November 2, 1636 - Edward Colston
Colston's career illustrates how the infrastructure of the transatlantic slave trade was embedded in the commercial and civic life of respectable English society. As a senior figure in the Royal African Company during its peak years, he was directly involved in an operation that transported an estimated 84,000 enslaved Africans, of whom roughly 19,000 died during the crossing. His simultaneous role as a prominent philanthropist — endowing schools and almshouses in Bristol and London — allowed his reputation to be carefully curated across centuries, a dynamic that made the 2020 toppling of his statue as much a confrontation with that legacy as with the man himself.
From Wikipedia
Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist and Tory Member of Parliament.
Colston followed his father in the family business becoming a sea merchant, initially trading in wine, fruits and textiles, mainly in Spain, Portugal and other European ports. From 1680 to 1692 he was a member of the Royal African Company, which held a monopoly on the English trade along the west coast of Africa, in slaves, gold, silver and ivory. He was deputy governor of the company from 1689 to 1690, the Governor being the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of England.
Colston supported and endowed schools and other public institutions in Bristol, London and elsewhere. His name was widely commemorated in Bristol landmarks, and a statue of him was erected in 1895.
With growing awareness and disapproval in the late 20th century of his involvement in Britain's slave trade, there were protests and petitions for landmarks named after him to be renamed, culminating in June 2020, when his statue was toppled and pushed into Bristol Harbour during protests in support of Black Lives Matter. The city's concert venue, Colston Hall, was renamed Bristol Beacon along with several other locations that held his name.
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