Statue Admiral Horatio Nelson

A statue to Lord Nelson was erected on 22nd March 1813 in what was known as Trafalgar Square. Nelson had visited Barbados in 1805 and was at the time was considered a hero by locals for his battle against the French who controlled other Caribbean Islands.
In April 1999 the square was renamed National Heroes Square and following the Black Lives Matter and George Floyd movements it was deemed that Nelson was not a Barbadian hero. On November 16th 2020,the statue was removed from Bridgetown and moved to the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The removal of the statue from its prominent position reflects a move away from vestige of colonial rule, and acknowledgement that Nelson was a strong defender of British Colonial system which included slavery.

NB the photograph was taken in Feb 2019 and so shows its position in what was then Trafalgar Square and not its current position.








This memorial on the National Heroes Square commemorates Admiral Horatio Nelson who was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar, where he led the British Navy to a victory.
The Battle of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, was the most important naval battle during the Third Coalition War between the United Kingdom and the French empire of Napoleon. A fleet of the British Royal Navy, consisting of 27 ships and led by Horatio Nelson destroyed on that day in a battle at Cape Trafalgar a French-Spanish squadron, consisting of 33 ships, under the leadership of the French vice-admiral Pierre de Villeneuve. Seventeen ships were captured and one destroyed. On the British side, 449 men were killed, including commander Horatio Nelson and 1246 wounded. On the French side, 2218 men were killed and 1155 and wounded and on the Spanish side, 1025 men were killed and 1383 wounded. About 7,000 French and Spanish sailors were captured.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries
• Photos: Anthony (Sharky) Ward