News / University of Bristol

Calls to rename ‘overlooked’ Bristol University halls with ‘tainted legacy’

By Mia Vines Booth  Friday Feb 23, 2024

A petition has been launched to rename a building students say has “unjustly avoided scrutiny” from the University of Bristol.

Goldney House, a halls of residence and events venue in Clifton owned by the university since 1953, was named after Thomas Goldney II, a merchant who funded several voyages in the 1700s which trafficked enslaved Africans.

Thomas Goldney’s legacy was written into the University of Bristol’s Legacies of Slavery Report, which found that profits from the trade contributed towards the expansion and improvement of Goldney House, and also funded the creation of manillas, a type of currency used to trade for enslaved people.

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But the building was one of a number of buildings the university chose not to rename in November following a year-long consultation, which found that 56 per cent of respondents did not want to change the building names.

Now, the university’s History Society has launched a petition, arguing that Goldney House has a “tainted legacy”, which “is at odds with the inclusive values of the university of Bristol”, and “will deter prospective students”.

Students from the society argue that the building falls into the criteria required to rename a university building under its Renaming Buildings Consultation.

The consultation states that there are grounds for a building’s name to be retained “when a building has been named for someone who made a major contribution to the university” but asks if “the principal legacy of the namesake is fundamentally at odds with the mission of the university.”

The university’s decision to drop the dolphin emblem, associated with Edward Colston, from its crest in November was taken after meeting these conditions.

Defending the decision then, vice chancellor Evelyn Welch said: “Colston was not a donor to the university and had no relationship with the institution or its predecessors.”

But Welch also said that the university would continue to keep the names of its buildings as the responses to the consultation suggested more demand for “action”, “rather than focusing on the names” which felt “performative”.

A spokesperson for the History Society said: “According to the university’s renaming criteria, Goldney House fits all the conditions, yet was absent from the VC’s statement over the findings of the consultation to rename buildings.

“This was mishandled and will deter prospective students, particularly those from Black and minority ethnic communities, from attending the university.

“Removing this toxic brand, as was successfully achieved by Bristol Beacon, will only enrich the diversity and academic brilliance of the university of Bristol.”

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “Goldney Hall has ties to the slave trade as the Goldney family funded several ships that took part in the triangular slave trade. But the Goldney family did not donate money to the University.

“The university bought Goldney Hall and its gardens in the 1950s, when the family was breaking up the estate. So, it is solely through this purchase that the university is associated with the Goldney family.

“In keeping with the decision to retain the names of the buildings that carry the Wills and the Fry names, we will also retain the name of Goldney Hall. This is to make sure that we represent our history most accurately.”

Main photo: Benji Chapman

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