Cast in Stone

How to cite this page Comment citer cette page

Items

• 1765, The Grant of Diwani
• 1769, Famine of Bengal
• 1773, Robert Clive's actions in Bengal, India are examined by a Parliamentary Committee
• 1814, public address of the Society for the Protection of Asiatic Sailors
  Appalled by the mistreatment and poverty suffered by Chinese and Bengali sailors employed on ships used by the East India Company, the Society of Friends makes an public appeal for their support
• 1834, Erection of Anti-Slavery Arch in Stroud
• 1857, Indian Rebellion
  A widespread rebellion across northern and central India against the oppressive rule of the British East India Company. It started with mutinies of Indian soldiers in the East India Company's armies, and escalated into widespread social uprising, including an attempt to reinstate Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mughal emperor, as the effective ruler of India. The rebellion was suppressed with spectacular violence by the British governments in India and Britain, and ended with mass executions and exile, including of the last Mughal emperor, to Burma.
• 1857, The Strangers' Home opened in Limehouse, London
• 1898, French soldiers face British army in Fachoda
  July 10, 1898: Mission Marchand moves to Fachoda on the White Nile after signing a treaty with Grand Mek Abd El Fadil, ruler of the Chillouks. September 19, 1898: General Kitchener's army arrives and demands that the French evacuate Fachoda. November 12, 1898: the Marchand mission withdrew, rejecting the British offer to pass through Egypt and opting instead for Djibouti.
• 1901, Redvers Buller is dismissed from the British Army
• 1902, Treaty of Vereeniging ends the Second Boer War
• 1903, Redvers Buller testifies before the Royal Commission on the South African War, 1899-1900
• 1904, Redvers Buller unveils a Boer War memorial in Tonbridge
• 1911, Memorial to Redvers Buller in Crediton Parish Church unveiled
• 1925, Indian Seaman's Union formed
  Organised by Nathalal Jagjivan Upadhyay, a Gujarati journalist, Indian sailors were organised in a union with demands for fair wages, working conditions, and end to racial discrimination. The earliest meetings were held at the London Docks and in Poplar Town Hall.
• 1928, Jacques Coeur "financier colonial"
  Parution d'un ouvrage historique sur Jacques Coeur qui exalte son rôle dans le commerce avec l'Egypte et l'Orient et qui le présente comme un précurseur de la domination française au Liban et en Syrie.
• 1935, Comité national d'hommage au Maréchal Lyautey
  Premier projet de statue de Lyautey à Paris.
• 1935, Creation of French Overseas Museum
  1933: reopening of the historical section presented at the International Colonial Exhibition 1935: the museum is renamed Musée de la France d'outre-mer (Museum of French Overseas Territories) 1960: the museum changes its name and mission to become the Musée des arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. 2003: End of the Museum, its collections are transfered to the new Musée du quai Branly
• 1936-1938, Félix Eboué, gouverneur de la Guadeloupe
  De 1936 à 1938, Félix Eboué est nommé Gouverneur de la Guadeloupe. Il est le premier gouverneur non-blanc et il est chargé d'appliquer la politique réformiste du gouvernement du Front populaire. En pratique, il s'efforce de faire appliquer les lois sociales en Guadeloupe contre le patronat qui a toujours réussi jusque-là à obtenir qu'elles ne le soient pas. Il est accueilli avec enthousiasme par la population, mais se heurte vite aux élus de tous bords. Il prononce plusieurs discours marquants : fin 1936, devant les ouvriers en grève de La Boucan et en juillet 1937 au lycée de Pointe-à-Pitre où il incite les lycéens à "jouer le jeu" pour se libérer des préjugés racistes auxquels ils se heurtent.
• 1941-1943, Melting en masse of statues in France
  Le 11 octobre 1941, le gouvernement de Vichy adopte une loi pour la « récupération des métaux non-ferreux » et crée une commission nationale et des commissions départementales chargées de désigner les statues à fondre. On estime que 1 700 statues ont été détruites entre 1941 et 1943 dont plus d’une centaine à Paris. Le métal récupéré a été livré aux Allemands. Les deux tiers des statues envoyées à la refonte représentaient des personnalités nationales ou locales. Le choix entre les statues à conserver et à sacrifier a obéi à un mélange de motivations politiques et esthétiques. Tout en étant convaincues que la « statuomanie » des cent dernières années avait encombré l’espace public de statues trop nombreuses et souvent médiocres, les villes et les communes, parfois la population, ont défendu « leurs » statues devant les commissions. Certaines ont été volées et cachées par patriotisme local et pour ne pas livrer de métal aux Allemands.
• 1946, Inaugural meeting of the York Civic Trust is held
  The first meeting of the York Civic Trust was held in in the Mansion House, official residence of the Lord Mayor of York. It was chaired by Archbishop of York, Dr C.F. Garbett, and the historian Prof. G.M. Trevelyan made a speech saying that the association's functions should be not only to preserve the beautiful antiquities of York but to develop a 'positive informed public opinion and cultivated taste.' He acknowledged that tastes changed with time and beautiful buildings would be built in the twentieth and twenty-first century too, but emphasized that the key words should be 'beauty, tradition, dignity and cleanliness.' The Archbishop, in moving for the adoption of the constitution, said that ancient buildings and interesting places had four major enemies: time, malice, commercial greed and ignorance, of which the last was the worst.
• 1951, Deuxième projet de statue au Maréchal Lyautey
  Create an equestrian statue of Lyautey, to be installed in a monumental avenue in the Bois de Vincennes.
• 1963, Bristol Bus Boycott
  A boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company in protest against their racially discriminatory policy of refusing to hire Black and Asian staff.
• 1963, Bristol Bus Boycott
  1963, Boycott des bus de Bristol
• 1969, James Baldwin visits the Albert Memorial in London
• 1980 St Pauls Riot, Bristol
• 1984, Third project for a statue of Marshal Lyautey in Paris
• 2007, Opening of the London, Sugar and Slavery Gallery
• 2010, Creation of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery
• 2020, "Doit-on déboulonner la statue du général Leclerc à Pontoise"
  Dans le cadre des élections municipales, la "Gazette du Val d'Oise" pose la question à chacune des listes présentées à Pontoise
• 2020, Address to the French people by the President of France
