Shrewsbury's Clive of India statue gets information board

Robert Clive has not been directly linked to slavery but is widely credited with engineering British colonial rule in India

An information board interpreting the colonial history of Robert Clive, known as Clive of India, has been installed.

The statue, which has stood in Shrewsbury since 1860, became mired in controversy with two petitions organised asking for its removal.

The controversy was based on Clive's role in engineering British colonial rule in India.

Shropshire Council decided to keep the statue but voted for the information board to be installed next to it.

The authority received a £7,000 grant for the board with its museum service drafting wording in consultation.

The project was then been unavoidably delayed by the Covid pandemic, it said.

Robert Clive was also MP and mayor for Shrewsbury

Debate over his presence followed a wave of anti-racism protests in the UK in 2020 in light of the death of George Floyd, the black American who died in the custody of Minneapolis police.

Protests in Bristol led to the toppling of a monument to slave trader Edward Colston.

In Shrewsbury, two petitions with 23,000 signatures were sent to the council calling for the statue to be removed and a third, with 8,000 signatures, saying removing it would erase part of the town's history.

Robert Clive served as MP and mayor for Shrewsbury

On Wednesday, confirming the new interpretation panel had been installed, Rob Gittins, cabinet member for culture and digital, said the authority was following current legislation surrounding contested history which was "retain and explain".

"The text has been composed by the Shropshire Museums curatorial and interpretative team in consultation with interested parties and has been agreed by Shropshire Council cabinet members," he said.

"Prior to the installation beside the statue the information was displayed close by in Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery."