Two prominent Bristol MPs have called on the Society of Merchant Venturers to disband, calling them an ‘unaccountable, undemocratic network’.
Thangam Debbonaire, the MP whose constituency includes the Merchants’ headquarters in Clifton, said the organisation should ‘not be running schools in our city’, and said the Society had ‘no place in a modern, multicultural Bristol’.
The new Master of the Society of Merchant Venturers said he was ‘surprised and disappointed’ by the Bristol West MP’s comments.
READ MORE: Merchant Venturers hit back at critics who want them to give up Clifton Down
Ms Debbonaire told Bristol Live the Society of Merchant Venturers was an ‘outdated relic’, and if people wanted to support good causes in Bristol they could find ‘other fantastic charities to help’.
The MP’s comments came as pressure mounted again on the Society, this time following the fall-out from a failed legal action to defend the decision to continue to allow Bristol Zoo to use Clifton Down as a temporary car park.
That saga has led to calls for the Society of Merchant Venturers to hand over Clifton Down to the city council, and for reform of the 1861 Act of Parliament that created a Downs Committee made up of the city council and the Society of Merchant Venturers together. Last week, the Merchant Venturers hit back at critics of their conduct during that long and drawn-out saga, saying they should continue to manage the Downs with the council.
"The Merchants put a great deal of time and effort into the Downs, care about it deeply, and gain absolutely no benefit from their involvement," said Master merchant David Freed last week. “There’s a very positive collaborative relationship with the councillors on the committee, who I believe find our involvement very beneficial," he added.
But the actions of the unelected Merchant Venturers on the Downs Committee - who Bristol Live's reports have shown could cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds - have led to further scrutiny of the Society, on top of the pressure already exerted on them in relation to their creation of what campaigners called a ‘Cult of Colston’ surrounding the 18th century slave trader Edward Colston.
Further questions have also been asked, in the wake of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, about the Society of Merchant Venturers’ influence in the running of the city - with members on many of the ‘One City Boards’ set up by Mayor Marvin Rees, and the Society’s close links with other Bristol institutions including the University of Bristol, the University of West of England and the Diocese of Bristol, as well as big charity organisations like the Quartet Foundation.
Now, Bristol West’s MP has said the time has come for the Society of Merchant Venturers to be disbanded, and end its control of eight schools in the city, and nursing and care homes in Bristol.
What does Thangam Debbonaire MP say?
“The Society of Merchant Venturers is an unaccountable, undemocratic network which aims to control important decisions in our city from the shadows,” said Ms Debbonaire. “It should disband."
“Organisations like this should not be running schools in our city. And the history of the Society means it has no place in a modern, multicultural Bristol that welcomes everyone.
“The Merchant Venturers were heavily involved in the slave trade and more recently spent decades defending a slave trader. It’s an outdated relic of a time when racist attitudes were widely accepted.
“There are so many excellent charities and philanthropic organisations in Bristol that improve life here and make positive changes in the wider world. I’m sure anyone wanting to support these aims can find other fantastic charities to help,” she added.
Ms Debbonaire is not the only Bristol MP to call for the Merchant Venturers to disband. Last year, on the Bristol Unpacked podcast, South Bristol MP Karin Smyth questioned why rich and powerful business people would join the Society of Merchant Venturers, and said the time had come for the organisation to disband.
“There’s been a bit of rebranding, or coming out of the shadows,” she said. “But I just question why does a 500-year organisation or club, essentially based on slavery, still exist?
“And their members appear in all sorts of places across the city. I think that’s not transparent, and I think that’s not good for the health of democracy in the city.
“It’s very problematic. It is for the Dark Ages, isn’t it?” she added.
Ms Smyth said that beyond the multi-academy trust set up by the Society of Merchant Venturers to run schools like the former Colston’s Girls’ School - now called Montpelier High - Dolphin Primary School and Merchants’ Academy, one of the biggest schools in South Bristol, she was concerned about the organisation.
“Beyond the schools, there’s just this massive web of organisations and companies and trusts and people seem to appear in all sorts of places as Merchant Venturers,” she said in September.
“It’s a long time since we had merchant venturers, and I think they should have gone away a long time ago,” she added.
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The pressure on the Merchant Venturers to disband has been growing ever since the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston. In the aftermath of that, the campaign group Countering Colston - which was set up in 2015 to challenge what it said was the Society's 'Cult of Colston' that they were still propagating in Bristol - said the Merchant Venturers should disband, and repeated that after the four people charged with toppling the statue were cleared of criminal damage
And around the same time, the former headteacher of one of the Merchants' top schools, then named Colston's Girls School, spoke of how the Society exerted pressure on him in 2017 and 2018 to resist change. John Whitehead told Bristol Live in 2020 the Society of Merchant Venturers were 'not fit to run schools' in Bristol, a view vigorously opposed by the Society itself.
What do the Merchant Venturers say?
In late 2020, the Merchant Venturers selected its first woman Master in its 470-year history - Gillian Camm. Its new and recently-chosen Master is David Freed.
Mr Freed is the co-founder of Deeley Freed, one of Bristol’s biggest property developers, responsible for a range of major property development projects across the city. Deeley Freed most recently won permission despite 'considerable concerns' from councillors for an 837-room student apartment development that is about to be built as part of the Bedminster Green regeneration project.
