Edward Colston: The Truth

[@davidstarkeytalks]

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[@thebadgerbailey]

Sir starkey

[@Twmpa]

The western world, particularly but not exclusively, the English speaking western world is slowly losing its grip on reality. One example is the tearing down of the statue of Edward Colston, who was seen as an unacceptable face of racism in the aftermath of the death of the convicted criminal George Floyd which was conflated and misrepresented into some sort of racist police murder when, from the court case of Derek Chauvin, it clearly was not. The fact that the 'Colston four' were acquitted when they were filmed actually committing their offences is just another symptom of the mass delusion of woke culture.

[@lalaholland5929]

The four, including Chauvin, involved in the death of G Floyd were called "the Colston Four?" Can't get over how a death on one Continent can have such an effect on another continent.

[@janebaker966]

And the stupidity of the jury. Thick as planks.

[@washingtongarden4078]

Get over it 😂😂😂😂

[@marycrawford1594]

Thankyou. That was excellent. I have to agree that the history of Bristol is difficult to research. Unlike Somerset, which has many local historians, Bristol even with its two universities - one of them rather prestigious - has a dearth of good books relating to its past, once you leave the medieval period. I grew up in Bristol, and I have to say that it was always a prosperous city, so perhaps the survival of the Merchant Venturers Guild was no bad thing. Colston's statue was really no more than furniture. The overwhelming majority of Bristolians had no idea who he was and didn't care anyway. Pulling down the statue was, in my opinion, a self indulgent publicity stunt. If these people had really been interested in putting an end to slavery they would have concentrated on modern slavery, which is still going on. Just imagine if Wilberforce, Wesley and others had decided to fight the slave trade by going around defacing Roman mosaics and destroying Greek and Roman remains because those civilisations were dependent on slavery. If we remembered them now at all it would be as prats, not people who actually achieved something.

[@deschloro]

Excellent point.

[@RoberttAvro]

"Just imagine if Wilberforce, Wesley and others had decided to fight the slave trade by going around defacing Roman mosaics and destroying Greek and Roman remains because those civilisations were dependent on slavery." Your "too obvious for our agenda driven mainstream media" logic made me lol Mary. Of course, it's absurd to constantly focus on long dead slave owners when living ones still exist and prosper.

[@robsham]

Interesting point, but no-one is building statues to modern day slave traders. Here was one who was literally put on a pedestal. You may be right in saying the overwhelming majority of Bristolians 'didn't care anyway' about the Colston statue, but perhaps they are not the people on the receiving end of racist behaviour to this day, an ongoing, bitter legacy from that era of slavery.

[@RoberttAvro]

@@robsham "no-one is building statues to modern day slave traders." At least not in the west where slavery has been outlawed. We can't say for sure if that is true about other societies where slavery still exists. Unfortunately the very groups of people most affected by historic slavery are also the same groups of people affected by MODERN slavery. The "legacy" you mention is only in western society. It's the bitter "still being practiced" modern slavery that should bother us the most. But alas a media attack on the horrors of modern slavery would take the focus off of Europeans, so you will notice how little discussion there is about that critical topic.

[@timothyhallett3724]

@@robsham as there were no slaves in Britain, I think the idea that racism in the UK is a legacy of slavery, is not supported by logic or by evidence. The UK was a near homogenous, white society until the 1950s. Whilst there were a handful of non whites in Britain before this time, they only live in the key ports, such as Liverpool, London and the like, and they were not a ‘community’ in any sense … as is clear from the census returns of 1841 onwards. I am not suggesting that racism does not exist in the UK, but to try to link it to slavery of the 18th and early 19th centuries is utterly nonsensical … the UK is not the USA and has nothing like the experience of slavery and its legacy.

[@youtubecommenter6223]

Bravo Dr Starkey! This statues series is as fascinating as it is relevant!

[@RampantDaydream]

The same people complaining about slavery 200 years ago, buy iPhones made by slaves 20 weeks ago.

[@nancyjackson3909]

@Lupi the Yorkie china India middle east Eastern Europe to name a few more countries

[@frankteunissen6118]

@Lupi the Yorkie the UN estimates that around 40 million people live in what effectively amounts to slavery worldwide today, that is: at this instant. That is almost four times as many as the total. number of people who were taken as slaves from Africa to the Americas in the 300 years of the Atlantic slave trade.

[@elkpaz560]

the iPhones which are busy enslaving their 'owners.'

[@BaronMichaelDeBlone1066]

@@elkpaz560 Oh the irony

[@nigelmansfield3011]

So very true!

