Bishop calls for removal of Stanley tributes

A BISHOP has called for statues of explorer Henry Morton Stanley to be removed for his part in “one of the most atrocious and exploitative colonial endeavours ever”.

Stanley was famous for his search for fellow explorer David Livingstone, and his part in the European colonisation of Africa. In November 1871, he found the sick missionary in present-day Tanzania, and greeted him with the words “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”

But Gregory Cameron, bishop of St Asaph, has written to the city council asking for the removal of the monument to Stanley from its place near the River Elwy, and signed a petition calling for the removal of a statue from nearby Denbigh town centre. He said: “Exactly what do we commemorate in the life of Henry Morton Stanley? He was an adventurer, who had little respect for the natives of Africa, and who shared in management of one of the most atrocious and exploitative colonial endeavours ever in that vast continent, the enslaving of an entire population to service the wealth creation of King Leopold II of the Belgians through the production of rubber.

“He repudiated his Welsh upbringing and paid scant regard to the communities of St Asaph and Denbigh which had nurtured him. So why is there a statue of him in Denbigh’s main square, and a monument at the bottom of St Asaph’s High Street?”

St Asaph Cathedral contains a plaque to Stanley. The Very Revd Nigel Williams, Dean of St Asaph Cathedral, said: “The plaque is not prominent. It does not honour Stanley as a statue. Additional information alongside could provide the opportunity for visitors to properly consider the issues.”

1871 The year Henry Morton Stanley found David Livingstone, the Christian missionary and fellow explorer, in Africa