Edward Colston

The statue of Edward Colston is a bronze statue of Bristol-born merchant and transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston (1636–1721). It was created in 1895 by the Irish sculptor John Cassidy and was formerly situated on a plinth of Portland stone in a public space known as The Centre in Bristol, until it was toppled by anti-racism protestors in 2020. Designated a Grade II listed structure in 1977, the statue was the subject of controversy due to Colston's role in organising the Atlantic slave trade as a senior executive of the Royal African Company. From the 1990s onward the debate on the morality of glorifying Colston intensified. In 2018 Bristol City Council proposed to add a second plaque to better contextualise the statue and summarise Colston's role in the slave trade, but this was delayed by disputes over the wording of the plaque. On 7 June 2020, the statue was toppled, defaced, and pushed into Bristol Harbour during the George Floyd protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement. The plinth was also covered in graffiti but remains in place. The statue was recovered from the harbour and put into storage by Bristol City Council on 11 June 2020, and exhibited in its graffitied state in the M Shed museum during the summer of 2021, and permanently from March 2024. Four people who helped topple the statue were found not guilty of criminal damage by a jury in January 2022. On 17 April 2025, a new plaque was installed on the empty plinth, removing the reference to Colston as a "city benefactor" and outlining the statue's removal in light of his involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.