Bristol Uni could rename buildings with links to slave trade

It’s one of the most well-known buildings in Bristol and one which is named after one of the city’s greatest benefactors.

But the Wills Memorial Building could have its name changed due to its associations with the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

The Wills Building is one of seven buildings owned by the University of Bristol whose names are linked in different ways to the slave trade and whose original names could be erased following a consultation.

The consultation, which launched on Tuesday, will not just look at names but also the university’s crest and logo which features the dolphin symbol of Edward Colston alongside a sun to represent the Wills family and a horse for the Fry family.

Wills and Fry give their names to the Wills Memorial Building, the Fry Building, HH Wills Physics Laboratories, Wills Hall and Dame Monica Wills Chapel, while the other two university buildings with names linked to the slave trade are the Merchant Venturers Building and Goldney Hall.

University of Bristol buildings dominate much of Bristol’s skyline – photo: Martin Booth

The university says that the consultation follows feedback from some staff and students “who feel that building names and the university logo should be changed to better reflect a modern-day institution in a diverse and forward-thinking city, as well as those who believe that the complexity of our past could best be recognised through greater in-depth understanding and explanations”.

One argument is that the money donated by Henry Overton Wills III to help found the university in 1909 had its early origins in importing and selling tobacco produced on plantations in the USA which used enslaved labour.

Cocoa was grown on slave plantations in the Caribbean and brought to Bristol for processing. The Frys, however, are said to have refused to obtain cacao beans from Portuguese West Africa (present day Angola) after witnessing the slavery of workers on the cacao plantations.

The Society of Merchant Venturers’ link to slavery is rather more clear-cut, with Colston himself being a member.

Undergraduate accommodation Goldney Hall on Lower Clifton Hill is named after Goldney Hall, in turn named after the Goldney family who profited from the the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans.

Goldney Hall is one of the University of Bristol’s most sought-after student halls – photo: Martin Booth

As the university’s first professor of the history of slavery, professor Olivette Otele undertook a two-year research project on the university and the wider city’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

Otele’s report confirms that the university’s founding was financially supported and made possible by individuals whose families had directly or indirectly profited from the products of the slave trade.

Otele left Bristol under a cloud, however, with the historian claiming that the university used her as a “human shield”, criticising the reliance on her research, and saying that overwork and back-stabbing led her to burnout.

The University of Bristol’s crest features the symbols of Colston, Fry and Wills – photo: Martin Booth

The publication of the report and the consultation on the names of the buildings comes in the first term of the university’s new vice-chancellor, professor Evelyn Welch.

“It is important to understand the University of Bristol’s foundation and the relationship of our early supporters with global commodities such as sugar and tobacco which relied on the transatlantic slave trade,” said Welch.

“In publishing this report, we are opening an important exercise in listening to the views of our communities, acknowledging that its findings will be painful and difficult for many within the university, our city and beyond.

“It throws light on the complexity of our past where members of our founding families could be prominent abolitionists and, at the same time, benefit financially from slavery and forced labour.

“Whatever the outcome of the consultation, our job is to reflect on how racial inequalities impact on our communities today and put in place the effective actions that are needed to do to be a truly inclusive 21st century institution.”

The recently refurbished Fry Building houses the university’s maths department – photo: Martin Booth

Bristol Students’ Union equality, liberation & access officer, Saranya Thambirajah, added: “I welcome this consultation from the university and look forward to engaging with relevant student groups, staff and the wider community on this issue to bring about constructive dialogue and find a way forward that makes us all proud to be part of this city.

“Our history does not mean we cannot be bold in the beliefs and values we take into the future and uniting to talk about important and sensitive topics such as this is what truly drives change.”

Main photo: Martin Booth

Read next:

• Olivette Otele: ‘What makes Bristol exceptional is its activist heart’
• ‘We’re working with the city to create the university for Bristol’
• School founded by Edward Colston announces new name
• 200 memorials in Bristol Cathedral found to have links to transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans
• Evelyn Welch has got the love for Bristol

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