Gunwharf Quays backtracks over plans to host West Africa Squadron statue commemorating the fleet which freed around 150,000 slaves

The plight to memorialise the squadron faced a setback after the management of Gunwharf Quays reversed a previous verbal agreement to place the statue outside The Old Custom House. 

In an email to campaign manager Colin Kemp, operations manager Séan Sweeney explained the decision, saying the proposed memorial “lacked sensitivity and authenticity to what is a very emotive topic and dark part of our history as a nation”. The decision was made in consultation with the centre director, Landsec head office, and the “employee diaspora network”.

Colin Kemp criticised the decision, describing it as a “knee-jerk reaction influenced by the current woke agenda whenever the topic of slavery is mentioned”. He argued that the statue reflects a part of British history “we should be very proud of”, highlighting Britain’s role as the first country to enforce a ban on the slave trade.

The West Africa Squadron operated for 60 years following the passage of William Wilberforce’s Slave Trade Abolition Bill in 1807. During its tenure, the squadron is estimated to have freed around 150,000 slaves and seized 1,600 vessels. The operation consumed half of the Royal Navy’s budget at the time, equivalent to £50 billion today.

However, Professor David Andress of the University of Portsmouth offered a more critical perspective. He described the squadron as part of a “complex” and “overall very bleak history”. The professor of modern history said many of the freed slaves “were not returned to genuine liberty”, with up to a quarter dying and many others subjected to indentured labour far from home, including over 30,000 in the Caribbean.

Professor Andress also said the UK continues to resist demands for meaningful reparations from the descendants of enslaved people. “It is impossible to disentangle the profits of enslavement from the wider history of British economic development,” he said, adding that any commemoration must consider these contexts and “avoid a sense of celebration”.

The campaigners have said this setback could mean the statue is placed outside of Portsmouth. The memorial has been backed by Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt, who said the memorial “in no way diminishes the UK’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, far from it”.

“It does recognise the considerable efforts made by our Royal Navy to stamp out this vile trade after 1807 and the contribution made by this city as its home-base,” she added. 

“Indeed, more than 1,500 sailors gave their lives with many more injured in over a 60-year campaign, which at its height consumed two per cent of the UK’s GDP, equivalent to the entire defence budget last year. It was a moral campaign that many historians believe hastened the end of slavery. We will find a new site for the memorial, those who lost their lives deserve one.”