Memorial to Waterloo hero boarded up by council

A STATUE of a Battle of Waterloo hero who was also a slave trader has been boarded up by a council, as Historic England urged local authorities to stop removing monuments from listed properties.

The marble memorial to Sir Thomas Picton has stood on the Grade I listed Cardiff City Hall since 1916 and has now been encased in a wooden box after officials voted to remove it from sight.

The council is appealing to Cadw, the Welsh government’s historic environment service, to ask if it can remove it permanently.

Sir Thomas was the most senior officer killed at the Battle of Waterloo, but was also known to have used the slave trade to build up his considerable fortune, as well as having a dozen slaves executed during his “highly brutal” regime as governor of Trinidad during colonial rule.

Cardiff ’s first black mayor Dan De’ath called for the statue of the “sadistic 19th-century slave-owner” to be removed in the aftermath of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston being toppled in Bristol during a Black Lives Matter march in June.

Mr De’ath told the PA news agency: “I’m delighted. I think the way Cardiff has gone about the whole thing has been the right way. We’ve used democratic means to take it down.

“Most people were incredibly supportive. They recognise the significance of the statue and what an affront it is to black people. Black lives do matter.

“It’s therefore not appropriate to have Picton, who caused suffering and death during his time as governor of Trinidad, celebrated.”

A spokesman for Historic England said: “As the Government’s adviser on the historic environment we do not condone unauthorised changes to structures.”