects of the health and welfare of humankind and to advance and promote knowledge and education by engaging in, encouraging and supporting: (a) research into any of the biosciences; and (b) the discovery, invention, improvement, development and application of treatments, cures, diagnostics and other medicinal agents, methods and processes that may in any way relieve illness, disease, disability or disorders of whatever nature in human beings or animal or plant life; and (2) to advance and promote knowledge and education by engaging in, encouraging and supporting: (a) research into the history of any of the biosciences; and (b) the study and understanding of any of the biosciences or the history of any of the biosciences.” 

Links:
Medicine Man | Wellcome Collection
Wellcome Collection speaks out on Medicine Man closure - Museums Association

 

 

The Guardian's owners have apologised for its founders' historical links to the transatlantic slave trade and launched a "programme of restorative justice".

In 2020, the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian newspaper, committed to an investigation into whether John Edward Taylor, founder of the Manchester Guardian, had profited from slavery. "Cotton Capital" an editorial series launched in March, documents many of the findings from this academic inquiry.

The Scott Trust has also pledged £10 million over the next decade to support efforts to raise awareness about the history of the transatlantic slave trade and to pay reparations to "descendent communities connected to the Guardian's 19th century founders". It will also support community initiatives in the south-eastern US Sea Islands and Jamaica. 

The Guardian has been accused by certain collaborators who were working on a podcast for the project of “institutional racism, editorial whiteness and ignorance”.

Links: 
https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/cotton-capital
The Guardian Newspaper’s Slavery Podcast Hit By Racism Complaint – Deadline

The Horniman Museum in South-East London has formally transferred ownership of 72 items in its collection to the state of Nigeria, including a number of Benin Bronzes.

An agreement for the transfer of artefacts possessed by the Horniman Museum was agreed in the summer, and a formal signing ceremony took place between representatives from the museum and Nigerian dignitaries in November. As part of the event, six objects were presented to officials, including: 

The Horniman’s Director, Nick Merriman, stated that: "I think we're seeing a tipping point around not just restitution and repatriation, but museums acknowledging their colonial history - and that's better history, I think". Professor Abba Tijani, Director-General of Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), called “on other museums to emulate from the Horniman’s example”.

Links:
Six objects to return to Nigeria as Horniman formally transfers ownership of ‘Benin Bronzes’
Benin Bronzes: Nigeria hails 'great day' as London museum signs over looted objects - BBC News
 

 

An audit of monuments in Northumbria warned the South Tyneside Council that viking statues located in the area could have “associations with far-Right symbolism”.

The viking figures, sited at a shopping centre in Jarrow, South Tyneside, were given an “amber” grading in a police and local council review into landmarks that might have connections to “slavery or oppressive behaviour”. 

However, following the review, the Council have determined that no statues are controversial enough to warrant further action. 

Links:
Jarrow viking statue 'far right' worries were quashed years ago | Shields Gazette
Viking statue linked to ‘far-Right and slavery’, police warn council (telegraph.co.uk)
 

 

Black Boy Lane in North London has been renamed ‘La Rose Lane’ by Haringey Council. Haringey Council cited the racial connotations relating to the old name as the reason for change, referring to the pejorative use of ‘black boy’ as a derogatory racist term.

The first of three public consultations began following the death of George Floyd, forming part a wider evaluation of the history of street names in Haringey. 81% of Black Boy Lane residents who responded to a council consultation in 2021 stated they were against the name change, however the Council pressed ahead regardless.

The street has been renamed after black activist and trade unionist John La Rose, who established the Black Parents Movement in 1975 to address police violence against young black people.

Links:
Race-obsessed Labour councils are splashing your money on useless gestures
Black Boy Lane renamed due to racial connotations - BBC News
Black Boy Lane in Tottenham renamed over racial connotations - BBC News

A decision over the display of a bust of former Prime Minister William Gladstone is still yet to be taken, despite it being hidden in storage for nearly three years.

The bust was hidden by the Archdiocese of Liverpool following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Questions were raised over the “suitability” of the bust because Gladstone’s father, Sir John Gladstone, owned slaves in the Caribbean.

Campaigners have called for reinstatement of the bust, referring to the fact that Gladstone himself opposed slavery, labelling it the “foulest crime”. The Archdiocese of Liverpool have insisted the removal of the bust was due to the necessity of “unrelated repairs”, with it being put into storage for its own safety.

Link:
William Gladstone statue hidden from public amid slave trade link concerns (msn.com)
 

The London School of Economics has announced changes to the names of its terms and holidays, moving away from traditional Christian names to names that will be more “widely recognised”. Changes include renaming the Christmas holidays the “Winter Closure Period”, and the Easter holidays “the Spring Break”.

Furthermore, “Autumn Term” will refer to the term formerly known as Michaelmas, and “Winter Term” will replace Lent.

