A memorial to a slave trader in Falmouth just got an honest heritage sign

In an act of protest, a group of concerned Falmouth citizens installed a large blue heritage sign on the front of the King Charles the Martyr Church in Falmouth. They put the 1.2 metre sign in place in the early hours of Sunday morning. This was to highlight the presence of a marble memorial within the church that celebrates the life of the Falmouth colonialist slave trader Thomas Corker.

Thomas Corker memorial: Falmouth citizens highlight slave trader history

Thomas Corker was England’s chief agent for the Royal African Company on York Island. He oversaw and profited from the kidnap, enslavement and sale of slaves, and the Royal African Company shipped more enslaved men, women and children to the Americas than any other trading company in the world:

An anonymous spokesperson for the community group stated:

We installed the blue sign to coincide with the enthronement of the new Bishop of Truro – the Rt Revd David Williams, and to appeal to him to proactively address the harm the Falmouth Slave Trader Memorial continues to cause. Despite four years of calls from our community, the Church have time and time again failed to meaningfully confront this harm, instead recently choosing to commission yet another historical report on the issue – effectively kicking the ball even further down the road.

The group explained that the sign was funded with private donations from the local community.

Historian Dr Alice Kinghorn compiled the church’s most recent report into the memorial. Kinghorn is an expert in the Church of England’s role in the slave trade. The report outlined that KCM church has:

a large number of memorials with colonial connections

It explores the Church’s intention to relocate the Thomas Corker memorial to a “less prominent position” at the back of the building, with the addition of some educational material.

In her assessment of this intention Dr Kinghorn stated that the continuing presence of a memorial glorifying a slave trader is:

inappropriate in a place of worship

Moreover, she argued that:

Churches are not the most appropriate space to teach people about chattel enslavement.

The report concluded that:

Due to the delayed process in addressing the Corker Memorial, it has now become a symbol of frustration with the Church of England’s response to racism and the legacies of African chattel enslavement.

Taking the church to task – for a second time

In October 2024, the same group of citizens drew local and national media attention to the slave trader memorial. They had donated and installed a brass information plaque alongside the memorial, without permission from the church. The church subsequently removed the brass plaque, staing that it caused “unnecessary distress” to volunteers and that it detracted:

from the very good and inclusive work we are doing.

On the website TripAdvisor, the Thomas Corker memorial has become the second most popular historical site in Falmouth after Pendennis Castle since then. Reviewers praised the addition of the brass information plaque.

Another spokesperson for the group stated:

The Falmouth Slave Trader Memorial is a blot on our town. As such we will continue to escalate our actions until the church address the ongoing harm it causes to the people whose families have been directly impacted. If the memorial isn’t promptly either removed or displayed alongside a clear, prominent and uncensored acknowledgement of Corker’s atrocities, then we will have no choice but to take further action. Hiding from both the evils of the past and the heartfelt voices of our community, should never be seen as an acceptable course of action. We the people of Falmouth welcome the new Bishop Williams and look forward to his proactive leadership in this matter.

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