Counter-petition to keep Gladstone statue and name

The memorial stands in the grounds of Gladstone's Library in Hawarden

A petition opposing calls to remove a statue of William Gladstone and his name from a Flintshire library has gathered nearly 2,500 signatures.

A descendant of the 19th Century prime minister had said he would not oppose the statue being removed from Hawarden.

Gladstone Library's warden said a suggestion that protesters would gather to topple the statue on Friday did not materialise, but instead attracted supporters of the library's name.

Gladstone's father was a slave owner.

The calls for change came in the wake of protests which saw a statue of slaver Edward Colston pulled down by protesters in Bristol.

Two petitions have been started in recent weeks over the library's name - one to revert to its previous name of St Deiniol's, which changed to Gladstone in 2010, and one to keep the current name and the statue.

Gladstone's name will be removed from a university building in Liverpool.

William Gladstone died at Hawarden Castle in 1898

As a young politician, Gladstone spoke in favour of compensation to slave owners after the trade was outlawed, but changed his views on the subject as he grew older and supported liberal causes, the library said.

Peter Francis, warden and director of the library, where Gladstone lived in later life, said the numbers signing the supportive petition were "heartening".

"We've found it very heart-warming and encouraging, the amount of support we've had from the local community," he said.

"When my wife and I walk into town, we get stopped in a socially distanced way and people immediately say, 'I hope nothing happens' and 'you must keep the name and statue'."

He added: "We'd have a very high bar about the democratic process [to remove the statue] as it was put there by government so it would have to be either the UK government, or the Welsh Government if it is a devolved matter, who would make the decision."

Mr Francis told BBC Wales the library, which was established in 1889 and opened in its current home in 1902, was originally called Monad, meaning the "one truth" in Greek, but was quickly renamed after it was pointed out no-one knew what that meant.

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It was first called Gladstone Memorial Library, then because of its proximity to a church became Gladstone Memorial Library-St Deiniol's, which morphed into St Deiniol's.

It was renamed the Gladstone Library in 2010 following the bicentenary of Gladstone's birth at the end of 2009.

"You can get a sense of why it is Gladstone's library from his papers and his books, and that's why we changed it, because that is what it is," said Mr Francis.

"We also like the liberal stance of Gladstone and we admire his progressiveness and the way he was always happy to change his views over time.

"I remember [the late Labour MP] Tony Benn saying he admired him because he got more liberal as he got older," said Mr Francis, citing Gladstone's advocacy of home rule for Ireland and his support for smaller nations.

The library building opened in 1902

"It's rare and quite encouraging for politics. He was one of the first people to have an ethical foreign policy."

'Symbol of oppression'

The petition to rename the library argued Gladstone's family benefitted from compensation to slave owners for a long time.

"With the recent Black Lives Matter protests, a symbol of such oppression is not what our village supports.

"His history in building the library and initiating the collection of books held there are impactful yes, however the glorification of a man known to [have] negatively impacted the BAME peoples in our community cannot be celebrated," it said.

The opposing petition argued: "By our standards [Gladstone] held wrong views as a young man and matured and developed his moral values and character and did much good for many people.

"This is a great example to us all. It's worth remembering. If the name Gladstone is removed then we lose our heritage."