A school has changed the titles of five of its six houses to remove names of people associated with the slave trade.
Liverpool’s Blue Coat School said they were being renamed as they “didn’t reflect the modern world”.
The high school was asked to remove the name of its founder, maritime merchant Bryan Blundell, following the 2020 Black Lives Matter campaign.
The school also now removed the names Shirley, Graham, Bingham and Styth due to their historical links to slavery.
The city of Liverpool played a key role in the triangular trade and many of its streets, place names and other features are named after figures connected to the trade.
In a letter to parents, the Wavertree school acknowledged it had come to the end of a “long process” but said it was an “important one to get right,” the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
After an 18-month consultation, Headmistress Scilla Yates said the school had developed a set of house names that “better reflect our society and our current values”.
The houses were named for people who pioneered science, who challenged slavery and who served their country, and inspired students through their “values, experiences, and ability to overcome challenges.”
The new houses will be Marie Curie, Dr. Rosalind Franklin, William Roscoe, Mary Seacole, Alan Turing and the Tod family.
dr Franklin was an Anglo-Jewish scientist who conducted a series of experiments and contributed to the discovery of DNA during World War II, while Mr Roscoe served as an MP in Liverpool denouncing the slave trade.
Mary Seacole was a British-Jamaican nurse, businesswoman and humanitarian who provided food and supplies to soldiers during the Crimean War.
The Tod family have supported the school for over 50 years and helped keep it open through the 1980’s.
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A portrait of Blundell in the library and a memorial stone in the chapel remain, but are accompanied by plaques to educate students about the slaver’s past.
The annual Founder’s Day also continues as “an educational opportunity for students to learn more about the school’s heritage, so that the school does not ‘celebrate’ our Founder, but educates our students about our history in an open and honest way.”
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