Edward Colston's charities carried his name for 300 years, until protesters threw his statue in Bristol harbour

Edward Colston (1636-1721) was a Bristol merchant and Tory MP. He was a member of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692 and its deputy governor in 1689 and 1690. Wikipedia says the company transported over 84,000 Africans, of whom up to 19,000 died on the voyage^†. He endowed almshouses, schools and churches in Bristol and London, with rules that excluded Catholics, Jews and dissenters. The charities listed on his monument total £40,745. Colston's School was set up in 1710 and named by him. Colston's Girls' School was built in 1891 with money he had endowed for education. A statue of him went up in 1895. On 7 June 2020 protesters pulled it down and pushed it into Bristol Harbour. The council recovered it four days later. A jury at Bristol Crown Court acquitted the four defendants charged with criminal damage. On 28 September 2022 the Court of Appeal, on the Attorney General's reference, ruled that the toppling was violent and outside the protection of the Convention; the acquittals stand. Colston Hall became Bristol Beacon in 2020. Colston's Girls' School became Montpelier High School by a 62 percent vote in November 2020. In December 2021 the governors of Colston's School, 311 years old, decided to drop his name. The statue has been displayed at M Shed since 2021.