Culture secretary overrides Historic England’s judgment on controversial plaque for Victorian imperialist
The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, has been accused of stoking culture wars after deciding to grant listed status to a controversial plaque commemorating the Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes at aThe decision to grant the plaque Grade II listed status overrides an earlier judgment by Historic England determining that the plaque lacked the “richness of detail” required for listed status.
“Cecil Rhodes has become a rallying point for imperiophiliacs, and the slogan to ‘retain and explain’ is just part of the ongoing effort to whitewash his legacy and that of the empire more generally. Luckily, most of us don’t get our history from statues or plaques.” Sathnam Sanghera, the author of the bestselling book Empireland, tweeted: “Why govern when you can just play in the culture wars?”
The college later decided not to take this forward because of the costs and complexities involved, since the Rhodes statue is already Grade II listed, and opted instead to focus on improving access to scholarships for UK students of African and Caribbean heritage and students from sub-Saharan Africa.
Dorries determined that the plaque had architectural interest as a “fine example” of its genre created by a notable sculptor, Onslow Whiting, in 1906, and as “an unusual and elaborate personal tribute”. She said Rhodes was a “nationally and internationally important individual whose life and work impacted fundamentally on the story of British imperialism in southern Africa in the late 19th century”.
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