The university believes that the new names will “better reflect the international nature” of the student body, improving accessibility through use of widely recognised terminology. The move has been condemned by religious figures, with Diocese of London Clergyman Fr. Marcus Walker branding the decision “pathetic”.

Links:

https://info.lse.ac.uk/staff/Assets/articles/Updates-to-LSEs-term-names-and-SMC-titles
By renaming Easter and Christmas, this university is insulting our culture
Backlash as University Swaps Religious Names Like Easter for Spring Term

Plans to move a statue of Thomas Guy from its location outside Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital to a “less prominent location” have been scrapped in favour of the proposed installation of ‘interpretation boards’.

Previously, campaigners had demanded the statue be removed due to Thomas Guy’s connections to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. As a result of this, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation (GSTF) took the decision to cover the statue with hoardings whilst they consulted with stakeholders as to the future of the statue.

In January 2023, GSTF took the decision to scrap plans to move the statue after Historic England recommended that the statue be maintained and “supported by careful re-interpretation”. As such, Southwark Council granted permission for the installation of interpretation boards around the statue. In their decision, the Council recognised the implementation would cause “minor harm to the character and appearance of the statue”.

Links:
Update on Thomas Guy statue | Feature from King's College London
Guy’s and St Thomas’ statue set to be retained despite concerns over slavery links - Southwark News
Thomas Guy statue: Historic England backs charity's plans
 

The University of Kent has been criticised for guidance it published to students telling them to avoid using terms such as Christian name, surname and last name in a bid to promote more inclusive language.

Students were told to avoid the use of ‘Christian name’, offering ‘first name’ or ‘given name’ as alternatives. The university also stated that use of ‘surname’ should be avoided because of its patriarchal connotations, with the word originating from the term ‘sire-name’, which means derived from one’s father. Additionally, ‘last name’ should not be used as the university posits this could be confusing to Asian groups who place their family name first.

A university spokesperson said that it was publishing the guidance in order to “make others feel welcome”, and that the guidance “are not formal policies and are not enforced”.

Links: 
University slammed for telling students not to say 'Christian name' or 'surname' because terms could cause offence
Don’t refer to Christian names, they’re not inclusive, says university

 

The National Galleries of Scotland are planning to adapt text that accompanies a famous portrait of Robbie Burns so that it references his links to the slave trade. A spokeswoman for the National Galleries said this forms part of their “commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion”.

Burns accepted a job as a bookkeeper on a sugar plantation in Jamaica, however he didn’t end up taking the job after he achieved literary success with the publication of his first anthology. The potential move has led leading Scottish academic Professor Sir Tom Devine to accuse the gallery of committing the “gross intellectual sin of anachronism” in judging historical figures by modern standards.

The proposed move follows action already taken by the gallery in 2021 to adapt text beneath a portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume in order to include his views on race.

Links:
National Galleries 'historically illiterate' over Burns slavery links | HeraldScotland
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/robert-burns-woke-warrior-sights-28977674

Edinburgh City Council has approved plans to remove a plaque from the monument of Henry Dundas, later Lord Melville, in St Andrew Square Garden. The plaque states that Dundas was instrumental “in deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade”.

Henry Dundas, a Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War during Pitt the Younger’s administrations at the turn of the nineteenth century, was born and raised in Edinburgh and attended the city’s university. After his death in 1811, a monument dedicated to him was constructed between 1821 and 1827. In the debates around abolition, Dundas supported emancipation, but recommended gradualism in obtaining that end.

Following the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 in which the statue was defaced, the local council rededicated the monument to “the memory of the more than half a million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundas’s actions”.

The Melville Monument Committee described the plaque as “cartoonishly inaccurate” and submitted a planning request to have it removed, which was accepted by councillors. 

A spokesperson for the Committee added: "even the most anti-Dundas historians do not hold him responsible for the trafficking of more than 500,000 Africans and a 15-year delay in abolition."

"It was unfair to the public and hurtful to our family for it to remain in place. The plaque never should have been fixed directly onto the monument. The city leases the square. It doesn't own it or the monument. It was not the city's monument to deface and damage, with bolts piercing the outer surface to attach a metal plate. It was obviously the right decision to remove it.
 
Henry Dundas was a remarkable politician for many reasons, some of which would surprise his modern critics.”

Members of the Melville Monument Committee contend that Dundas was an abolitionist, who believed that gradualism was critical to passing legislation banning the slave trade. However, Chas Booth, a Green Party councillor in Edinburgh, has criticised the intervention of the Committee as “an attempt to whitewash”.

Permission from owners around St Andrew Square Garden is required for the plaque to be removed, which is yet to be secured.