[@jongriffin2608]

As a Bristolian I enjoyed this greatly. The history of Bristol, like London feels both familiar and ghostly, haunted by the blue prints of modern life. Underneath the tarmac and in its foundations, the scars of industrial revolution, of the slave trade and the glory of its bridges, ships, university and harbour. I was fortunate as a member of a poor family to live in one of Cliftons only Council houses, a grand Georgian apartment still with its cellars of cast iron range and washroom, even the rusted hooks in one ceiling remained, presumably once for hanging meat. Suffice to say this had a profound effect on my young self, my imagination lit and my weekends spent cycling through- at the time the wonderfully faded grandeur of the abandoned docks, the frozen cranes, the railways that disappeared into walls, the submerged boarding platform for the white funnel fleet, itself just across the way from Clifton downs cliff tramline designed to take travellers up to the Clifton Suspension bridge, or perhaps their own grand town house. I was hurt bu this statue being removed, it was an appendage to Bristols complex past, but I worry now that these cultural vandals are drawing their plans against Black Boy Hill and Whiteladies road - no doubt this is deeply offensive somehow, although not a reference in either case to skin colour. Sadly, it seems that as we get older, the idealistic youth or overzealous busybodies conform to the saying - they know the price of everything- the value of nothing. Keep up the excellent work!

[@nickbarton3191]

I spent most of my childhood and teens in Bristol. So are they also going to rename Colston Hall?

[@gitfoad8032]

Nice invisible picture u paint. *'unseen picture' is better.

[@typnigerrer]

@@nickbarton3191 Too late. Now the Bristol Beacon. I'm also a Bristolian, and I loathe the remodelling.

[@nickbarton3191]

@@typnigerrer That's ridiculous, the place was a landmark. As a teen, I went to a rock concert most Saturday evenings there. Everyone called it "Colson awl" (Korec way t' speak Brisle). Haven't visited Bristol since 2009, don't suppose I ever will now since I emmigrated

[@jongriffin2608]

@@nickbarton3191 I thought they already had? And if not I believe this is going to happen.

[@rickmolton774]

The mob did not have the right to remove the statue.

[@David-uf8ex]

It was arranged by the corrupt mayor

[@Thrill_Hou]

Cry

[@janebaker966]

There is a huge flourishing underground Class War scene in Bristol. This city is Subversives R us.

[@janebaker966]

@@David-uf8ex no but he didn't help by not allowing public debates about it.

[@dianeoliver6622]

Neither did the police have the right to let them.

[@manofkent4472]

Very good as always. Colston was a trader, not a slaver. He lived for 84 years, traded for about 60 and for just 12 of these was part of the Royal African Company - which did buy & sell slaves as a part of it's dealings (all slaves were bought from local chiefs or Arab slaver traders). But, NO evidence was found by Bristol Uni that he joined any of those ventures. He headed the company for just 1 year, then sold up and left and we don't know why. So as he had not invested in those ventures, you could draw the conclusion that he didn't agree with them and didn't wish to be associated with them. As you say, we do know he made 99.5% money mainly i believe from trading wine & fruit from Iberian peninsular, selling cloth & financing. The statue was in recognition that he then bestowed his wealth on Bristol. But if the city of Bristol decide they wish to be disassociated with Colston, then his endowments to be city should be returned to his descendants.

[@catinthehat906]

Looking forward to David Olusoga's campaign for the removal of the statue of Efunroye Tinubu in Nigeria, a notorious slave trader who died in 1887 who continued this barbaric practice for decades after it was outlawed in the British Empire in 1807.

[@Saddamuel]

You say the endowments "should" be returned to his descendants, but there is no one to enforce this. We should take a leaf out of the book of the mayor, the police and the vandals. Gain the power to enforce this and then take it from them by force - legally of course and only when the authorities will allow their dispossession to be accomplished.

[@AminTheMystic]

He was laundering dirty money. Italian mafia used to do this. As do the Arab oil sheikh, Russian oligarchs and whoever else who knows their money is dirty. He had no moral qualms in investing in slave trade. Don't pretend otherwise.

[@mikegalvin9801]

@@AminTheMystic Up until the late 18th Century no one on earth thought of slavery as other than an unfortunate fact of life. Even then it was only at first a small group of Evangelical Christians in Britain and later North America who conceived the notion that slavery was immoral.

[@mikegalvin9801]

Certainly no African at the time had any moral objection to slavery as long as they were the seller and not the sold.

[@mysteryman1423]

Frank Furedi described the statue pulling as "a kind of mass psychosis" and "like they were pulling a real person than a statue".

[@marycrawford1594]

As Neil Oliver observed, people were actually slapping and kicking the statue as it was dragged towards the river, just as if it really was Edward Colston.

[@lalaholland5929]

Mystery Man as though it were a real lynching. It was.

[@tonydiamond1875]

Absolutely! That's exactly what happened!

[@tonydiamond1875]

Think of the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down in Iraq? Nobody would have wanted to prosecute those people as vandals, would they? But if our perception of history is being revised continually, then that "mass psychosis" can be the result.

[@MegaMesozoic]

@@marycrawford1594 I'll bet some of them got sore toes!!

