A ‘woke’ Labour-run council is asking residents for views on whether a street called Nelson’s Row could be renamed.
Lambeth Council in south London is asking in a consultation whether streets, statues and areas should be renamed after the Black Lives Matter movement.
It said Admiral Horatio Nelson could be considered controversial as he had been involved in ‘defence/military actions’ and ‘trading’ – despite groups such as The Nelson Society denying that he was linked to the slave trade.
Portrait of Rear-Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson (1758-1805) by Lemuel Francis Abbot shows the commander. A labour council is asking residents of Nelson’s Row whether they want their street renamed.
The council said because it was not certain whether Nelson’s Row in Clapham was named after him, it was not ‘currently proposing to look at renaming’ the street.
Lord Nelson is widely regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders in history.
He defeated France in the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and at Trafalgar in 1805. He was fatally wounded in the latter and given a state funeral.
The entire Tulse Hill area is also included because Sir Henry Tulse, a 17th-century descendant of the family after whom the district was named, ‘earned much of his wealth from the slave trade’.
A Lambeth council spokesman said: ‘No renaming of any site has taken place, or been planned, but as a community we have learnt more about our past by holding these conversations.’
The spokesman added: ‘From our research it is unclear if Nelson’s Row is named after a local figure, or the famous Admiral Nelson himself.
‘Either way the council has no criticism of Admiral Nelson, or plans to change this road name.’
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has offered £25,000 grants to ‘decolonise’ the capital’s street names.
And Labour’s Birmingham council faced embarrassment when they gave new streets names such as Equality Road.
But Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden said it was wrong that Labour councillors should be spending their time discussing whether British heroes such as Lord Nelson should be cancelled.
He said: ‘While people worry about the cost of living, Labour councils are wasting their cash on vanity projects like this.
‘Instead of cancelling a war hero they should be cutting their costs. No wonder Conservative councils deliver more and cost less.’
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