The toppling of Edward Coulston's statue in Bristol was a visual reminder of the ongoing campaign to tell the real story of Britain's slave trading history, and to tell the truth about those figures who grew rich and influential (and their descendents to this day) on the profits of this vile trade.
Many local people may not know of the role played by our own local slave master...
We're not calling for the follies and monuments to be pulled down, incidentally, but for the real story behind these visible and living pieces of history to be told.
Eastbourne Trades Council has added its name to this statement from Sussex Stand Up To Racism:
"John ‘Mad Jack’ Fuller (1757-1834) was the wealthy Squire of Brightling near Battle in East Sussex and Tory MP for Sussex from 1801 to 1812. Fuller still currently enjoys a reputation as an eccentric and philanthropist, and his nickname of ‘Mad Jack’ originates because of a number of follies he constructed around his estate, the most famous being a large pyramid shaped mausoleum which dominates Brightling’s churchyard. (Photo 127559593 © David Dennis | Dreamstime.com)
Less well recognised and appreciated about Fuller is that he was a slaveowner and in many ways ‘East Sussex’s Edward Colston’ as a large section of his wealth (and that of the wider Fuller family) came from the profiteering from the barbaric exploitation of forced labour on two plantations in colonial Jamaica, the Knollis estate in St Thomas-in-the-Vale [now St Catherine] and Grange Pen in St Catherine
(more information here)
A vociferous anti-abolitionist he used his position as a Tory MP to try and prevent the end of slavery. Fuller belonged to the West India Interest, a powerful lobby group that financed racist pseudo-science to show that enslaved Africans were degenerate and sub-human. When he died in 1834, he left an estate of £160 000 (£20 million in today's terms) which included about 270 enslaved people (more information here)
While some institutions like the Church of England, National Trust and the Royal Institution have begun to distance themselves from Fuller when informed of his role in colonial slavery, with for example the Royal Institution recently ending their Fullerian Professorship scheme, there are still other institutions and organisations that continue to retain their links to this slaveowner.
We therefore call upon all such institutions and organisations to fully and unequivocally accept that any scientific, cultural and social advances attributed to Fuller result from money gained from the exploitation of thousands of enslaved Africans, and publicly end their association with Fuller. "
