The Colston cult and the material culture of Bristol
The Colston cult and the material culture of Bristol
The toppling of a statue of slave-trader Edward Colston (1636-1721) by John Cassidy (1860-1939) brought Bristol’s ‘cult of Colston’ to national attention. Campaigning organisations had fought to have Colston’s name and image removed from the City and his status as a ‘philanthropist’ challenged. This chapter will explain why it will be nearly impossible to remove all traces of Colston from the built environment of Bristol. It will discuss the significance of the statue itself and of its location. It will also consider the other statues of Colston, or of his dolphin symbol, which were part of Bristol’s past. Some have been destroyed, but some are still in existence. There has been a move to hide them away from the public, but the imagery continues to exist as printed ephemera or digital images online. Ironically, toppling the harbour statue has brought Colston to a new prominence and emboldened his admirers.
54-69
Paul, Helen
d925e4be-28d4-42f5-824d-aec37750e062
2021
Paul, Helen
d925e4be-28d4-42f5-824d-aec37750e062
Paul, Helen
(2021)
The Colston cult and the material culture of Bristol.
In,
Trusted, Marjorie and Barnes, Joanna
(eds.)
Toppling Statues.
.
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
The toppling of a statue of slave-trader Edward Colston (1636-1721) by John Cassidy (1860-1939) brought Bristol’s ‘cult of Colston’ to national attention. Campaigning organisations had fought to have Colston’s name and image removed from the City and his status as a ‘philanthropist’ challenged. This chapter will explain why it will be nearly impossible to remove all traces of Colston from the built environment of Bristol. It will discuss the significance of the statue itself and of its location. It will also consider the other statues of Colston, or of his dolphin symbol, which were part of Bristol’s past. Some have been destroyed, but some are still in existence. There has been a move to hide them away from the public, but the imagery continues to exist as printed ephemera or digital images online. Ironically, toppling the harbour statue has brought Colston to a new prominence and emboldened his admirers.
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Accepted/In Press date: 2021
Published date: 2021
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 448029
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/448029
PURE UUID: bed642b2-146b-40d9-914e-b7cb9e478069
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Date deposited: 30 Oct 2024 17:50
Last modified: 31 Oct 2024 02:40
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Contributors
Editor:
Marjorie Trusted
Editor:
Joanna Barnes
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