Person    | Male  Born 19/12/1709  Died 21/6/1770

William Beckford, Alderman

Lord Mayor of London 1762 and 1769. Born Jamaica. Inherited a fortune from the family slave-based business. Lived at 22 Soho Square (the house has been demolished) from 1751 until his death while travelling from the family seat at Fonthill to London. His only legitimate son, William Beckford the younger, was born in Soho Square in 1759 and went on to write the gothic novel, Vathek. Guildhall contains a statue to Beckford Sr, at the east end of the south wall.

2020: Following the Black Lives Matter protests there are reports that the Beckford Primary School in Hampstead will change its name. And calls for the statue in the Guildhall to be removed.

2021: The statue in the Guildhall will be "re-sited and replaced with a new work". A few months later: Beckford gets a stay of execution. October - there was a vote to retain the statue and just add a plaque.

2022: Lost London has an interesting post about this anti-abolitionist.

2023, July: The Guildhall statue will be kept in place and an explainer plaque added "later this year".

2023, October: Robert Beckford, "a descendant of the people he enslaved" wrote an article in the Guardian: "... a plaque is not sufficient to recontextualise the acts of a West Indian mass murderer."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
William Beckford, Alderman

Commemorated ati

Spirit of Soho Mural

Interesting that Coca Cola are specifically mentioned on the panel but not as...

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir William Robert Pryke

Sir William Robert Pryke

Lord Mayor in 1925-6. Born Hoxton. Chairman of Pryke & Palmer Ltd, iron and hardware merchants. Member of the governing body of the Irish Society though we could find no immediate Irish heritag...

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration, Ireland

1 memorial
David Henry Stone

David Henry Stone

Chairman of the managers that ran the 1873-75 changes at Aske’s Hospital. Lord Mayor of London 1874-5.

Person, Lord Mayor, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sir John Lyon

Sir John Lyon

Sir John Lyon was a wealthy City merchant and a grocer, and Lord Mayor of London 1554-5. He was first cousin to John Lyon who founded The John Lyon School.

Person, Commerce, Food & Drink, Lord Mayor

1 memorial
Sir Hugh Bidwell, Lord Mayor
2 memorials

Previously viewed

Ledley King

Ledley King

Footballer. Born in Bow. He spent his entire career playing for Tottenham Hotspur. He also made 21 international appearances for England, scoring twice and representing the nation at the UEFA Euro ...

Person, Sport / Games

1 memorial
G. Blisset
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
London County Council

London County Council

Prior to the LCC London matters were run by church parishes. The LCC was the first directly elected strategic local government body for London. Replaced by the Greater London Council, covering a la...

Group, Politics & Administration

283 memorials
Cato Street Conspiracy

Cato Street Conspiracy

A plot to murder the Tory Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, and the whole cabinet, as they had dinner at a house on Grosvenor Square. The dinner had been announced in a newspaper but this was probabl...

Event, Nationalism, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II

Born 17 Bruton Street, to the Duke and Duchess of York. For information on where she was brought up see Byron Statue. When she was 10 her father became King George VI (on the abdication of his brot...

Person, Royalty, Seriously Famous

126 memorials