[@lluisboschpascual4869]

Thoroughly interesting and enjoyable. The best contribution to the Colston debate so far. Thank you!

[@davepangolin4996]

During the whole media frenzy over this I can honestly say I only heard one person with a Bristolian accent … that was a scaffolder that channel 4 gave 10 seconds airtime. I doubt they knew where he was from …

[@janebaker966]

Posh kids with too much money.

[@barrylarking8986]

I am so glad Dr. Starkey was cancelled. Now thousands and perhaps millions will have him to themselves in these marvellous expositions.

[@brianwaite6139]

We have reached the ultimate absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are NOT held responsible for what they are doing today...

[@washingtongarden4078]

What goes around comes around! Families are living of the historical crimes there forefather committed whilst the victims families are still suffering! Open your eyes and look around.

[@louisgiokas2206]

I used to do a lot of business in Bristol, in the early part of this millennium. I also took my family there in my Alfa Romeo GTV. The boys were small and did not mind the back seats. What one must remember is that the triangular trade was quite legal at the time. Another thing to consider, something I have just heard, is that there are more people in slavery today than in those times.

[@Thrill_Hou]

Just because it was legal doesn’t make it morally correct.

[@louisgiokas2206]

@@Thrill_Hou True. But it was the norm throughout ALL of human history. If we project our current morals on the past, then we will have little or no past to contemplate according to your judgement. And this becomes a never-ending descent into ignorance.

[@Candolad]

@@Thrill_Hou slavery is popular and always, has been. We still believe in slavery otherwise there wouldn't be such a market to buy from the developing world like China, India, Indonesia, etc.

[@alanjenkins1508]

Morality is invented, it is not innate. That is the mistake all SJWs make. They should be celebrating how Britain fought the general moral consensus of the world to start the process of making slavery unacceptable. Britain spent a lot of money patrolling the seas to intercept slave ships.

[@scatton61]

I am sick to death of the slavery argument. The people who did the most business in the slave trade were the black warlords who captured them and then sold them to whoever had the money. It was the British who abolished the slave trade and if there wasn't a British empire and it's world stage power, it would have gone on much longer. In fact, it is still going on in Africa by Africans....

[@elkpaz560]

There is no reason to think it would have not gone on forever. In fact, some would argue forms of slavery continue today. And now we're 'talking about' enforced injection of drugs into our bodies - what does a slave not own - their own bodies.

[@ashlibabbittcroakedit9108]

You all tell them same lie, you claim that you made very little money from slavery, but it lasted for nearly 300 years. And if it was so unprofitable, then why where slave revolts put down . Why did it take a civil war in America to get rid of it. And why did it take campaigners so long to get it abolished in the uk and the empire

[@scatton61]

@@ashlibabbittcroakedit9108 What did Africans do to abolish slavery????? oh yes I know.... nothing as they made too much money out of it... Where did i claim that very little money was made? I made no money out of the slave trade. .... It took the British empire and it's navy and many 1000s of lives to abolish it and the UK taxpayer has only just (2015) finished paying bank the loan it took to cover the cost. So without a doubt I and every single UK taxpayer have been paying money to end the slave trade.... Have you??? The black slave takers in Africa did the most business. Slavery was done all over the world by all races and firstly by Black slave owners selling black slaves. The first person to legally own slaves in northern America was a black man. Slavery is still practised now in Africa by black slavers. What are you going to do about that?

[@elkpaz560]

@@ashlibabbittcroakedit9108 It took a civil war in America because those high minded yankees refused the pragmatic humanistic approach of the British - to pay the slave owners for the loss of their property rights to enable the liberty of their slaves. The British have only stopped paying a portion of their taxes to deal with that debt but it meant there was no violent resistance to the manumission.

[@ashlibabbittcroakedit9108]

@@scatton61 People have been convicted of modern day slavery in Britain

[@heddashaven6900]

I'm really looking forward to this!! Thank you, Dr Starkey!

[@janebaker966]

Bloody Hell. I've just learned that slavery ended(officially) in the Ottoman Empire in 1924 and in Persia (Iran) in 1929. Why are we beating ourselves up.

[@lorihenderson673]

I am a lefty guardian 60 plus person can I put my head above the parapet and say people who rip down statues are contemptible and non contextual

[@pfranks75]

I get that sick feeling the people pulling down statutes have a warped since of justice but it’s just the height of ignorance!

[@entropy5431]

The irony is 90% of people think ripping down statues is ridiculous but you think you are putting your head above the parapet. Perhaps try not reading the Guardian and watching the BBC for at least 50% of your media consumption and you will get a more balanced view.

[@margaretingleby679]

They are like us all the descendants of religious fanatics who burned non believers at the stake and also assorted morons who dunked witches and killed non conformists out of fear and ignorance , if unchecked they rise like covid then hopefully sudsides .

