News / Colston
Historian defends proposed new wording for plaque on empty Colston plinth
A leading Bristol historian has defended the controversial wording of a new plaque planned for the empty Colston plinth.
After criticism that the wording “downplays and glosses over” the infamous slave trader’s acts, the latest suggestion is to put a QR code next to the plaque.
In February, councillors approved plans for a new plaque but said the wording would need to be changed.
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Next week, the application will go back to the same councillors for approval with the same wording, but alongside a lengthy defence of the choice of words describing Edward Colston.
Planning officers have recommended the development control B committee approves permission for the wording of the plaque, during a public meeting on Wednesday, April 10.
The committee has now been given a “supporting narrative” explaining how historians came up with the suggested text.
Tim Cole says people see the permanent exhibition at M Shed as the place for more thorough discussion about Colston and his his connections with Transatlantic Slavery – photo: Martin Booth
Tim Cole, of the History Commission, said: “Most people in the city wished to see a plaque placed on the plinth briefly explaining what once stood here, why it was now empty, and what happened to the statue. They wanted something short and factual that explained what was absent and why.
“In contrast, they saw the museum display as a place for much more thorough discussion of the statue, who Colston was and his connections with Transatlantic Slavery, decades of protest against the statue and artistic interventions and its removal, the BLM movement globally and in Bristol.
“People recognised that this kind of contextualisation required far more words than can be placed on a short plaque and hence wished for the statue to be displayed in the museum.”
Last month, M Shed opened a new exhibition on protest, including the statue of Colston which was toppled by Black Lives Matter protesters in June 2020.
Colston’s statue was toppled during a Black Lives Matter march in June 2020 – photo: Martin Booth
The empty plinth is still on Colston Avenue where the statue used to stand, and Bristol City Council wants to put up a new bronze plaque on it.
The plaque would say: “On November 13, 1895, a statue of Edward Colston (1636–1721) was unveiled here celebrating him as a city benefactor. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, the celebration of Colston was increasingly challenged given his prominent role in the enslavement of African people.
“On June 7, 2020, the statue was pulled down during Black Lives Matter protests and rolled into the harbour. Following consultation with the city in 2021, the statue entered the collections of Bristol City Council’s museums.”
There has been criticism that the proposed wording on the new plaque to go on the empty Colston plinth downplays the slave trader’s acts – image: Bristol City Council
But councillors on the development control committee criticised the suggested wording.
Lorraine Francis, a Green councillor for Eastville, during the February meeting, said: “It doesn’t represent my African heritage in any way, shape or size. It’s totally, wholly inappropriate, given all the things we could say on it.”
The committee then resolved to “thrash out over email” alternative words to be used.
However, the wording has not been changed and the committee is being asked once again to approve the suggested text.
In a planning report, they were told “if you asked 20 people to write their own words for the plaque, you would get 20 different versions”.
Instead, a QR code on the plinth would link to further information about Colston and the display at the M Shed.
Cole added: “We saw the plaque as a pointer for the interested visitor to go to the museum to read that much fuller history. The critical thing is that the plaque orients the visitor to the museum, where a much richer and more dynamic display is possible.”
Alex Seabrook is a local democracy reporter for Bristol
Main photo: Martin Booth
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