A talk on the politics of commemoration in public places by Dr Sebastian Pender

Showing of short film Destination Oxford: Little Wales

Presented by: Decolonising Florence Park

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0	OXFORD: Florence Park Community Centre
P	Friday 27th May, 2022
N	6:45pm

Event information

Talk:
What's in a Name? Havelock Road, Outram Road, and Campbell Road: Class, Race, (De)Colonisation
Named after three of the most famous British imperial soldier heroes of their day, Havelock Road, Outram Road, and Campbell Road are familiar to anyone living around Florence Park. In addition to roads, the late-nineteenth century saw these soldier heroes give their names to pubs, roses, cigarettes, and even cities and whole islands. Today, however, their legacy is the subject of fierce contest. In India, monuments dedicated to these individuals have been relocated, roads renamed, and the grave of Havelock has become the subject of sustained protest. In Britain too, increasing pressure from local community groups such as those in Oxford, Sunderland, and London have seen the names of these individuals removed from road signs or else their legacies come under renewed scrutiny.
What, then, did it mean to remember these individuals for those who came together in the late-nineteenth century to commemorate them, and why is it equally important for many people today to forget or else re-remember them? Focusing on a broad range of commemorative activities, this talk will unearth the struggle for how Britain’s colonial past should be remembered through a focus on the commemoration of Major General Henry Havelock, Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, and Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde.
Destination Oxford: Little Wales
This short film was created by young people working on an iCreative programme at Film Oxford in response to archival material documenting the migration of Welsh people to Oxford, and more particularly Florence Park, in the early 20th century.