[@Saddamuel]

Ok. They are contemptible. Now what? They got their way. I was a libertarian conservative type but seeing the reality of politics has cured me of this idiocy. The law is whatever you are allowed to get away with. Political indoctrination of other people's children using tax money is also contemptible, but they get away with it. So if I want justice to be served I need the power to have the authorities turn a blind eye to the enforcement of my preferences or for the law to actually be changed in order to allow for justice to be done to those who consider me an enemy. I thank the statue topplers, leftists and weak conservatives for revealing this dark truth.

[@dereklund2321]

Thank you, Dr Starkey. Your ability to thoroughly research a topic and present the facts in their proper context is a much needed antidote to all the cheaply acquired dogma and sweeping statements that seem to dominate our world.

[@AngryBootneck]

Superb, as always. I wish I could make history this interesting without shouting/swearing/constantly referring to the French as c*nts.

[@JPoulAndersson]

A beautiful talk, perhaps the best so far. Thank you again Dr. Starkey!

[@happyreaper5429]

Another great talk with insight into history. Oxford’s loss is our gain.

[@swirvefrance]

Cambridge I believe. I doubt he would approve of the transposition.

[@Semper_Iratus]

As other well know people have stated, “moralists make for bad historians” and “history is at the mercy of modernity”.

[@darringodden7225]

I always hope after listening to David that he is a happy and content man. He certainly gives me happiness and widens my appreciation of teachers. Thank heavens for them.

[@Olivia-io9sb]

As ever, an excellent broadcast. Thank you. I'm an ex-Bristolian now living in France, and am saddened by the revision of history of this gloriously diverse city. The desire of this loud minority is to reduce all the colour to a monochrome, not to learn from history, but to declare a 'year one'.

[@arthurgilliard5572]

As an ex-Bristolian I feel the same. Plastic Bristolians now run the city which is very sad.

[@philipbrooks402]

Truly awesome. Life is a little more complicated than the snowflakes would have us believe.

[@cyclesgoff9768]

Interesting and illuminating. I can’t quite understand how the iconoclastic vandals managed to fool the court 😱. I feel totally out of step with my fellow citizens on the jury.😉

[@tonydiamond1875]

Dear Cycles Goff, the prosecution failed (and failed very badly) to prove their case. Nobody was fooled, least of all your fellow citizens on the Jury. The Defence, on the other hand, was excellent. If this had been a cricket match, the Defence would have won by 1,000 runs. Our judicial system is adversarial, and this wasn't even a close contest. The Prosecution were routed. Of course, I understand your point- it seems to be all out of kilter, doesn't it? That's because the Trial really had nothing to do with the events that provoked it. 'Twas ever thus.....

[@cyclesgoff9768]

@@tonydiamond1875 As a Scot I don’t really understand cricket. But I get your point 👍🏻.

[@georgehetty7857]

@@tonydiamond1875 Could it be said that the prosecution and defence tried two different cases, one was the actual charge, the other an opinion?

[@janebaker966]

The covid ongoing situation has showed up only too clearly how stupid most people are. Yes,and me in my own way. I bet none of the jury wanted to be THE BAD ONE who was siding with slavery and getting dirty looks from the others.

[@luckybag6814]

@Tony Diamond I don’t think either prosecution or defence were relevant in the instant case. The jurors took the knee to the mob, that is all.

[@simonpritchard6609]

Time spent listening to David is never wasted. Time just flies by

[@stumccabe]

Thank you Dr Starkey - fascinating.

[@rumdo5617]

Good point, we’ll made. My plaque would read ‘Rum Do - Creator and Destroyer’ and ‘leave my bloody statue alone, you eejit’.

[@louisgiokas2206]

When I worked at NASA there were always digital clocks everywhere that displayed the time in Zulu time. This was GMT without any daylight savings time. We became adept in converting this to local time. It was a testament to our mathematical acumen.

[@KennethFord-y7c]

I can’t get enough of this great man!!!

[@juvenalsdad4175]

I lived in Bristol for many years, and the controversy over Edward Colston has been rumbling along for a long time, and is not just a recent manifestation of the 'woke'. Some time ago (six or seven years?) it was proposed to do exactly what Dr. Starkey said at the end of this video i.e. replace the plaque on the statue's plinth with a more comprehensive view of Colston's life. For some reason, this never happened, but had it done so, I don't think any of this would have happened. Then again, they might just have moved on to Edmund Burke, who's statue resides a few yards up the road. I'm sure he must have done something terrible. Mr. Arrowsmith seems to be what in my time was known as a 'Brist-alien', an incomer (as I was) who developed the zealotry of the convert for their adopted home. I think his assessment of Bristol as falling behind Manchester, Liverpool etc. is a bit harsh. The Floating Harbour is undoubtedly one of the great engineering projects of the early industrial era, and paved the way for Bristol's importance in trades such as timber, sherry from Jerez (where I now live), and most notably, tobacco, which continued until after WWII.