Link:
https://www-euppublishing-com.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.3366/scot.2022.0420
Edinburgh plan to remove Melville Monument slavery plaque approved as family say its 'hurtful' - Edinburgh Live

Policy Exchange released a report with Sir Noel Malcolm on the future of the Elgin Marbles. Sir Noel, a world-renowned historian and Senior Advisor on Human Rights at Policy Exchange, argued that the case for returning the Marbles to Greece is significantly flawed.
The paper finds that:

Importantly, Sir Noel finds that Elgin’s actions certainly saved the Marbles from an ongoing process of serious damage, dispersal and destruction.

Sir Noel argues the claim that returning the Marbles would reassemble the original artwork is misleading, and the suggestion that Elgin committed a historic injustice that needs to be corrected is wrong in both fact and principle. The report contends that there would be a significant risk of non-return if the Marbles were lent to Greece, and polling suggests that the public agree: only 11% find it likely that the sculptures would be returned at the end of the loan period.
 
The report makes a strong positive case for the retention of the Marbles in the British Museum too. Not only have they become a part of Britain’s cultural heritage over the last 200 years, but their removal would harm the status of the British Museum as an encyclopaedic museum of world cultures in which important artefacts are freely open to the visitors. Polling shows this is likely to be of great concern to the public, who believe that the most important consideration in deciding where to display historical artefacts should be that they are freely open to visitors. 
 
It would also set a precedent, prompting calls for the return of many other cultural objects in institutions across the world. 47% of people find it likely that the return on the Marbles would set a dangerous precedent; only 13% thought it unlikely.
 
Sir Noel concludes: “What the present situation does mean, unfortunately, is that the one country whose desire to exhibit them raises a truly insoluble problem is Greece, precisely because of the claims it makes”.
 
The paper can be viewed here.
 
Polling commissioned by Policy Exchange supporting the paper can be accessed here. 
 

Vatican authorities are returning three items from the Papal Collections to Greece. Pope Francis has made the donation specifically to the Ieronymos II of Greek Orthodox Church as an act of ecumenical dialogue.

The returned items include the heads of a horse, a bearded man and a boy. The move is anticipated to put pressure on the British Museum’s Trustees, who are currently in discussions over a loan agreement with the Greek Government over the Elgin Marbles.

Links: 
Marble from the Parthenon (museivaticani.va)
Vatican returns Parthenon sculptures to Greece in 'historic event' (theartnewspaper.com)
 

The Welsh Government is expected to publish guidance on its Anti-Racism Wales Action Plan.

Following the Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, the Welsh Government undertook an audit of historical statues and monuments. It provided an inventory of 209 statues of individuals who were involved in slave trade.

The Welsh Deputy Minister for Arts Dawn Bowden said that the purpose of the Government’s initiative is to foster “an honest and informed relationship with our history”, and in particular to raise awareness of historical injustices.

Measures that could be recommended in the guidance include accompanying memorials with explanatory texts or relocating statues.

Links:
Plenary 18/01/2022 - Welsh Parliament (assembly.wales)
Statues of ‘old white men’ may need to be destroyed, Welsh government advises (telegraph.co.uk)

A piece of art commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery for International Women’s Day commemorates 133 of Britain’s greatest female figures, but opted to omit the country’s first female Prime Minister.

“Work in Progress”, by Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake, doubles the number of women on the walls of its post-1900 galleries to 48% of the collection.

Flavia Frigeri, a curator at the gallery, said that “Trailblazing women of the past are role models for the future.” The mural includes figures such as Maureen Colquhoun, the first openly lesbian MP, Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst. 

However, the mural omits Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first female Prime Minister. A spokesperson for the gallery highlighted that there is a blank silhouette in the seventh mural for visitors to add their own female figures to the work.

Links:
National Portrait Gallery to display mural of 130 women from British history | Art | The Guardian
Margaret Thatcher left out of National Gallery mural to great British women | Evening Standard
 

Lambeth Palace has opened a temporary exhibition called “Enslavement: Voices from the Archives”, which documents “links between the Church of England and transatlantic chattel slavery”.

In 2019, the Church Commissioners launched a project to investigate the origins of its endowment fund, and in particular, a predecessor fund called Queen Anne’s Bounty. The project found that, during the 1700s, the fund invested significantly in the South Sea Company, a company that traded in enslaved people. “It also received numerous benefactions, many of which are likely to have come from individuals linked to, or who profited from, transatlantic chattel slavery or the plantation economy.” 

The Lambeth Palace Library’s exhibition which runs from the 4th January to the 4th April 2023, exhibits a number of artefacts that document this linkage, including a rare “slave bible” published on behalf of the Society for the Conversion of Negro Slaves which omits many sections which mention escaping slavery. The Society was founded by Bishop Beilby Porteus, an early advocate of abolition. Also included is a diagram of a slave transportation ship and a copy of Morgan Godwyn’s “The Negro’s & Indian’s Advocate”. Published in 1680, Godwyn’s book is one of the first texts urging Anglican priests to baptise slaves.

