A contested memorial to a slave trader in Falmouth's parish church will remain in place for now after a public consultation found it should not be destroyed.
Instead the Parochial Church Council (PCC) will explore the ways in which the memorial at King Charles the Martyr Church can be used as a focus for racial reconciliation, not division.
This means although it will remain in place for now, no decision has been made as yet on its future and the memorial has been deemed ‘of real importance in understanding and telling the history of Falmouth’.
The PCC says the decision came after a long process of consultation and engagement which brought a consensus of opinion that the memorial should not be destroyed.
A campaign for its removal was started by Kate Thomas and Clinton Sealy who started a petition for its removal via a Facebook campaign group Remove Falmouth Slave Trader Memorial in Falmouth
The memorial is to Thomas Corker (1669-1700) who was a slave trader in west Africa for the Royal Africa Company.
On his return to Falmouth in 1700 he brought back enslaved Africans.
The group said Corker should be condemned, not memorialised.
In response the campaign group said: "Remove the Slave Trader Memorial (RSTM) campaign is deeply disappointed at the decision to leave the memorial in situ. The presence of this memorial contradicts the fundamental missions of the Church. We are considering our further response."
The PCC says it will seek further assistance from the Church of England’s Contested Heritage Committee in coordinating the next steps and in sourcing funding towards interpretation of the memorial and how it may best be used to tell the story of Falmouth’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.
Revd Canon Bill Stuart-White said: “The PCC believes that the church has an important role to play in the process of racial reconciliation. We see the value of interpreting the memorial within the church and in conjunction with the story of Joseph Emidy, whose memorial is nearby.
“We know that we need expert help to do that properly. That help and assistance must embrace all the interested parties including the Remove Slave Trader Memorial Falmouth group and we will be reaching out to them in the next few days.”
The PCC is also hoping that the memorial may be adopted by the Church of England’s Racial Justice Unit as a case-study so that others can also learn from the process and the outcomes.
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Thomas Corker was born in Falmouth but when he was 14 moved to the Guinea Coast in Africa where he became chief agent for a slave trading company and married an African princess.
He was transferred by the Royal African Company to The Gambia in April 1699 and was on a business trip to Falmouth in 1700 when he died.
He was memorialized by a Baroque marble and freestone monument at the church, where he had been baptized as a child.
His brother Robert Corker had made his life in the town and was five times elected as mayor.
Kate Thomas from the Facebook group which started the campaign has been contacted for a reaction to the news.
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