[@marycrawford1594]

There's a statue of Neptune a few metres from Colston's now empty plinth.

[@juvenalsdad4175]

@@marycrawford1594 Yes, I remember they moved it from the other end when they re-vamped the area. I'm sure he must have done some dreadful things as well.

[@robinmorritt7493]

Colston Hall had already been renamed. For this reason I would say that the City Council would have got round to dealing with it at some point. Apart from having to take decisions in the present febrile political climate, the Mayor of Bristol did tell the Parliamentary Select Committee that he didn't see it as a red hot priority as it meant diverting resources from other important programmes. He mentioned investing in the schools as an example.

[@GTJ65]

@@juvenalsdad4175 Yes, I'm sure he must have had that fork for some bad purpose.

[@Sardonic100]

The main reason that the plaque on the Colston's plith was that the Bristol society of merchant venturers refused revised texts four times. They didn't want any reference to slavery at all. If they'd granted the new text, almost no-one would have read it and the statute would still be there. Bit of an own goal really. Also while the floating harbour is impressive, Liverpool had built one at beginning of 19th century, Bristol's comes at the end of the 19th century. Bristol had become complacent and didn't invest enough early enough.

[@newcjon]

Like having polydore Vergil or Thomas Carlyle beamed to your phone in real time. Quite unreal! 😀

[@MrDelbert1210]

David, your sound quality is not great on this one. Interesting though

[@gavinmillar7519]

Very clear explanation. Good lecture and interesting. Thanks David!

[@thewarsmith1078]

You know it's a spicy one when the man has a different bookcase in the background

[@juliecox4000]

Excellent broadcast, genuinely thought provoking

[@annefussey4226]

Thank goodness we have someone like David Starkey to listen to,a proper historian unlike some that trade off the slave trade for their own ends by making TV programs and writing inaccurate books for profit.

[@louisgiokas2206]

David, you are a treasure. Like my younger son I like reading science and mathematics, but also history. When I moved to the Mid-West from the East Coast, the movers informed us that we had 3K pounds of books. That was 29 years ago, I have not slowed down. Some are electronic, and I have many, many of those. But I still like physical books. I am about ten years younger than you but have still that connection to the physical book. In fact, some of my math, computer science and statistics books that I originally purchased as digital books, I have bought as physical books.

[@margaretingleby679]

David Starkey is a brilliant educator he relates events from history as if it happened weeks ago and is bringing you up to speed .

[@kirpalani-griffin3706]

Great to see this, and a great perspective. Thank you. The channel is a real treat - seems like a natural fit. Great stuff.

[@donaldcatton4028]

Let us now invade Highgate and destroy the monument of that scribbler whose ideas were essential in slaughter of a couple of 100 Millon souls.....

[@jimbrown3766]

As Muhammad Ali said after visiting Africa "thank god my granddaddy got on the boat"

[@TheMartincheek]

I love the idea of architect and vandal to commemorate Basil Spence !! I think what David Starkey says in this talk is exactly right.Universities with any gumption ought to be be glad of his scholarship.

[@philipbrooks402]

Unfortunately, there are no 'universities with any gumption.'

[@lalaholland5929]

@@philipbrooks402 right. On the advice of an American student Oxford removed a portrait of HMTQ.

[@crashrr2993]

Absolutely brilliant! I loved all the details of the backstory, and wondered how on earth you were going to tie a knot in this complex story. The last sentence was worth the wait. Thank you so much.

[@alistairjenkins7973]

Always so well thought out, researched and deep insight. Bravo

[@davidevans3227]

greetings from Cardiff! just across the water.. another old forgotten port.. thankyou for sharing this 🙂 x

[@clnre]

Thank you once again for having the courage to tell the truth.

[@David-uf8ex]

You speak intelligence and truth . Both missing from a students mind

[@BaronMichaelDeBlone1066]

Saying they have a mind in the first place is being kind to the majority of them. Over twenty years ago now but I remember it like yesterday when one bozo was kicking off about a tutor's comment on one of his sources for a political history essay: [wickipedia] Not a recognised academic source! I resisted the temptation to point out that you can click on links at the bottom of the page to find out where they claim to have found the information - as in check it out by actually reading a book. That clown was in his late twenties, last I heard he was working in a school! University admissions depts have a lot to answer for.

[@Vintagevanessa99]

a wonderful 360 degree lecture thankyou

[@nickjung7394]

Once again, thank you very much. I never realised that people (such as the rioters in Bristol) could so easily shoot themselves in the foot. People of London, be careful who you support!

