Students aim to scrub out Gladstone’s name
Students at Liverpool University have demanded that the name of William Gladstone, the only man to have served as prime minister on four separate occasions, be removed from Roscoe & Gladstone Hall and replaced, perhaps, by alumnus Jon Snow, the Channel 4 News presenter. They argue that Gladstone “benefited from slavery” in that the Liverpool-born statesman was financed by money from his father’s sugar plantations and that he did not wholeheartedly support the abolition of slavery.
ONE is the only man to have served as prime minister on four separate occasions. The other is a Left-leaning Channel 4 News presenter known for his brightly coloured socks.
But for students at Liverpool University, there is no question of whose name should grace their halls of residence – and it is not William Gladstone.
Instead, student activists have demanded that Roscoe & Gladstone Hall be renamed after Jon Snow, because Gladstone “benefited” from slavery.
The campaigners say that Gladstone, who served four terms as prime minister between 1868-94, should be stripped of the honour and replaced by Snow, who is a university alumnus.
They argue that Gladstone was financed by money derived from his father’s sugar plantations and that he did not wholeheartedly support the abolition of slavery.
They added that the hall, which also honours William Roscoe, a fellow 19thcentury Liverpudlian and abolitionist, was inappropriately named because “there is evidence the two did not see eye to eye”. It follows a series of student campaigns calling for references to prominent historical figures to be expunged from university campuses, due to their links to British imperialism.
They include the Rhodes Must Fall Movement, which last year demanded that a statue of the colonialist be toppled at Oriel College.
The latest proposals, published on the Liverpool Guild of Students website, state: “Gladstone is known to have fought for reparations for slave traders like his father during the abolition of the trade, as well as not being in favour of the abolition. We believe that someone with this controversial background should not have a university hall named after them.”
The students add that either Snow or Dame Carol Ann Duffy, the poet laureate, should be honoured alongside Roscoe, or that the name of the building be completely changed. It is widely accepted among historians that Gladstone was against the abolition of slavery during his early political career.
However, others claim that Gladstone, who led the Liberal party, was in fact opposed to slavery, but was simply unwilling to support legislation which would have abolished it without a period of planning.
Dr Brian Young, an Oxford University lecturer, told The Daily Telegraph that Gladstone renounced his views on slavery later in his career. “It is not quite right, if understandable, that the students have judged a complex evolution of mind so quickly,” he added. “Fundamentally, Gladstone changed his mind and that wasn’t easy given his time and place both in national and in local, specifically Liverpool, history.”
Richard Kemp, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Liverpool, said the row was a “tokenistic debate”. He said: “His government laid the basis of the welfare state. We should be incredibly proud of him. Gladstone was without doubt an abolitionist.”