Cancel a Village? Community Named After British War Hero Admiral Nelson Could Face Rebrand

The famous statue of Admiral Nelson on Trafalgar Square in London, UK, on blue clear sky
Stock Photo, Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

A national audit commissioned by the leftist-controlled devolved Welsh parliament has concluded that a village named after British war hero Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson is “problematic” because of his alleged opposition to the abolition of the slave trade in the 1700s.

The Welsh town of Nelson earned its name after Lord Nelson visited a pub in the area in 1803, just two years prior to him losing his life in service of his country against French tyranny in the Battle of Trafalgar. The pub was later renamed in his honour and the town which grew up around it later took the same name.

The Black Lives Matter-inspired national audit asked local councils to come up with lists of non-PC names for streets, monuments, and buildings over ties to the slave trade. Though Admiral Nelson did not own any slaves or profit from the trade, his alleged views on the matter have made him an object of ire for the modern left in Britain.

The Labour Party-controlled council listed Nelson as “amber” on its traffic light system of categorising supposedly “problematic” historical figures, meaning that his supposed links to the slave trade were ambiguous, The Telegraph reported.

Some have used the report as justification for calling for the town to use its original Welsh language name of the area ‘Ffos y Gerddinen’.

Historian Baron Kenneth O Morgan told The Times: “I am all in favour of turning their names into the Welsh version, which they have had for centuries. I think it would be desirable if Nelson was known by its Welsh name.”

Others, including Conservative MS Natasha Ashgar, have branded the exercise “absolutely absurd” but still attempted to disassociate from Nelson somewhat, suggesting that “The village was named after its pub The Nelson, and not because of potential links to Lord Nelson.”

“To slander an entire village in this way is outrageous,” Ashgar said, adding: “Sadly, this is just another example of political correctness going too far, and it is high time we stop pandering to the woke left. I hope it has dawned on officers at Caerphilly Council just how ridiculous this really is, and that the village of Nelson should remain Nelson.”

The British government’s Secretary of State for Wales, Simon Hart, said: “I imagine the residents of Nelson will have plenty to say. From what I’ve heard they are totally nonplussed that the Welsh government and Caerphilly Council are focusing on this rather than local jobs.”

Complaining about the outrage over Nelson being listed in the review, the Caerphilly Council said: “We are keen to set the record straight on this matter as the audit was initiated by Welsh Government, not Caerphilly Council.

“The Welsh Government document contains references to hundreds of streets, buildings and other locations that are named after historical figures across the whole of Wales, so we are not sure why the village of Nelson has been unfairly singled out in the press.”

It is not the first time that Lord Nelson has come under attack in the United Kingdom. Breitbart London reported in 2018 that Historic England discussed the removal of Nelson’s Column — one of London’s central landmarks — even going so far as to use a picture of a wrecking ball hitting the monument to promote an upcoming event.

The National Trust has also embarked on a campaign of BLM-style iconoclasm, with the taxpayer-funded Colonial Countryside project targeting 93 National Trust properties, including the home of British wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill, for their alleged ties to colonialism and slavery.

The leftist project came under criticism earlier this year after it was revealed that Trust staff were being “reverse mentored” by “child advisory boards” that instructed them in the alleged evils of the British Empire.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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