‘Topple the Racists’ victory as Thomas Guy statue is removed
Topple the Racists, a campaign to have statues of colonialists and racists removed, has marked another victory as the statues of colonialists Robert Clayton & Thomas Guy statues are to be removed from public view, said King's College London, Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and Guy's & St Thomas' Charity, in a joint statement issued today. The statement, issued on 11th June 2020, read;
'Like many organisations in Britain, we know that we have a duty to address the legacy of colonialism, racism and slavery in our work. We absolutely recognise the public hurt and anger that is generated by the symbolism of public statues of historical figures associated with the slave trade in some way.
We have therefore decided to remove statues of Robert Clayton and Thomas Guy from public view, and we look forward to engaging with and receiving guidance from the Mayor of London’s Commission on each.
We see the pervasive and harmful effects of structural racism every day through our work. Black people have worse health outcomes, and this inequality is one of many ways racism permeates our society. We are fully committed to tackling racism, discrimination and inequality, and we stand in solidarity with our patients, students, colleagues and communities.'
There are no plans to change the name of the hospital.
The statue of Thomas Guy, adjacent to the Science Gallery on the King’s College London campus, and the statue of Robert Clayton at St Thomas’ Hospital are part of the arts and heritage collection owned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity.
While we intend to organise removal as soon as possible it is likely the whole process will take a few weeks due to the size, age and listed status of the statues.'
Thomas Guy made his fortune by investing in the slave trade, and came out of the 'South Sea bubble' of 1720 a wealthy man. He was a governor of St Thomas' Hospital and in 1721 he began to build another hospital, opposite, which was completed about the time of his death, Guy's Hospital. Never having married he left much of his estate to Guy's Hospital. *
Robert Clayton was born in 1629, the son of "a poor man of no family".[3] Working firstly as a land agent and subsequently as a banker, he made an large fortune as a shareholder in, and assistant to, the Royal African Company, founded in 1660, a major slaving institution. Clayton became an M.P., served on innumerable parliamentary committees and in 1692 was made President of St Thomas' Hospital, an office he held until his death in 1707. *
About The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm
The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm is an initiative established by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan on June 9, 2020 to review and access public tributes including statues and other landmarks. The commission is in response to the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom which saw protesters topple a Statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, whilst also defacing a number of statues across the country. The Commission will consider if statues, memorials, and places of worship have been funded through connection with, or directly from slave trading.
Sadiq Khan said "when you look at the public realm - street names, street squares, murals - not only are there some of slavers that I think should be taken down, and the commission will advise us on that, but actually we don’t have enough representation of people of colour, black people, women, those from the LGBT community."
He also announced a pledge to create a National Slavery museum or memorial.
Topple the Racists
Topple the Racists is a campaign to have statues of slave trade colonialists and racists removed. It stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter activists across the world. In a statement, Topple the Racists said;
"We started the map of problematic statues across the UK as a crowd-sourced project that aims to highlight the complicity and history of Empire and slavery. This is a collaborative project that examines our public spaces, the history of wealth that built our towns and cities, and our understanding of our own history.
We are actively encouraging people to engage with the map, not just by submitting examples, but by reading through the ones listed, and providing different perspectives on historical figures who were elevated for some of their actions with no mention of their complicity in exploitation and racial violence.
Who are these men and what do we do with their statues? In the short space since the statue of Edward Colston went into the river, we have seen a sweeping wave of changes – from colleges, to councils to cultural institutions – various authorities are suddenly taking action to remove or rename monuments to slavers. We welcome this development and we recognise this would not have happened with the speed it has were it not for the BLM protesters in Bristol, so we offer our full solidarity. We also acknowledge that many more people have taken the time to learn about these exploitative figures from our collective past thanks to the work of the Black Lives Matter movement. It is high time this effort was matched by our education system as well, so we can have understanding and awareness, as well as empty statements of support to our black and ethnic minorities communities.
Now that the conversation has started, we invite institutions to engage with the public and their own history and find ways to educate about the uncomfortable links between wealth, philanthropy and colonialism. Monuments can find a new home in museums, or through art, and some might simply be removed. It is not our job to decide what happens. Glorifying colonialists and slavers has no place in a country serious about dismantling systemic racism and oppression, but education does."
Click here to view the Topple the Racists interactive map.
* Information from Wikipedia.
