City votes to remove statue of ‘brutal’ slave trader

A STATUE of slave trader Sir Thomas Picton has been boarded up at Cardiff ’s civic building following a vote to have it removed.

Contractors finished encasing the marble statue inside a wooden box yesterday morning, just hours after the successful vote at a Cardiff Council meeting.

The marble memorial to Sir Thomas Picton has stood in Cardiff City Hall since 1916 when it was unveiled by future Prime Minister David Lloyd George as part of a series depicting “Heroes of Wales”.

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 fortune, as well as having a dozen slaves executed during his “highly brutal” regime as governor of Trinidad.

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 said: “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 such a person as Picton, who caused so much suffering and death and misery during his time as governor of Trinidad, commemorated and celebrated.”

An application to remove the statue from Cardiff City Hall will be made to the Welsh Government, as the building is Grade I listed. Cadw, the Welsh government’s historic environment service, will be asked to give advice, with a decision expected in December.

Councillors voted to remove the statue with 57 in favour, five against, and nine abstentions.