London school changes name “due to slavery links”
Author: Rafi Benady | Wednesday 2nd September 2020
This should’ve been done a long, long time ago. Sir John Cass's Foundation Primary School in the City of London will rebrand to The Aldgate School, starting September.
A bust and statue of Sir John Cass will also be taken down.
It comes as the City of London Corporation launched a consultation to review landmarks with historic links to racism and slavery.
Sir John Cass's Foundation was set up as an educational charity in 1748 and funds work across London, concentrating on projects for young people.
On the foundation's website, Sir John Cass is described as "a merchant and politician, whose wealth posthumously was used to create the Foundation to deliver educational benefits to disadvantaged children".
It should actually read “this man ruthlessly kidnapped and sold black people to be used as livestock”. This is due to his heavy involvement in The Royal African Company, which was heavily involved in the Atlantic slave economy.
In a statement, the school’s governing board said: “Governors further proposed that the new school name should be one which is geographical rather than biographical, should retain a sense of the long history of the school and its links to the Sir John Cass's Foundation and the Church of England, and should celebrate its unique position as the only state-maintained school in the City of London."
