Lecturers and staff at the University of Bristol have called on the university to ‘fundamentally reconsider’ its ties with the Society of Merchant Venturers.
The Bristol University branch of the University and College Union said the university should also reconsider the links between the university and the schools in Bristol that are run by the Society.
In response, the university has strongly defended its ties with the Merchant Venturers, which date back to the setting up of the university more than 100 years ago, and both organisations said they were ‘proud’ to co-sponsor the Venturers Trust group of academy schools.
READ MORE: Bristol MPs call for Society of Merchant Venturers to disband
In a list of requests to the University of Bristol, the UCU also called for work to ‘decolonise’ the University of Bristol’s buildings and logo to be completed.
And the staff union also said the Colston 4 - the four people who were found not guilty of their part in the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in June 2020 - should be given honorary doctorates from the university.
But the most fundamental call from the UCU relates to the relationship between the University of Bristol and the Society of Merchant Venturers, which dates back to the founding of the university in the 1900s.
The calls from the UCU for the university to examine its links to the Society of Merchant Venturers come in the same week Bristol Live revealed that two of Bristol’s four MPs had explicitly called for the Society as an organisation to disband, and a third questioned their accountability.
What did the UCU say?
A statement from the Bristol UCU said: “Bristol UCU applauds the verdict in the Colston 4 case. We believe that the statue should never be displayed in the city again, outside of a museum.
“We call for Bristol University to complete the decolonisation and ‘De-Colstonisation’ of its buildings and logo and to fundamentally reconsider its ties with the Society of Merchant Venturers, including those under the auspices of widening participation via their network of academy schools.
“We would like to nominate all of the Colston 4, and their legal team, for a collective honorary degree as soon as possible.
“We will be making formal applications for honorary degrees for the Colston 4 and their legal representatives when the next round is opened,” they added.
Ties between university and the Merchants
The university was largely founded by the Wills family, who had made their fortune in the tobacco industry, and the Fry family, but the Society of Merchant Venturers also played a key role in setting up and overseeing the university - which continues to this day.
The early origins of a university in Bristol began in the last quarter of the 19th century. The Wills and Fry families supported a University College and were keen to get a royal charter for a full university in Bristol.
The Society of Merchant Venturers ran a separate college - its origins dating back to 1595 - called the Merchant Venturers’ Technical College, and over the first years of the 20th century, as the University of Bristol gained its royal charter in 1909, the Merchants’ colleges merged with the Wills’-funded colleges to form the university.
When Bristol Live asked what the links between the two organisations referred to by the UCU were, both the university and the Merchants talked about the Venturers Trust project.
But in statements sent in response, neither mentioned the presence of members of the Merchant Venturers in the upper echelons of the university’s hierarchy.
Today, the University of Bristol is overseen by a Board of Trustees - and that always traditionally contained a significant number of trustees who were also members of the Society of Merchant Venturers (SMV).
In just the past few years, the number of Merchants on the board of the University has declined - it had close to half the trustees as recently as 10 years ago, but now just two members of the board are also Merchants.
They are Mohamed Saddiq, who is the deputy chair of the Board of Trustees, and also one of six on a Nominations Committee who appoint the independent trustees.
The pro-chancellor of the University is SMV member Dr Jacqueline Cornish, who also has a place on the Board of Trustees.
Follow the latest updates on this story and others like it here
The university’s relationship with the wider city of Bristol is also formalised by a body called The Court, which is effectively a liaison group between the university and a wide range of institutions, establishments, charities and organisations right across the city.
Along with dozens of organisations, the Society of Merchant Venturers has a permanent place in that court, and Society member Trevor Smallwood, the founder and former boss of Badgerline buses and First Group, is currently listed as the Merchants’ representative at the Court.
Additional members of the Court are also employed by organisations run by the Merchants, including the chief executive of the Venturers’ Trust, David Watson.
The Venturers’ Trust
As well as having members of the Society of Merchant Venturers embedded within the University’s own structure, the University of Bristol is a co-sponsor, along with the SMV itself of the Venturers’ Trust, the multi-academy trust organisation set up in 2017, which runs eight schools in Bristol.
The link-up between the Society of Merchant Venturers and the University means both are responsible for schools as diverse as Merchants Academy in Withywood and Montpelier High School, but not Colston’s School, the private school in Stapleton run separately by the SMVs, which announced in December 2021 it would be dropping the name of its founder, after 312 years.
