London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 08, 2025

‘Huskisson defended slavery’: audio work recalls toppling of Liverpool statue in 1982

‘Huskisson defended slavery’: audio work recalls toppling of Liverpool statue in 1982

Work by Harold Offeh sheds light on pulling down of William Huskisson statue in aftermath of Toxteth riots
On a balmy summer night a group of young people tore down a statue because of its connections to slavery, tying a rope around its neck and yanking it from a plinth that still stands empty. This happened in Liverpool, not Bristol, and the year was 1982.

Now, an artist behind a new audio work that recalls the tearing down of the monument says he hopes it can shed light on a forgotten moment in race relations, which came almost 40 years before the removal of the Edward Colston statue.

The statue was of William Huskisson, a liberal Tory MP and financier, who is best remembered for being killed by George Stephenson’s Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester railway in September 1830.

Huskisson, while an MP for Liverpool, also supported slaveowners and opposed the abolition of slavery after changing his position when he moved to the city where wealthy plantation owners were hugely influential.

It was his support that made the statue, commissioned by Huskisson’s widow, Eliza, a target in July 1982 when it was torn down from its plinth on Princes Avenue. The statue now sits in Dukes Terrace in the city.

The audio work by Harold Offeh retraces what happened on that night, as the youth worker Stephen Nze, a 17-year-old at the time the statue fell, was later found not guilty of criminal damage, explains the night’s events.

Nze says the tearing down of the statue, which was achieved by pulling it off its plinth using a stolen Ford Cortina, was spontaneous and came after a period of sporadic unrest in the months after the Toxteth riots.

“[In 1982] people were still getting picked up by the police and there was still harassment,” he says. “We were confined to our areas and stuff like that. It wasn’t good.”

The bronze statue, which was moved to Toxteth from outside the Custom House inthe centre of Liverpool in the 1950s, became a symbol of the establishment, which many black scousers saw as hostile in the aftermath of the riots. It is based on a statue made by the Victorian sculptor John Gibson which still stands in Pimlico in London.

“Liverpool merchants were filthy rich,” says Laurence Westgaph, who runs tours around the city’s monuments and discusses their connection to slavery. “Big Sugar was like big oil or big tobacco today – so politicians basically did as they were told and Huskisson became someone who defended the continuation of slavery.”

Nze says that a year on from the unrest in 1981, whichincluded several days of violence between police and protesters, the removal of the Huskisson statue was seen as a jubilant moment for locals who had become more radical after the events of 1981.

“People started to organise in a community,” says Nze. “I was one of those young people at 17 who was influenced by that, I suppose. Did we plan to do it: no. Did we feel justified doing it: yes. Do we feel justified doing it to this day: yes.”

Offeh says he hopes the project can shed light on an important political moment for Liverpool and the rest of the UK. “For me, it’s very simple: it’s about people being aware of our history,” he says.

“We often turn to the United States to provide the live context of protests and resistance and rebellion, but it’s easy to forget that there are our own communities of colour that have resisted for hundreds of years.”

The plinth has remained empty, except when, in 2004, an artist placed an abstract sculpture there of the Native American activist and peace campaigner Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of the deaths of two FBI agents in 1976.

Offeh’s piece is part of the Statues Redressed project, in which several Liverpool statues are “redressed”, with artists including Peter Carney and Bob and Roberta Smith also taking part. All the statues will be presented in a special broadcast on Sky Arts in October.

The incident pre-dates the removal of the Edward Colston statue by four decades and Nze said the removal of the Colston statue in 2020 transported him back to 1982.

“It took me back to 38 years ago,” he said. “When someone said Colston was the first statue to be pulled down and I automatically said, ‘Nah, I don’t think so – we pulled one down 38 years ago.’

“It was for similar reasons, only ours was different because it was a community that ripped that man down. It was our community.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
Matt Taibbi Slams Media for Role in Russiagate Narrative
Pilots Call for Mental Health Support Without Stigma
All Five Trapped Miners Found Dead After El Teniente Mine Collapse
Ong Beng Seng Pleads Guilty in Corruption Case Linked to Former Singapore Transport Minister
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
Italy Fines Shein One Million Euros for Misleading Sustainability Claims
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
Declassified Annex Links Soros‑Affiliated Officials and Clinton Campaign to ‘Russiagate’ Narrative
×