Edward Colston

Toppling a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was an "unacceptable way to engage in political debate", the Court of Appeal has been told. The bronze memorial to the 17th-Century slave merchant was torn down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol. In January, four protesters involved in the...

A Bristol private school founded by Edward Colston is to change its name to remove reference of the slave trader. Colston’s School will be known as Collegiate from the start of the new academic year, its governors have announced. The institution was founded 300 years ago by Colston, whose statue was pulled down and thrown in the river in Bristol by Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020. It now joins a number of other institutions in the city who have sought to distance themselves from the 17th century slave trader. Colston’s School announced in December last year it would...

The acquittal of four people on trial for toppling Bristol's Edward Colston statue has prompted the attorney general to contact the Court of Appeal. Suella Braverman is seeking clarification of the law around what can be used as a defence to criminal charges arising from protests. She said the Colston...

Last week’s We Are Bristol History Commission report into the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue made fascinating reading, not least because it put a credible number on the strength of feeling on either side of the most heated “culture war” – among those who wanted the statue toppled and those outraged by the act.

LONDON — He died in 1721 but British politician and slave trader Edward Colston is still stirring up debate in England more than 300 years later. The bronze statue of his likeness made global headlines when it was defaced and toppled into a harbor in Bristol, his native city, during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 — sparked in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in the United States.

The statue of slave trader Edward Colston pulled down by activists should stay on display at a museum in Bristol so people can learn about slavery, an independent commission has recommended.A survey to gather views by the We Are Bristol History Commission found that 75 per cent of respondents wanted the statue to remain in a museum.Only 12 per cent of the 14,000 people who responded to the poll said they wanted the statue put back on its plinth after it was torn down during Black Lives Matter protests in 2021.It is currently sat next to “steam engine parts” and...

The deposed statue of slave trader Edward Colston should be put on display in a museum in its current state, an independent commission has recommended.The We Are Bristol History Commission said the statue should enter the permanent collection of Bristol’s museum service and preserved in its current condition.It said it should be exhibited and the history of Colston should be presented in a “nuanced, contextualised and engaging way”.The commission also said the plinth in Bristol should remain and a new plaque installed to explain the history of Colston and how the memorial was toppled during a Black Lives Matter protest...

A woman who helped pull down a statue of 17th Century slave trader Edward Colston has said she was aware the jury could have "gone either way". Rhian Graham, Sage Willoughby, Milo Ponsford and Jake Skuse were cleared of criminal damage last week. They all helped remove the monument during...

The Attorney General is "carefully considering" whether to refer the Bristol Edward Colston statue case to the Court of Appeal. Four people were cleared of criminal damage at Bristol Crown Court for toppling the monument in June 2020 during a Black Lives Matter protest. Suella Braverman said trial by jury...

Rhian Graham, Milo Ponsford, Sage Willoughby and Jake Skuse found not guilty over act of public dissent during Bristol protest

Jacob Rees-Mogg has defended juries amid criticism from some Conservative MPs after four people who removed a statue of slave trader Edward Colston were cleared of criminal damage. The statue was thrown into Bristol harbour during a protest in 2020. Responding to the verdict, one MP suggested the jury system...

1636: Edward Colston is born into a merchant family in Bristol. In 1680 he becomes becomes a leading shareholder in the Royal African Company, which has a monopoly in the trade in enslaved people. He dies in 1721, having donated about £70,000 – equivalent to millions in today’s money – to Bristol, helping to establish a number of the city’s oldest institutions.

A court in Bristol, England, found four protestors not guilty of criminal damage after they took part in the toppling of a monument to a slave trader during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020. Photographs of the action, which involved tossing the statue into a nearby harbor, became some of the most iconic images of the protests spurred by the murder of George Floyd in June of that year, and the case had been closely watched in the U.K. The four protestors—Rhian Graham, Jake Skuse, Sage Willoughby, and Milo Ponsford—had been accused of causing criminal damage when they removed the...