Work of former local barman dumped!
THE STATUE of a slave trader from Bristol - the work of a former apprentice barman in the now Westcourt Hotel - hit international headlines last Sunday when it was ripped from its plinth and thrown into Bristol harbour.
Famed sculptor John Cassidy from Slane designed the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol and it was unveiled in November 1895 amidst huge celebrations.
But it met its end during a protest at the death of George Floyd in the United States, enraged demonstrators dragging it to the ground before it was unceremoniously dumped.
Colston is acclaimed all over Bristol with a street and a hall named after him.
The work of John Cassidy can be seen all over Britain and his Colston commission was secured after a competition was organised by a committee with the aim of honouring Colston who died in 1721. It was a Grade II listed structure. Colston was part of the Royal African Company that transported more than 100,000 slaves from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas. He was recognised in Bristol for supporting hospitals and schools all over Britain, but where he got his money from was not elaborated on until the last 30 years when the statue became a source of much debate.
Cassidy was born in Littlewood in Slane in 1860 and after working in the White Horse Hotel, went off to work as an artist, settling in Manchester and producing a series of celebrated works. He died in 1939 in Manchester and the Slane History Society has done much to get him recognised.