Many of his charitable foundations continue. Dr Andrews told Ian that there has been a "long standing campaign to bring down the statue" and Black Lives Matter protests made the toppling all the more likely. To build a city where racism and inequality no longer exist, we must start by acknowledging Bristol's dark past and removing statues, portraits and names that memorialise a man who benefitted from trading in human lives. Bristol City Council confirmed they retrieved the statue early this morning (June 11). This statue was erected in 1895 to commemorate his philanthropy. As Tory MP for Bristol (1710-1713), he defended the city's 'right' to trade in enslaved Africans. Created in 1895 by sculptor John Cassidy on a Portland stone plinth, it was designated a Grade II listed structure in 1977. The statue has been subject to increasing controversy since the 1990s, when Colston's prior reputation as a In its original state the monument consisted of an 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m) Colston was a Bristol-born merchant who made much of his fortune from the slave trade, particularly between 1680 and 1692. "At 5am on 11 June 2020, the statue was retrieved from Bristol harbour by Bristol City Council, who plan to clean it to prevent corrosion, and then exhibit it in a museum without removing the graffiti and ropes placed on it by the protesters.The day after the toppling, the police stated that they had identified 17 people in connection with the incident, but had not yet made any arrests.Following the toppling of the statue, a similar monument to After the statue was removed, a petition began to have a statue of In what a local councillor believed was retaliation, the Report by Richard Payne. The torn-down statue of Edward Colston is being painstakingly renovated at a secret warehouse in Bristol. "The Society of Merchant Venturers, in a statement on 12 June, said that "the fact that it [the statue] has gone is right for Bristol. The merchant has long been associated with the city, but in recent years attempts have been made to remove his name from history, including the renaming of the Colston Hall venue, because of his past involvement in the slave trade.He made his fortune through slave trading and became an official of the Royal African Company, which transported slaves to the US. Edward Colston (youngest of least 15 children) was born into a wealthy Bristol merchant's family, He was a merchant, philanthropist, slave trader, and Member of Parliament. He was born in Bristol to a family of merchants and by 1680 he had become heavily involved in the slave trade. "Why would you want to support and revere a slave trader" he asked.The Grade-II listed bronze statue, which stands on Colston Avenue, was pulled down on Sunday by Black Lives Matter protesters.There were cheers as the controversial monument was pulled down by a group, who had scaled it before attaching ropes to bring it crashing to the ground. "We are still knowingly endangering old people": Nurse'sLabour whistleblower reveals "terrifying number" ofCoronavirus: Second COVID wave twice as big as the first without effective test, trace, isolating strategy, says new modelling studyIain Dale addresses male rape and sexual assault: "ThisNew 90-minute Covid-19 test "could be game changing" in It was then rolled to the nearby harbour and pushed into the water. A plaque commissioned to acknowledge the history of 17th century merchant and Member of Parliament Edward Colston under his statue in Bristol … As an official of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692, he was also involved in the transportation of approximately 84,000 enslaved African men, women and young children, of whom 19,000 died on voyages from West Africa to the Caribbean and the Americas.However, after the plaque was cast, its installation was vetoed in March 2019 by Bristol's mayor, On 8 June Mayor Rees said that the statue was an affront, and he felt no "sense of loss [at its removal]," but that the statue would be retrieved and it was "highly likely that the Colston statue will end up in one of our museums.