[@58frascatti]

One of your finest. Perhaps an appropriate theme for a national cultural project...find a fitting historical figure whose best and worst characteristics are honestly declared. Might help people wrap their mind around the fact that all humans are thus created. Might save a few remaining statues in the process. 😂😂😂

[@silentone11111111]

Glad I got to the end on that one as a great point. Statues as items of debate not idols for worship or destruction. Good vid 😀

[@andyash5675]

Thanks David. I'm so glad you decided to do this.

[@j0nnyism]

I find it odd that the lobbyists bent on destroying images of the unworthy have not demanded the art of Caravaggio to be removed. Is not murder the greatest of our moral failings?

[@philsooty5421]

Love this man he's so informative and interesting!

[@matthewnightingale4585]

Thank you so much for this and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in future.

[@AntPDC]

Excellent article, thank you David. But do, please, have a word with whoever is in charge of the technicals. The sound here is terrible: sibilant and low-bandwidth. There are occasional video snafus too - both in this upload and some other recent ones. Best wishes.

[@lalaholland5929]

Definitely sibilance

[@GTJ65]

Yes I'm afraid I concur. I finished up watching with subtitles.

[@JTonson]

Well done, this is brilliant.

[@johnwood2448]

Hi David, if you care to read this, admittedly extremely long winded, view of Bristol it might cover some of the areas you were probably not that familiar with. The Bristol Channel and River Avon both have massive tidal ranges which prohibits ships from accessing either the Floating Harbor or Avonmouth Docks for two large periods of time each day. The Floating Harbor was constructed at a time when ships were built of wood and constrained to the size of the trees they were constructed of. With the proving of iron and over time steel as a substitute for wood in shipbuilding merchants, then as now, seeked to exploit the economies of scale by building bigger and bigger vessels which exacerbated the problems of tidal access to Bristol as well as bringing in to focus the constraints of a port that was unable to be upgraded to handle these larger ships, however both Avonmouth Docks as well as the newer facility at Portbury are still open for commercial shipping. Bristol's private sector Tramways Company decided to electrify their system in the 1890's but, possibly because of financial constraints were not able to purchase land on which to build two new Tram Stations. A new one serving the eastern suburbs was created on what had previously been the Bristol's Market Square. The main new Tram Station was built on top of a concrete raft constructed over part of the Floating Harbor when this section had become unviable for shipping companies to operate in. In the 1890's there were no Student Loans or Grants for people from middle or lower income groups to take advantage of if they wished to further their education so money from funds such as the one operated by the trustees of Colston's estates was a vital form of funding for these people. Electrical, Civil and Mechanical Engineers engaged on the conversion of this section of the City Docks whose ability to study had been financed by Colston's money wished to show their appreciation to him by having, partly at their own expense, a statue erected as a focal point of this new public transport hub. Slavery and abject poverty wages are repugnant however it would be interesting to find out whose backs the grandparents or great grandparents of the four well to do young people who instigated the toppling of this statue made their own fortunes from but I guess that's not a question that should ever be asked in today's politically correct times. Bristol has had other ventures into the transatlantic trade and was heavily involved in the Anglo French Concorde project which produced an aircraft which could carry extremely low numbers of passengers, thus lowering its ability to exploit its full market potential and consumed vastly more aviation fuel per passenger mile than its non supersonic American counterparts and has unfortunately had the runway adjacent to this factory demolished weakening its industrial base further. There was one cotton mill located adjacent to Bristol's only canal but it could not compete with its northern counterparts. Spare parts that were easily available from manufacturers in Manchester had to be either stockpiled, which was expensive in terms of capital and space required to store it or had to be sent down from the North by train thus taking up to a day out of production schedules. The City does still have a soft underbelly of political activity that has at times brought politicians from both of Britain's main political parties to say some pretty hurtful things. The current mayor whilst praising the crowd that pulled down the Statue was at pains to point out that he did not support others including those that had previously helped remove Colston from his plinth when they tried, thankfully unsuccessfully, to burn down the City's Main Police Station. This in turn provoked another politician standing as a prospective Councillor in Chichester, West Sussex, to suggest the RAF should blitz Bristol in a similar vein in which the Luftwaffe had done in WWII. The Conservative Party looked at the polling data from Bristol and decided that instead of getting this person to stand down and grovel a bit themselves this would not in fact alter the result and the likely outcome of a Labor Victory in the Mayoral Election was not worth the effort.

[@janebaker966]

This city has got a huge,well organized and keeping a low profile mostly subversive,class war,anti- privilege (which is a joke cos they mostly are) load of would be revolutionaries. I've had the odd glimpse. They like it here. So do I. Bristol is a fantastic city to live in. Since about the 1980s.Im old enough to remember when it was a stuffy,class ridden backwater place. Then anyone cool wanted to escape to London. Now they all want to come here - and pull down statues!

[@stevenporter4845]

Very enjoyable piece.

[@FiveLiver]

Some issues with the sound quality.

