Taking down statues ‘ tears away our past’

Deputy Political Editor

THE removal of statues linked to the slavery trade risks erasing the country’s heritage, warned Historic England’s chairman.

Sir Laurie Magnus said the contested sculptures should instead be “recontextualised” to help people better understand the past.

Torn

He told the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday: “The best way to address contested heritage is to recontextualise, re- interpret, but leave these statues standing when they are in a public place.

“Don’t take them away and put them in a museum, because people then have to go to a museum. Leave them

Plea... Sir Laurie Magnus

where they them.”

He added: “Our collective past is going to be just torn away, slowly, piece by piece.

“Our collective past is there, it represents a memorialisation going back hundreds of years, built at a time which reflected the views and values of those who lived at the time.

“If we start tampering with the historic are and recontextualise fabric connected with our collective past because things are contentious then you start changing the basis in which you can understand it. And understanding is really important.”

He also said that Historic England is looking to engage with owners of the statues to “find solutions” for them to remain on display.

He went on to admit that the charity “must do better” when it comes to its own staff, with just under five per cent coming from a BAME background. Sir Laurie spoke as English Heritage announced it will be displaying portraits of black people connected to its homes from today.

First is a picture of Queen Victoria’s goddaughter Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was sold into slavery at the age of five before being presented as a “gift” to an English nobleman.

Her portrait by Hannah Uzor will be at Osborne – Victoria’s home on the Isle of Wight – for the rest of October: Black History Month.