In St Mary's churchyard in Henbury, near Bristol, is the grave of an enslaved eighteen year old African, who was named Scipio Africanus by his owners - he was born into the household of the Earl of Suffolk. The original Scipio was a Roman general who won victories against the Carthaginians.
He died in 1720, and the two gravestones that mark his grave are beautifully decorated, brightly painted and with black cherubs. That is, they were beautiful, until someone came along and smashed them a few days ago. A message was left in chalk nearby: "Look at what you made me do. Put Colston's statue back or things will really heat up."
So there seems to be no doubt that the vandal who smashed the headstones is a supporter of Edward Colston the slave trader, whose statue was toppled during the recent protests in Bristol. The statue has since been fished out of the river, and will be installed in a local museum, along with placards from the protest.
An archaeologist, Richard Osgood, set up a JustGiving page to raise £1,000 towards repairing Scipio Africanus' grave, and has actually raised more than £3,400.
The inscription on the footstone reads:
I who was Born a PAGAN and a SLAVE
Now Sweetly Sleep a CHRISTIAN in my Grave
What tho' my hue was dark my SAVIORS sight
Shall Change this darkness into radiant light
Such grace to me my Lord on earth has given
To recommend me to my Lord in heaven
Whose glorious second coming here I wait
With saints and Angels Him to celebrate
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