[@uptoncriddington6939]

Interesting to explore how statuelessness related in Arrowsmith’s mind to Bristol’s relative statuslessness vis-a-vis the cities that had grown up and exceeded its pre-nineteenth century achievements. Also worth exploring is how the riotous events that saw the sudden removal and discarding of Edward Colston’s statue were an attempt to make him and, by extension, anyone even vaguely associated with him, i.e. the English and wider British of the eighteenth century and earlier who had been involved not only in the slave trade but also in the exploration of the wide work beyond European shores, into non-persons, and thereby to render them and this entire period of history statusless.

[@fhugheveleigh2]

I do agree with the double entry for Blue Plaques. Excellen approach.

[@northernlights8126]

Thank you for this wonderful presentation.

[@theknowledge.6869]

Very Informative. Thanks Mr Starkey.

[@vishypai7554]

So very informative and well balanced commentary. It is unfortunate that people are so used to seeing one side of the coin.

[@HostileButHonourable]

As always, well researched and fascinating. Whatever will the Wokieban make of it?.

[@jang3412]

Hostile but Honourable: Sir, the problem is it is unlikely such Woke Folk will watch the video, learn and think on it. We can only hope I'm wrong.

[@tomzablee]

Wokie's won't spend the time educating themselves with something like this. Otherwise, they wouldn't be wokies

[@theti5]

Very interesting context! The audio issues are quite distracting though - your voice is coming in and out, which hasn't been an issue with the other videos.

[@HeavensGremlin]

Splendid David - but get the sound sorted please...!

[@chrismac2234]

when being posted to the south of England I was told by my Rupert (officer) Bristol is to be avoided or traversed at pace.

[@abirdthatflew]

Architect and Vandal. Very funny. A few more jokes of that caliber, please Mr Starkey.

[@robertlewis4216]

I was in Parliament Square a while back when a BLM 'demo' was in progress. All under the watchful gaze of a statue of Jan Smuts, a keen advocate of apartheid. His statue remains unmolested. Draw from this what you will.

[@evolassunglasses4673]

We are in a struggle to save our civilisation, nothing less.

[@silversurfer5026]

Agreed

[@gkelly34]

Brunel’s screw doesn’t work! What are you talking about? I’m a civil engineer and I can assure you that not only did his ‘screw’ work at sea, it also worked in the air. I put Brunel and Leonardo da Vinci in the same category of genius

[@gkelly34]

I’m referring to the propeller which he designed. Maybe there was something else I, not aware of. Apologies

[@colinmartin2921]

I think that residents of Bristol should wear hair shirts in perpetuity, in order to atone for the evil actions of their forebears, and the city should be torn down and left as rubble as a lasting monument to the disgusting behaviour of the slave traders, and a giant statue of George Floyd should be erected in the centre.

[@janebaker966]

Ha Ha. Marvin's already drawing up the plans.

[@ImAMassiveBender]

Unfortunately history is reflective of the time it's written, the left wing, or rather PC version of history, will be the version written for now. It happens on the right too, Niall Fergusson's career got a big boost from being critical of Islam prior to 9/11, Rana Mitter is disgracefully poorly informed about China but pushes the idea that the KMT were the most effective opponents of Japan. As David Starkey said himself, he has been removed from the blue plaque committee.

[@dickyt1318]

Excellent

[@cdgirl87]

great video

[@Mark_Dyer1]

I love Bristol: but one has to speculate why - if a mere statue represents a 'hate-crime' against immigrants - why the entire city does not represent the same? Surely, the entire city ought to be raised; and all self-respecting immigrants ought to move to somewhere in the UK where the African/Islamic/European slave-trade had no benefits. Erm.....where might that be?

[@Bushwacker-mb6hw]

Colston absolute legend done so much for Bristol

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Could you do a video on the “Great Reform Act”?

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Is there any way to increase the video volume from your end? I find it difficult to hear you even with my volume on maximum. I don’t want to miss anything, thanks.

[@mataform]

Use the subtitles. I have to as he does mumble sometimes!

[@johnblair2939]

What a great video.

[@doglover31418]

Good talk, but I think Dr Starkey errs when he says Bristol had no access to a good source of coal. Through the 19th C. the port of Newport was exporting welsh coal. Newport and Bristol are on opposite banks of the Bristol Channel.

[@cellbiologyshorts9105]

I agree that people are complicated, and have the bad and the good. I'm also fine to debate complex legacies. However if the aim of a statue is to stimulate debate, why don't we have statues of villains as well?

[@janebaker966]

According to them we do.

