
Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, philanthropist, Tory Member of Parliament, and a benefactor and Governor of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, 1683-1721, who was involved in the Atlantic slave trade.
Colston followed his father in the family business becoming a sea merchant, initially trading in wine, fruits and textiles, mainly in Spain, Portugal and other European ports. By 1680, he became involved in the slave trade as a member of the Royal African Company, which held a monopoly on the English trade in enslaved African people. He was Deputy Governor of the company in 1689–90.
Colston was appointed as a Governor of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1683 at the request of King Charles II, as Colston was a Royalist sympathiser and the king was determined to promote men who would support his brother James as successor to the throne. Colston gave £500 to the hospital the in 1684 and a further £850 in 1693. The money was used to purchase an estate at Mayland in Essex. When Colston died in 1721 he bequeathed a further £500 to Bart’s, which was used to purchase a property on Giltspur Street, now the site of the medical school library.
A Colston Ward was established in 1752 in the newly built West Wing of the hospital. The ward moved to the King George V Medical Block when it was opened in 1937. It was amongst those demolished for the reconstruction of the building c2005-2010, although there was briefly a ward informally given this name in the new building.
November 13, 2022
Posted by summertime75 |
Deltiology, Social History, Uncategorized | 1909, Colston Ward, Costume, Deltiology, Edward Colston, Hospital, Nurse, Postcards, Slave Trader, Social History, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Uniform |
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Two Edwardian ladies, no information other than the date written on the reverse – July 8th 1909
April 4, 2022
Posted by summertime75 |
Deltiology, Social History, Uncategorized | 1909, Costume, Deltiology, Edwardian, Postcards, Social History |
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“The girl in the mirror wasn’t who I wanted to be and her life wasn’t the one I wanted to have.”
Francesca Lia Block, Pink Smog
July 19, 2021
Posted by summertime75 |
Deltiology, Social History, Uncategorized | 1909, Costume, Deltiology, Edwardian, Francesca Lia Block, Pink Smog, Postcards, Social History, Thought for the day |
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