| Statue of Thomas Guy | |
|---|---|
 The statue in 2020 | |
| Artist | Peter Scheemakers |
| Completion date | c. 1732 |
| Subject | Thomas Guy |
| Location | London, England |
| Owner | Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation |
| Website | www.gsttfoundation.org.uk |
A statue of Thomas Guy stands in the forecourt of Guy's Hospital in the borough of Southwark in Central London. The statue is Grade II listed.
Due to Guy's controversial connection with the Transatlantic Slave trade, the statue has come under scrutiny. [1]
Thomas Guy was a British member of Parliament, investor and bookseller. He held shares in the South Sea Company. Due to a brief period where the company attempted to sell slaves in Spanish America, he is seen as a controversial figure.
The bronze statue was cast by Peter Scheemakers between 1731 and 1734. [2]
In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, many controversial statues became the target of attacks and scrutiny. The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan established the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm in order to review statues and monuments in the city. The Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust announced that they would work with Khan on the issue. The Statue was boarded up on 12 June. [3] [4] In November 2022, the hoarding around the statue was removed and a plaque explaining Guy's role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade was erected. [5]
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE, styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was the trusted lieutenant of British prime minister William Pitt and the most powerful politician in Scotland in the late 18th century.
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy's Hospital, King's College Hospital, University Hospital Lewisham, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, it provides the location of the King's College London GKT School of Medical Education.
Edward Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.
Evelina London Children's Hospital is a specialist NHS hospital in London. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and provides teaching hospital facilities for London South Bank University and King's College London School of Medicine. Formerly housed at Guy's Hospital in Southwark, it moved to a new building alongside St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth on 31 October 2005.
The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, and in particular, the role of British parliamentarians in the abolition campaign.
Sir Robert Clayton (1629–1707) was a British merchant banker, politician and Lord Mayor of London.
Robert Milligan was a prominent Scottish mercantile chamber member and slave owner who was the driving force behind the construction and initial statutory sectoral monopoly of the West India Docks in London.
Sir John Cass was an English merchant, Tory Member of Parliament and philanthropist. He was also a key figure in the Royal African Company, which was involved in the Atlantic slave trade.
St Saviour's War Memorial is a war memorial on Borough High Street, in the former parish of Southwark St Saviour, to south of the River Thames in London. It became a Grade II listed building in 1998 and was upgraded to Grade II* in 2018.
The statue of Robert Clayton stands at the entrance to the North Wing of St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London. The sculptor was Grinling Gibbons, and the statue was executed around 1700–1714. Sir Robert was a banker, politician and Lord Mayor of London. As President of St Thomas', he was responsible for the complete rebuilding of the hospital, and associated church in the late 17th century. The statue was designated a Grade I listed structure in 1979.
The Melville Monument is a large column in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh constructed between 1821 and 1827 as a memorial to Scottish statesman Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville.
The statue of Edward Colston is a bronze statue of Bristol-born merchant and trans-Atlantic slave trader Edward Colston (1636–1721). It was created in 1895 by the Irish sculptor John Cassidy and was formerly situated on a plinth of Portland stone in a public space known as "The Centre" in Bristol, until it was toppled by anti-racism protestors in 2020.
A statue of Robert Milligan was installed at the West India Docks in London, in 1813. Milligan was a merchant, and was largely responsible for the construction of the West India Docks. After being put in storage in 1943, it was re-erected by the London Docklands Development Corporation in 1997.
The statue of John Cass is a lead figure by Louis-François Roubiliac of John Cass (1661–1718), the English merchant and Member of Parliament. The original statue of 1751 now stands in the Guildhall in London. There is also a fibreglass replica at the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University in Jewry Street, installed in 1998.
A number of statues and memorials were the subject of protests and petitions during the George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom in 2020.
The Dunham Massey Hall sundial is a lead sculpture depicting a kneeling Black man holding a sundial on his head. It was created during the early 18th century, and until 2020 stood outside Dunham Massey Hall, a stately home in Cheshire, England.
David de Pury, Baron de Pury was a Swiss banker, merchant, and philanthropist. His involvement in Triangular trade, particularly diamond and precious wood trading between Europe and South America, earned him a vast fortune. He became a major benefactor for his home town, Neuchâtel, where he funded the construction of schools, hospitals, government buildings, and served as a patron of various local charities. De Pury has become a controversial figure in the 21st-century for his connection to the Atlantic slave trade through his business endeavors in Latin America.
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