For the past 12 years, Mr Freed has also been the chair of trustees at the Park Community Centre in Knowle West, which is also currently undergoing extensive redevelopment.
As a Merchant Venturer, Mr Freed is also a member of the Downs Committee, which jointly controls both Society-owned Clifton Down and the city council-owned Durdham Down, as well as being heavily involved with the St Monica Trust, which runs a number of care homes and sheltered housing residential developments for older people in and around Bristol.
When he was appointed as the Master for the next 12 months in November last year, Mr Freed said he wanted the Society of Merchant Venturers to continue its focus on charitable work.
“Working with others we will remain focused on making a positive difference to the schools, care homes, organisations and charities that we help to support," he said at the time of his appointment.
“Across the region, individual circumstances that were already difficult have been made infinitely worse by Covid: many people are in dire need as jobs have been lost and businesses have collapsed; every young person has experienced an interrupted education; and the vulnerable and frail have become more isolated and alone.”
“There’s no quick fix and no single organisation can address these significant challenges alone, but when people and organisations work together, I believe that we can make a difference," he added.
Mr Freed said he and the other Merchant Venturers were ‘surprised and disappointed’ by Ms Debbonaire’s calls for the Society of Merchant Venturers to disband.
“We’re surprised and disappointed that Thangam Debbonaire has made these comments, especially when we look at her list of priorities, many of which are in line with our own, including improving education,” he said.
“Today’s SMV is not the SMV of the 1800s and we will continue to confront any parts of the organisation’s legacy that do not reflect our values.
“We are actively listening and learning as we strive to be better. We are more transparent than ever before – our records, dating back to 1493, are open to the public; each of our members is listed on our website; we publish an annual review and a charity report; we also publish an accountability grid which shows how and to whom our activities are accountable.
“As the co-sponsor of a multi-academy trust, we provide support and challenge to the excellent team of dedicated professionals at Venturers Trust, who in turn support the teachers and staff members who are working so hard in schools to provide a quality education to young people in challenging times.
“Our members are providing real opportunities to help students bridge the gap between education and employment through a bespoke Career Pathways Directory which details work placements and apprenticeships spanning 15 different sectors. Over 4,000 young people in Bristol have access to this.
“We want to reassure the thousands of young people, older people, disadvantaged and vulnerable in Greater Bristol, whom we support year on year, that we are not going anywhere. “We will continue to work hard to improve their life chances and outcomes so that everyone has an equal chance to thrive.
“Working with others, we remain determined to help ensure that Bristol becomes an inclusive city where there are no barriers to equality,” he added.
What does the Mayor of Bristol say?
The Mayor’s Office did not respond to Bristol Live’s request for the Mayor’s view on whether the Society of Merchant Venturers should disband, or on the involvement of members of the Society in the unelected 'One City Boards' set up by Mr Rees.
In an interview last summer, on the first anniversary of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, Marvin Rees told Bristol Live that he was happy to work with anyone to improve Bristol.
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Asked whether he thought the Merchant Venturers were part of the problem or part of the solution when, before the statue was toppled, the Society’s historian became involved in a row over the wording of a proposed second plaque - that ultimately led to Mr Rees scrapping the installation of that plaque, he said: “I would say it’s a big organisation with lots of different people.
“While someone may have got involved and made a contribution I didn’t appreciate, it was another member of the Venturers that I talked to about my lack of appreciation of the intervention that was made, who actually sympathised with what I had to say, and said ‘yep that’s not ideal’.
Mr Rees said the Society of Merchant Venturers was a ‘big organisation with a lot of history and a lot of meaning around it’.
“But actually there are people in it who are decent people, who I’m able to work with. That was the point I made, that was the avenue I took,” he added.
Asked if he believed the Society of Merchant Venturers when they say they have changed and evolved, the Mayor of Bristol said: “There have always been people within the Venturers who want to make a contribution to the city, we’ve seen that.
"That’s not me giving a pass to the Venturers, or anything, it’s not me condemning the Venturers. I’m just taking it on the individuals that I come into contact with, who want to get things done.
“They are not always doing that through the Venturers, they are doing that in their own capacity. When anyone turns up and they’ve got an offer to Bristol, and they want to get good things done for the city, then I will work with them to do that - and I’ve had people come forward in that vein,” he added.
What do other MPs say?
Bristol has two other Labour MPs - Darren Jones in Bristol North West, and Kerry McCarthy in Bristol East.
Commenting on Bristol Live’s article about the start of a consultation on the future of the Downs Committee and the Society of Merchant Venturers’ involvement in the Downs, Mr Jones tweeted: “When I was first elected I contacted the Merchant Venturers to arrange a meeting, as I did with every stakeholder, and they refused to meet.
“They said they didn’t know why a meeting was necessary, which goes to the question of accountability raised in this article,” he added.
But Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy is less concerned about the Merchant Venturers’ involvement in the city.
She said she has had ‘very little to do with the Merchant Venturers’, as they are only involved in one state school in her constituency as well as Colston’s, the fee-paying private school founded by Edward Colston in 1710. School leaders at Colston’s announced just last November it would be dropping the name of its founder, following an 16-month consultation process that Ms McCarthy was involved in.
“I think their importance is probably overstated, but overall they don’t impinge on matters in Bristol East very much, probably because that’s not where the centre of power is in the city,” she added.
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