Town holding vote on future of statue
ATOWN is staging a two-day public vote over a statue of their most famous son – because of explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley’s role in Africa.
The bronze statue of Stanley, who is best known for the famous line: “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”, has stood for a decade in his home town of Denbigh.
But the public vote today and tomorrow will be held after a debate was sparked by the Black Lives Matters movement over Stanley’s links with European imperialism, exploitation and colonialism.
Denbigh commissioned an artist to create the bronze of journalist and politician Stanley to mark his exploration of central Africa.
But protests over his role working for the Belgian royal family, led to a public consultation to decide whether it should be moved from public view.
Stanley is a controversial figure because of his links with Belgian King Leopold II.
The monarch committed acts of appalling inhumanity against the population of the Congo Free State – now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
His supporters say Stanley was not working for the Belgian despot when the atrocities took place and he has been unfairly tainted.
Stanley was immortalised for his famous words “Dr Livingstone, I presume” after finding the Scottish explorer on the shores of Lake Tanganyika where he had been lost in central Africa.
Stanley was born John Rowlands and started life fatherless in Denbigh in 1841. He was put into the workhouse before emigrating to the United States as a teenager.
He then fought in the American Civil War before becoming a journalist and explorer, finding the source of the Nile, mapping central Africa’s Great Lakes and the borders of the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo. He was knighted in 1897 before dying at the age of 65.
Chairman of Denbigh Town Council, Councillor Rhys Thomas, said: “I need to keep neutral on all of this.”
Fellow councillor Glen Swingler added: “I think the feeling in town is very mixed. I’ve noticed on social media over the last couple of days that those coming out against it, they’ve got a bit more vociferous.
“It’s not getting nasty. I wouldn’t like to guess which way any sort of vote would go.”
He added: “I will vote, yes. I’ve got my own opinions, but I will vote as it is my right.”
The statue has been criticised since it was first announced, when a group of writers and campaigners including poet Benjamin Zephaniah called for the plan to be abandoned. Last year, a petition to remove it gathered 7,000 signatures.
The Bishop of St Asaph called last summer for its removal, saying the explorer had “little respect for the natives of Africa”.
Even his contemporaries accused Stanley of cruelty.
The vote is being taken by Denbigh Town Council today between 10am and 7pm andtomorrow between 10am and 1pm at the Town Hall. The vote is open to all Denbigh residents aged 16 and over.