City to act on its slave-trade statues

STATUeS linked to historical slavery could be removed from London in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The City of London Corporation, which runs the financial district, yesterday launched a public consultation asking if contentious monuments should go.

The move could lead to the taking down of statues and plaques and renaming of streets and building. A campaign has already begun to remove from the Guildhall a statue of 18th-century Lord Mayor William Beckford, the largest slave owner of his time. earlier this year a petition claimed such monuments ‘glorify figures who profited from slavery’.

A Corporation spokesman said yesterday: ‘We want to understand how people feel about this aspect of our cultural history.’ In June, the Bank of england expressed regret over its own slavery links and vowed to remove images of governors and directors involved. Sir Humphry Morice, a governor from 1727 to 1729, once owned more slave ships than anyone else in Britain.

Several large companies also apologised and promised reparations after their historical links to slavery were exposed.