{"id":36581,"date":"2023-05-26T17:15:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-26T16:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogsnew.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=36581"},"modified":"2023-05-26T17:15:59","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T16:15:59","slug":"memorial-to-plantation-owner-and-slaver-john-gordon-removed-from-dorset-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=36581","title":{"rendered":"Memorial to plantation owner and slaver John Gordon removed from Dorset church"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>A memorial to an 18th Century slaver and plantation owner John Gordon has been removed from St Peter’s, Dorchester, reports the BBC.<\/h3>\n
image: for illustration – By Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=13586084<\/em><\/h6>\n

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\u2026 thought to be the first time a piece of contested heritage in a Church of England church has been removed to a museum\u2026<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

The BBC writes:<\/p>\n

A memorial to an 18th Century slaver has been removed from a church<\/p>\n

The plaque in St Peter’s, Dorchester, commemorates plantation owner John Gordon’s role in the deadly suppression of a slave uprising in Jamaica.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The memorial has had a\u00a0temporary cover<\/a>\u00a0since September 2020 when the parish council voted to remove the stone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The plaque, which includes what the church describes as a “totally unacceptable racist term”, will now be relocated to Dorset Museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It is thought to be the first time a piece of contested heritage in a Church of England church has been removed to a museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Campaign group Stand Up To Racism Dorset previously described the plaque as “a blatant and explicit glorification of white domination and the suppression of enslaved people”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It said it was “offensive and has no place in public view”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Gordon died in Dorchester in 1774, aged 46, during a visit to England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The stone’s inscription, which says he is buried nearby, hails his “bravery” and “humanity” for his “instrumental” part in quelling the 1760 uprising by slaves across Jamaica.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Up to 500 slaves were killed as colonial forces sought to put down the uprising.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A simple replacement plaque will only carry details of Gordon’s life and death following consultation with his descendants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Penny Sayer, Archdeacon of Sherborne, said: “Local people were asking if it was appropriate to have such a monument in a church, or is it more appropriate to have it somewhere else.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It is really important that the story is told, particularly because it mentions Tacky’s revolt which represents hidden voices, people whose stories are not often told.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There were very careful steps taken by the church to ensure the monument was researched and the right process followed.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The plaque will be held on loan at Dorset Museum and is available to view on request.<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A memorial to an 18th Century slaver and plantation owner John Gordon has been removed from St Peter’s, Dorchester, reports the BBC. image: for illustration – By Oast House Archive, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=13586084<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36581"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36583,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36581\/revisions\/36583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}