Slane sculptor made statue of slave trader dumped into Bristol harbour

The controversial bronze statue of slave trader Edward Colston which was pulled from its plinth in Bristol by anti-racism protesters on Sunday and dumped into Bristol Harbour, was the work of Slane sculptor, John Cassidy.

Cassidy created many public sculptures, especially war memorials.

His public works can be found at various sites around Manchester and throughout Britain and include the Hygeia Monument in Aberdeen, the Ben Brierly statue in Queens Park Manchester and The Ship Canal Digger in Manchester City Art Gallery.

John Cassidy (1860) was the son of a farmer of Littlewood, Slane. He served his apprenticeship as a bar assistant in White Horse Hotel in Drogheda, where he is believed to have spent most of his spare time etching and drawing and painting.

Two of his paintings -The Bathe House and a Street Scene in Drogheda - hang in Drogheda Corporation Offices.

At 20 years he went to work in Dublin, where he attended night classes in Art School. He gained a scholarship to study in Milan and two years later he settled in Manchester where he spent the rest of his life.

He studied at the Manchester School of Art and established a studio at Lincoln Road. As his reputation grew he exhibited at the Royal Academy,the Hibernian Academy and in Manchester City Art Gallery. His public works can be found at various sites around Manchester and throughout Britain.

His work includes a group of statues entitled Theology Directing The Labours Of Science and Art and two matching statues in white marble of John Rylands and his wife Enriqueta at the John Rylands Library in Manchester. His best known work in Ireland is a full length figure of Queen Victoria in Belfast. He died on July 19th 1939 and was buried in Southern Cemetery in Manchester.

In October 2004 the Slane History Society put on an exhibition of his works in Slane Village. This included 40 photographs of his works as well as some paintings and sculptures.

Edward Colston was deputy governor of the Royal African Company, which had held the monopoly in England on trading along the west coast of Africa in gold, silver, ivoryand slaves.

During his involvement with the Company from 1680 to 1692, it is estimated that they transported around 84,000 African men, women and children, who had been traded as slaves in West Africa, to the Caribbean and the rest of the Americas. Around 19,000 died on their journey.