Gareth Mostyn, Chief Executive of the Church Commissioners, said:

“We welcome members of the public to review these important findings from the Church of England’s national collections in the Lambeth Palace Library. What we discovered from our research into our predecessor fund’s links to historic chattel slavery is shaming. We want to learn from the past to better support the Church of England’s ministry for current and future generations.”
 
Links:
Archives revealing Church of England’s links to historic transatlantic slavery to be displayed in new Lambeth Palace Library exhibition | The Church of England
Church Commissioners’ research identifies historic links to transatlantic chattel slavery  | The Church of England
Exhibitions – Lambeth Palace Library
 Exhibition lays bare Church of England’s links to slave trade | Slavery | The Guardian
 

Museums are re-evaluating the use of the term “mummy” in their displays of embalmed remains, A CNN report found.

The term mummy is argued to be dehumanising, and the mummies themselves symbols of colonial exploitation. 

A spokesperson for the National Museum of Scotland said: "Important aspects of our collections and the way that we display them have been shaped by imperial and colonial thinking and actions that were based on racial and racist understandings of the world”. 

The British Museum stated that it has not banned the use of the term, and it is still employed across the institution. However, recent displays have taken to using the term “mummified remains of…” followed by the name of the individual where known.

The term “mummy” is believed to have derived from the Arabic word “mumiya”, which denotes the bitumen substance which was used in the ancient embalming process”.

Links:
Debate over use of the term ‘mummy’ in UK museums - Museums Association
'Mummies': Why museums are rebranding ancient Egyptian remains - CNN Style

Glasgow City Council have come under fire due to plans to replace 11 of 12 historic statues in George Square with water features and play areas.
 

Since 2020, the Council has faced pressure from campaigners to remove several statues due to their alleged links to slavery. These include statues of former Prime Ministers Robert Peel and William Gladstone, composer James Oswald and inventor James Watt.

According to a report published by Glasgow City Council, the plans for George Square include a new water feature and play areas. Only 1 of the 12 existing statues is shown in the report, with the remaining 11 statues to be temporarily removed to allow for the renovations.

Glasgow City Council has claimed that the decision over the future of the statues is yet to be taken and will be informed by the findings of the ‘statues condition report’. Currently, most of the statues are deemed to be in ‘poor condition’, leading to concern from campaigners regarding whether the statues will ever return at all.

Furthermore, on Monday 27^th March the Council launched a public consultation about ‘Glasgow’s Legacy of Slavery and Colonialism’ to “address the very visible connections to slavery legacy”, featuring questions asking for the public’s views on the removal of statues, renaming of streets and installation of educational resources such as ‘explanatory’ plaques or QR codes.

Links:
Glasgow City Council accused of 'tearing heart out' of city over plans to remove 11 statues from George Square - Scottish Daily Express
Glasgow's George Square set to get play areas and water feature under redesign plans
https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/scottish-news/anger-snp-led-glasgow-city-29572829

 

The Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, Dr Sarah Furness, has revealed plans for a statue to commemorate the late Queen Elizabeth II. 
 
The statue is intended to be seven feet tall and to stand outside the library in the country town of Oakham. It will be cast in bronze according to the design of sculptor Hywel Pratley. It will feature the late Queen’s prized corgi dogs at her feet, and will be placed upon a five foot plinth.
 
The monument is expected to cost £100,000, and almost half that sum has already been raised in donations. It is hoped that the piece of public art will be completed in time for the one-year anniversary of the late monarch’s passing in September 2023.
 
The announcement follows the unveiling of the first memorialisation of Her Late Majesty by King Charles III at York Minster in November last year.
 
Links:
Why a statue in memory of Queen Elizabeth II will be an historic first – Royal Central
Queen Elizabeth II: Memorial statue planned for Rutland - BBC News

 

The London Assembly unanimously passed a motion in favour of erecting a statue to the late Queen Elizabeth II in a “prominent” London location.
 
The motion, proposed by Nick Rogers AM, attracted strong cross-partisan support, and follows calls made in Parliament for an appropriate memorialisation of the late Queen last Autumn.
 
Considerable debate continues, however, over the most fitting site for a commemoration. Some have called for the statue to be located on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, but during the debate in the London Assembly on the Rogers’ motion, many AMs expressed the view that an alternative site might be desirable, given the long-standing association of the fourth plinth with rotating displays of contemporary architecture and art.
 
The London Assembly noted that they would be collaborating closely with the Royal Family on both the design and location of any potential memorialisation.
 
Links:
Assembly wants permanent Queen Elizabeth II statue in London | London City Hall
Cross-party calls for new statue of the Queen in ‘prominent’ London location | Evening Standard