[@nautilusshell4969]

What I've learned this evening Bristol was in decline in the 19th century after it failed to capitalise on the latter parts of the industrial revolution. According to Dr Starkey, Edward Colston was 'a business man'. According to wikipedia, however, he was a senior office holder in the Royal African Company for 12 years, during which period about 84000 humans were transported from Africa to the Americas by that company, and that of that 84000 people, about 19000 were estimated to have died en route. Now, I am sure that wikipedia is nor always correct, but, I wonder, when he was first involved with the RAC, did he not contemplate the nature of the business he was entering into or did he not even bother to enquire about it? For someone who was (in theory) Christian, I don't so much wonder about the standards of Colston's day (when it appears, humanity was truly considered to be a tradable commodity), but I DO wonder about the standards of late Victorians who, even at that time, considered someone such as Colston as worthy of having a statue erected to his memory, no matter how much money he had left to local charitable institutions. At the time when Colston's statue was erected, it was 30 years after the end of the US Civil War. Were people still so blind as to the intrinsic evil associated with the slave trade? I don't think that selling his shares in the RAC absolves him from criticism. The fact that he sold his shares to William III appears irrelevant to the argument. If anything it merely implicates William III in the slave trade (something I hadn't realised he was involved in). Don't bother melting down his statue - but I'm sure that there is somewhere it can be displayed with other, similarly discredited subjects. Along with some context. Perhaps he could be described as a business man, and slaver. None of us is an angel, but most of us don't make money from the trafficking of humans.

[@dlarge6502]

> At the time when Colston's statue was erected, it was 30 years after the end of the US Civil War. That happened in another country, what has that got to do with anything here? Stop revising history and reading Wikipedia. Wikipedia is like a map, the second you view a page it starts becoming out of date, the funny thing is that how it becomes out of date is very unique. One second it is a miss-quote, then the next day it is an un-cited reference, then the quote is corrected but the un-cited reference remains, then a few major paragraphs of total fiction is added, many weeks later after educating every child about the subject with this invented fiction, it is removed and corrected. Do you get a notification of this fact? To the kids get to re-learn the facts of the day? Wikipedia is an index, nothing more. A way to locate the actual sources of information. It is an overview at best. You only cited wikipedia... that is like learning a subject by reading the table of contents, index and blurb and a couple of reviews of the set text.

[@SynapseDriven]

People nowadays dont want to or cant think, maybe because of lack of of time or ability to do so, that is why they search to label everything, it's mincemeat culture, like hamburguers , easy to consume and providing dubious often negative nourishment.

[@bookie5667]

With respect to blue plaques, I believe that, if his identity was known, there'd be a plaque commemorating Jack the Ripper.

[@annemarieforprimeminister8020]

People can't just go about destroying whatever they like just because it offends their political sensibilities. The verdict was unlawful.

[@Saddamuel]

They can and they did. We saw it happen and they have faced no consequences: de facto, this is the law of the land. The only option is to work to make your preferences the de facto law and to laugh at them when they speak of justice, rights and rule of law.

[@nigelmansfield3011]

David Starkey - a brilliant and erudite historian.

[@marcinzadora2050]

There's also a financial history of England. Neo classical economy. What GB is struggling is a comunists establishment. Centralisation of banking system. Regions in every country can be self efficient, productive,if finances are operated for a regional purposes,first.... UK government is literally cashing a budget in London,shift it off shore,and buy an assets. It's a double state country.

[@WideCuriosity]

"Less than 1%"; and yet, and the end, "Neither one more important than the other" ? That reminds me of a joke about what a particular individual is called by the community. I won't repeat it all but the punchline goes along the lines of, "yet I **** one sheep !".

[@aaron6963]

I’d love to see and reckon the best way to punish the riots who tore down the statue and those who loved seeing it get torn down is for someone to put up a replica with a new plaque telling only good things and for the people to have no choice but to live with it on public display for 100 years for tearing down the original. The original statue and plaque can go into a museum with many facts, good and bad, about him and that not until after the replica has been on display for 100 years will people be allowed to vote for it to be removed because this was torn down.

[@Saddamuel]

Justice will only be served by the same kind of direct action that the topplers showed AND (this is the important bit) only at a time when the police and judicial system will exact no punishment on anyone who enacts justice upon the topplers and their ideological allies. The topplers have shown us the reality of power: "what ought to be" is irrelevant.

[@steven.ghodgson765]

Brilliant as usual.

[@beachdancer]

If much of Bristol was built from the triangle trade, does that mean the city needs to be torn down and thrown into the river?

[@bilonggrisimmeri]

Few if any 21st century artists can produce representational art. 19th century art schools had compulsory life drawing, and it shows in the quality of their work. Mark Quinn used a 3D printer for a Socialist Realism sculpture of Jen Reid, (and she lives off her white husband's money, just sayin'.) Isn't he merely a technician, relying on software and expensive kit? A little respect and humility towards superior art from the past is needed.

[@brianlopez8855]

Is the sound a bit distorted ? Great content as always.

[@AnimaChristisalvame]

I live in Bristol and walk past Colston's empty plinth every day. It just seems so meaningless that they pulled it down. Nothing has been put in its place, not even a woke statue, Thank goodness. But there has been a lot of renaming of streets and schools that Colston financed.