He also suggested statues of rugby player Clive Sullivan and boxer Joe Erskine - “other great Cardiffians of colour”. We all live and have lived here together. Now, Cllr McEvoy is calling for the Picton statue to be replaced with a statue of Billy Boston : a black rugby player from Cardiff, a “true son of Tiger Bay and legend in rugby league”.Ĭllr McEvoy said: “Cardiff is our proud capital city of Wales built by people from all parts of the world and countries closer to home like Ireland and England. He wrote to Paul Orders, chief executive of Cardiff council, in June 2018, and said: “Could the leadership discuss taking it out please? It really should not be there.” Neil McEvoy, leader of the Welsh National party and councillor for Fairwater, called for the removal of the Picton statue two years ago - but he said he was ignored. I think this museum should be similar to the National Holocaust Museums." “In this museum there should be detailed descriptions of their history. “My personal recommendation would be to call on the Welsh and UK governments to set up a National Slavery Museum where everything which relates to slavery is kept in one collection such as the statues of slave owners.
Also, we cannot change what has happened in the past. We cannot help where we are from and who we are descended from. “In fact, I feel rather embarrassed to admit I am related to him. However, while I am related to the Picton family, I do not defend the cruelty that Picton caused. In a letter to council leader Huw Thomas, he said: “Sir Thomas Picton’s grandfather, Owen Picton, was my eight-times-great grandfather.
Now questions have been asked about what to do with the statue, and what to replace it with in City Hall’s “Heroes of Wales” memorials.Īled Thomas said he was descended from the Picton family, and suggested putting the statue in a new national museum of slavery. Picton was a “sadistic slave owner” and colonial governor of Trinidad, and authorised the torture of a 14-year-old girl. A descendant of the Picton family said Cardiff’s statue of Thomas Picton in City Hall should be placed in a new museum of slavery.īoth the mayor and leader of Cardiff council called this week to remove the statue of the 19th-century war hero, following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
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