An Oxford University college has decided to keep its statue of a Barbados-born slave owner. All Souls College has dropped the name Christopher Codrington from its library, but has refused to remove its controversial statue. In a statement published at the end of last year the college said rather than seek to remove [the statue] the college will investigate further forms of memorialisation and contextualisation within the library, which will draw attention to the presence of enslaved people on the Codrington plantations, and will express the college’s abhorrence of slavery. Christopher Codrington, a former fellow of All Souls, died in 1710, leaving a bequest of £10,000 to the college, which unofficially gave his name to its library where the statue stands.
A statue of Christopher Codrington by Henry Cheere is located in the library at All Souls in Oxford
Oxford University’s All Souls College has dropped the name Christopher Codrington from its library, but has refused to remove its controversial statue of the Barbados-born slave owner, sparking condemnation from campaigners.
In a statement published at the end of last year, but largely unreported, the college said that, “rather than seek to remove [the statue] the College will investigate further forms of memorialisation and contextualisation within the library, which will draw attention to the presence of enslaved people on the Codrington plantations, and will express the College’s abhorrence of slavery.”