‘Censoring history’ Huw Edwards feels ‘uneasy’ as museum takes down slave owner’s portrait
Huw Edwards, 60, has said that he feels “uneasy” after National Museum Wales decided to take down the portrait of slave owner Sir Thomas Picton. The BBC presenter spoke out today, claiming they were “censoring history”.
Picton had been celebrated as a hero for his role in the Battle of Waterloo.
But as governor of Trinidad he abused the slaves he owned, and was known as a tyrant even at the time.
Scrutiny of memorials to Thomas have intensified since the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, and Cardiff council voted to remove a marble statue of him from its Hall of Heroes at City Hall.
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The decision to remove the portrait, which has been on display for more than 100 years, was made as part of Reframing Picton.
This is a youth-led initiative involving Amgueddfa Cymru and community partner the Sub Sahara Advisory Panel (SSAP).
SSAP director Fadihili Maghiya said to the BBC: “It’s almost like a new era in some ways, especially looking at who he was, what he stood for, what he did.
“It does bring a new chapter in terms of conversations about race, diversity, inclusiveness.”
The painting of Picton, which hung in the National Museum in Cardiff, was a gift from the Earl of Plymouth in 1907 but is much older, and is believed to have been in the Royal Academy in London in 1816.
Thomas was born in Haverfordwest in 1758, and is remembered as the highest ranking British officer to fall at the Battle of Waterloo in 1850.
However, as Governor of Trinidad in the 1790s and early 1880s he authorised the torture on local people.
Thomas’s portrait has been replaced in the Faces of Wales Gallery with another portrait titled Hedger and Ditcher: Portrait of William Lloyd.
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