The statue of slave trader Robert Geffrye may be moved from the entrance of the Museum of the Home following a public campaign. After the Black Lives Matter uprisings in 2020, the figure of Geffrye, a merchant who made his wealth from the Atlantic slave trade, has come under scrutiny.
Hackney Stand Up to Racism protested in October with support of MP Diane Abbott, and called for a boycott of the museum, which used to be called the Geffrye Museum until they took down the statue. A consultation in July 2020 surveyed the opinions of over 2,000 people, with 78% responding negatively towards the statue, and 71% expressing the desire to remove it.
A post on the museum’s website stated: “there is potential to retain the statue on site but in an alternative and less prominent space.” The statue might be moved to the grave site of Geffrye, which is also on the grounds of the museum.
Former culture secretary Oliver Dowden said the statue should stay where it is, and that the museum should instead explain Robert Geffrye’s role in the slave trade.
When the museum reopened in June 2021, it included a panel beneath the statue with a brief overview of who Geffrye was.
Sasha Simic, prominent member of Hackney Stand Up to Racism, said that, despite the group’s clear wish that the statue is not destroyed, they will “keep protesting, keep demonstrating until the statue of Geffrye comes down”. In the meantime, Simic says that simply moving or covering the statue is “better than nothing.”