  An extract of Emmanuel Macron's speech: This economic, ecological and solidarity-based reconstruction will be the key to our independence. It will be prepared throughout the summer with our nation's driving forces so that it can be implemented as quickly as possible. France's independence also requires unity around the Republic if we are to live better. This is the second axis of this new stage. I see us dividing over everything and sometimes losing touch with our history. We need to unite around republican patriotism. We are a nation where everyone, whatever their origins or religion, must find their place. Is this true everywhere and for everyone? No. Our fight must therefore continue and intensify to ensure that everyone gets the qualifications and jobs that match their merits and talents, and to combat the fact that name, address and skin colour all too often still reduce the equality of opportunity that everyone should have. We will be uncompromising in the face of racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination, and strong new decisions will be taken. But this noble fight goes astray when it is transformed into communitarianism, into a hateful or false rewriting of the past. This fight is unacceptable when it is co-opted by separatists. I am telling you very clearly this evening, my dear compatriots, the Republic will not erase any trace or any name from its History. The Republic will not take down statues. Instead, we must take a clear-sighted look together at all our history, all our memories, our relationship with Africa in particular, in order to build a present and a possible future, from one side of the Mediterranean to the other, with a desire for truth and in no way to revisit or deny what we are. Nor will we build our future in disorder. Without republican order, there can be neither security nor freedom. The police and gendarmes on our soil are the guardians of this order. They are exposed to daily risks on our behalf, which is why they deserve the support of the public authorities and the gratitude of the nation.
• 2020, Murder of George Floyd
• 2020, The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHIEC)
  The WHO's PHEIC declaration for COVID-19 lasts from January 30th 2020 to May 5th 2023.
• 2020, UK politicians respond to the toppling of the Edward Colston statue
• 2020, UK Prime Minister delivers speech on Black Lives Matter
  The Prime Minister's speech read as follows: The death of George Floyd took place thousands of miles away – in another country, under another jurisdiction – and yet we simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that has been triggered by that spectacle, of a black man losing his life at the hands of the police. In this country and around the world his dying words – I can’t breathe – have awakened an anger and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice, a feeling that people from black and minority ethnic groups do face discrimination: in education, in employment, in the application of the criminal law. And we who lead and who govern simply can’t ignore those feelings because in too many cases, I am afraid, they will be founded on a cold reality. Yes, I am proud to lead the most ethnically diverse government in the history of this country, with two of the four great offices of state held by a man and a woman of Indian origin; and yes, I am proud of the work I began to lead more than ten years ago to recruit and promote more young black people, in the police and other walks of life. This country has made huge strides. I remember the 1970s, and the horror of the National Front. I truly believe that we are a much, much less racist society than we were, in many ways far happier and better. But we must also frankly acknowledge that there is so much more to do – in eradicating prejudice, and creating opportunity, and the government I lead is committed to that effort. And so I say yes, you are right, we are all right, to say Black Lives Matter; and to all those who have chosen to protest peacefully and who have insisted on social distancing – I say, yes of course I hear you, and I understand. But I must also say that we are in a time of national trial, when for months this whole country has come together to fight a deadly plague. After such sacrifice, we cannot now let it get out of control. It is BAME communities who have been at the forefront of the struggle against coronavirus – whether in health care or transport or social care or any of the other essential services that have kept our country going. And it is BAME communities, tragically, that have paid a disproportionate price. So no, I will not support those who flout the rules on social distancing, for the obvious reason that we risk a new infection at a critical time and just as we have made huge progress. And no, I will not support or indulge those who break the law, or attack the police, or desecrate public monuments. We have a democracy in this country. If you want to change the urban landscape, you can stand for election, or vote for someone who will. And so I must say clearly that those who attack public property or the police –who injure the police officers who are trying to keep us all safe – those people will face the full force of the law; not just because of the hurt and damage they are causing, but because of the damage they are doing to the cause they claim to represent. They are hijacking a peaceful protest and undermining it in the eyes of many who might otherwise be sympathetic. And as a society, we can and must do better. This month, on the 22nd of June, we celebrate the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, and we remember the contribution of the Afro-Caribbean workers – in the NHS and across all public services – who helped to rebuild this country after the war. And today, once again, we face a great task: to relaunch this country after Coronavirus. So let’s work peacefully, lawfully, to defeat racism and discrimination wherever we find it, and let us continue to work together across all the communities of this country, as we put Britain back on its feet.
• 2021, Kill the Bill protest in Bristol
• 2023, Creation of the British Public Monuments Related to Slavery (BPMRS) database
• Battle of Plassey
  On 23 June 1757, the armies of the Nawab (ruler) of Bengal, Siraj ud-daula, were defeated by those of the British East India Company in the battlefield of Palashi (anglicised as Plassey), 100 miles north of Kolkata (Calcutta). The victory was political rather than military, the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive and other officials, in collusion with prominent Indian merchants, had bribed factions of the royal family and the Bengal army to abandon the Nawab. As a result of this battle, the Nawab Siraj ud-daula was killed, and his relative, Mir Jafar was placed on the throne of Bengal with British East India Company backing. Huge amounts of treasure were gained by the Company as well as its individual officers, especially Robert Clive.