Bristol's Bishop Mike: Merchant Venturer Edward Colston profiting from slave trade is 'speculation'

Bishop Michael Hill private charter day sermon is 'puff piece' on slave trader Colston: Merchant Venturer Edward Colston profiting from slave trade is 'speculation'. Bishop Michael Hill praises philanthropists like Edward Colston and Bill Gates 'doing God's work': and Merchant Venturer Edward Colston profiting from slave trade is 'speculation'. Bishop Mike, Edward Colston Slave Trade 'Speculation' Merchant Venturers Charter Day Bristol Cathedral 10 Nov 2014Show more

“And I think of Edward Colston. I think he was a man who lived a life of significance, and I’ve found there may be still some speculation however, on some of the circumstances around his business roots right here. It is speculation.“

Bishop Mike Edward Colston Slave Trade Speculation Merchant Venturers Charter Day Bristol Cathedral 10 Nov 2014

“And I think of Edward Colston. I think he was a man who lived a life of significance, and I’ve found there may be still some speculation however, on some of the circumstances around his business roots right here. It is speculation. “

Bishop Michael Hill: Merchant Venturer Edward Colston profiting from slave trade is 'speculation'

Published on Nov 10, 2014

Bishop Michael's comments about Edward Colston's involvement with the slave trade being 'speculation' start here

4mins 35s (mono) ?t=28 seconds in
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tNHBdpvGYHc

The Society of Merchant Venturers recognises Charter Day each year on 10th November (or on the closest Monday after the 10th if the 10th falls on a weekend). Charter Day itself commemorates the granting of the Royal Charter by Edward VI in 1552, endorsed (in error) by Charles I in 1639.

At today’s Merchant Venturers’ Charter Day Service in Bristol Cathedral the Bishop of Bristol The Right Reverend Michael Hill made the extraordinary statement to hundreds of schoolchildren in his sermon that rumours Bristol born seventeenth and eighteenth century merchant and MP Edward Colston made money from the slave trade are just ‘speculation’.

It is not known how much the former slave trading Society of Merchant Venturers pay for the exclusive hire of Bristol Cathedral every year for their November Charter Day service which brings together pupils of Colston Boys’ School, Colston Girls’ School and the new Merchants’ Academy in Withywood, but the sum is believed to be considerable.

The comments about Edward Colston’s involvement with the slave trade being ‘speculation’ start here. Controversial comments begin 28 seconds in:

“And I think of Edward Colston. I think he was a man who lived a life of significance, and I’ve found there may be still some speculation however, on some of the circumstances around his business roots right here. It is speculation. “

Dialect Radio was Bristol’s first weekly internet radio show which was originally webcast in 2002. It broadcasts a mixture of local human interest stories along with analysis of community issues from right to housing to radical history.

Bristol bishop says slave trader remarks 'misinterpreted' 12 November 2014
Bishop Hill said he was referring to the "speculation around the morality of Colston's business dealings"
The Bishop of Bristol said comments in a sermon which dismissed Edward Colston's links to the slave trade as "speculation" were "misinterpreted".
Remarks about the 17th Century slave trader were made by the Right Reverend Michael Hill at Bristol Cathedral.
He was reported as saying, to a private audience, that "there may be still some peculation around his business roots".
Bishop Hill said he was referring to the "speculation around the morality of Colston's business dealings".
Edward Colston, an official of the slave trading Royal African Company, made a significant proportion of his money directly or indirectly from the trade.
He also donated considerable sums to charitable causes across the city, resulting in an ongoing controversy about how he is remembered.
On Monday, Bishop Hill was addressing a private audience at the annual Merchant Venturers' Charter Day service at the cathedral.
According to Tony Gosling, who was in the congregation, the bishop said he thought Edward Colston had "lived a life of significance" and there "may be still some speculation on some of the circumstances around his business roots right here [in Bristol]".
"What I heard the bishop say was: 'It is speculation'" he said.

'Misinterpreted by some'
But Bishop Hill said he was "against all forms of slavery" and was "sad" his message had been "misinterpreted by some".
"The speculation, I was trying to refer to was there are some people who see Colston as completely tainted by his past and there are others who see his efforts as philanthropic," he said.
"I was in front of a congregation that had three schools in it, and two of them had directly benefited from Colston.
"Colston, despite his ill-gotten gains, did some things that were significant and the children and elderly in our city have benefitted from his benefaction