IN DEFENCE OF EDWARD COLSTON

To quote from Widipedia:

“Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, slave trader, Tory Member of Parliament, and philanthropist. Born in Bristol, he became a merchant, initially trading in wine, fruits and cloth, mainly in Spain, Portugal and other European ports. In 1680, he became involved in the slave trade through his membership of the Royal African Company, which held a monopoly of the English trade in African slaves. He was briefly Deputy Governor (1689-90) of the company. It is uncertain how much of his wealth stemmed from the slave trade.

Colston used his wealth to support and endow schools, hospitals, almshouses [a privately supported house offering accommodation to the aged or the needy] and churches in Bristol, London and elsewhere. His name is commemorated by several Bristol landmarks, streets, schools and the Colston bun. Charitable foundations inspired by ones he founded still survive.”

Colston’s parents were wealthy parents and Colston himself “built up a lucrative business trading cloth, oil, wine, sherry and fruit with Spain, Portugal, Italy and Africa.”

To quote from Wikipedia:

“In 1680, Colston became a member of the Royal African Company, which had held the monopoly in England on trading along the west coast of Africa in gold, silver, ivory and slaves from 1662. Colston was deputy governor of the company from 1689 to 1690. His association with the company ended in 1692. This company had been set up by King Charles II and his brother the Duke of York (later King James II), who was the governor of the company, together with City of London merchants, and it had many notable investors, including philosopher and physician John Locke (who later changed his stance on the slave trade) and the diarist Samuel Pepys.

During Colston’s involvement with the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692 it is estimated that the company transported around 84,000 African men, women and children, who had been traded as slaves in West Africa, to the Caribbean and the rest of the Americas, of whom 19,000 died on their journey. Due to the conditions on many of the vessels, the extended journeys affected the ship’s crew mortality rates, which were often similar and sometimes greater than those of the slaves. The slaves were sold for labour on tobacco, and, increasingly, sugar plantations, whose planters considered Africans would be more suited to the conditions than British workers, as the climate resembled the climate of their homeland in West Africa. Enslaved Africans were much less expensive to maintain than indentured servants or paid wage labourers from Britain.”

To quote Wikipedia regarding Colston’s charitable donations etc:

“Colston supported and endowed schools, almshouses, hospitals and churches in Bristol, London and elsewhere. Colston constituted his charities to deny their benefits to those who did not share his religious and political views. Many of his charitable foundations survive to this day.

In Bristol, he founded almhouses in King Street and Colstons Almhouses on St Michael’s Hill, endowed Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital school and helped found Colston’s Hospital, a boarding school which opened in 1710 leaving an endowment to be managed by the Society of Merchant Venturers for its upkeep. He gave money to schools in Temple (one of which went on to become St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School) and other parts of Bristol, and to several churches and the cathedral. He was a strong Tory and high-churchman, and was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol in 1710 for just one parliament.

David Hughson writing in 1808 described Colston as “the great benefactor of the city of Bristol, who, in his lifetime, expended more than 70,000L. [£] in charitable institutions”.

To quote from the pamphlet “Edward Colston and Bristol”:

“To what extent Colston received money from the sale of slaves in the New World is unknown. He was undoubtedly remunerated for his work on the committees of the Royal African Company, but whether this money was the basis of his fortune remains conjectural. It is feasible that he accrued most of his wealth from the normal commodity trades with Europe mentioned above, which he had conducted successfully for several years before his involvement with the Royal African Company. Colston had inherited a modest legacy from his father, but this was insufficient to account for his own wealth. It is likely that he made profits out of careful financial dealings and accumulating savings, and he certainly gained income through money lending.”

This is the man whose statue in Bristol was toppled by a mob, shrieking and jumping about like savages.

As a point of fact, Colston was born into a wealthy family and was one of possibly 15 children. He built a successful business trading cloth, oil, wine, sherry and fruit with Spain, Portugal, Italy and Africa. He became very wealthy and invested some of that wealth in the Royal African Company, which traded in slaves as well as other goods.

As a point of fact, therefore, the allegation that Colston’s charitable donations are the result of slave dealing is a lie. Only some of his wealth was the result of slave dealing.

Colston’s philanthropy was substantial and he has been rightly commended for it. It is obscene for those whose idea of charity is to fritter away taxpayer’s money on their pet projects to criticize Colston, and obscene that they should exploit and misrepresent Colston’s memory to further their own extremist, race-war agenda. Such is the true face of political correctness.

The statue should be put back up as an act of respect for a great philanthropist.