Until just five years ago, pupils at some of the schools run by the Merchant Venturers, and other schools connected to the Diocese of Bristol and Bristol Cathedral, attended special church services and assemblies celebrating and commemorating the transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston - services which, as recently as 2017, included pupils being given a ‘Colston Bun’, to celebrate Colston’s claimed philanthropy in early 18th century Bristol.
In the month after the statue of Edward Colston was toppled, the former headteacher of the then Colston’s Girls’ School said his proposals to have the school begin thinking about changing its name and addressing its links with Edward Colston had, in 2017, been quashed by members of the Society of Merchant Venturers who ran the school.
John Whitehead said the experience led him to believe the Society of Merchant Venturers were ‘not fit to run schools in Bristol’. Colston’s Girls’ School has since changed its name to Montpelier High, after a consultation process similar to the one proposed by Mr Whitehead three years earlier - prompted by the toppling of Colston’s Statue.
The University logo
One of the issues raised by the UCU in its statement was the university’s logo, which is found on buildings, signs, stationery and the university’s website.
The logo, or crest, was unveiled in 2004, to replace its traditional coat of arms. The modern design featured were a sun to represent the Wills family, a horse for the Fry family, a ship and castle to match Bristol’s own medieval seal and the same dolphin motif to represent Edward Colston - the image that is found on the plinth of his statue in The Centre.
Last March, the Dolphin School - another Venturers’ Trust school in Montpelier - announced it was keeping its name but creating a new logo that wasn’t taken directly from Colston’s imagery.
What does the University of Bristol say?
A University of Bristol spokesperson defended its involvement in the Venturers Trust, and said it was proud of its efforts to get teenagers from deprived parts of Bristol into university.
“The University is proud to co-sponsor the Venturers Trust,” a spokesperson said.
“The eight schools serve some of Bristol’s most socio-economically deprived communities, with lower-than-average progression rates to higher education.
“Through sponsorship, and active, robust governance, we work with the schools to improve educational attainment and outcomes. We have developed bespoke outreach schemes, created guaranteed offers for post-16 students and have many former students now studying here,” he added.
“University staff and students are actively involved with the schools as governors, by providing professional development for teachers and supporting educational outreach, for example working as mentors and learning support assistants.
“We are especially proud of the work Montpelier High School students have undertaken over the last 18 months to champion the issues that are important to them, including re-naming the school and logo, and interrogating the curriculum. We look forward to continuing to work with them, and all schools within Venturers Trust, to ensure children thrive,” he added.
On the issue of what the UCU described as the ‘decolonisation’ of the University of Bristol, the spokesperson pointed to the work already done by Prof Olivette Otele, who was appointed as the university’s first Professor of the History of Slavery.
She was appointed in 2019 and tasked with researching the university and its history itself, and her review is still in progress.
“The Research led by Olivette Otele, the University’s Professor of History of Slavery and Memory of Enslavement, will inform a review of relevant University building names and the University logo to ensure they reflect the University’s vision and values.
“This will include consultation with staff, students and the wider public. The Society of Merchant Venturers will be involved in the consultation around any potential renaming of the Merchant Venturers Building itself. More information on all of this will be shared in the coming months,” he added.
On the question of whether the Colston 4 and the legal team that worked for them in their court case should be awarded honorary degrees from the University of Bristol, the University of Bristol said any nominations would be considered.
“All nominations for honorary degrees are considered by the University’s Honorary Degrees Committee,” he said. “Those that are deemed to meet our criteria for award and find support amongst Committee members are recommended for approval to the University’s Senate and Board of Trustees,” he added.
What does the Society of Merchant Venturers say?
A spokesperson for the SMVs said the partnership between them and the University as co-sponsors of the Venturers Trust is based on ‘a shared determination to improve the life chances of young people from some of Bristol’s most disadvantaged communities through the transformative value of education’.
“Our commitment to those 4,000 young people is unwavering,” she added. “Our members voluntarily give their time and expertise to numerous roles within Venturers Trust. Their motivation is to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to help make Bristol a better, more equal city for everyone who lives and works here.
“We’re proud to co-sponsor Venturers Trust alongside the University of Bristol. Together, our two organisations bring a range of skills and opportunities that directly benefit both students and staff across Venturers Trust,” she added.
Want our best stories with fewer ads and alerts when the biggest news stories drop? Download our app on iPhone or Android
