Joseph Sturge Restored Statue Unveiled on the Calthorpe Estate

March 2007

The Calthorpe Estate played host to a special service held to rededicate a statue to one of the leading figures in the fight against slavery, Joseph Sturge.

The Grade II listed statue, which stands outside the Marriott Hotel on the edge of Five Ways Island, was recently restored by the Birmingham Civic Society, Birmingham City Council and the Sturge family to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act.

More than 200 people attended the ceremony which unveiled the statue in honour of the Birmingham-born campaigner, who fought for the abolition of the slave trade.

The ceremony featured steel band music and speeches from the Lord Mayor Councillor Mike Sharpe and the former Government Minister of Montserrat, Vernon Jeffers. A blue plaque was later unveiled at another ceremony at Eden Croft in Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, where Joseph Sturge lived between 1824 and 1859.

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