HC Deb 22 March 1955 vol 538 c1868
40. Sir R. Clarke

asked the Minister of Works when the memorial to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, which was removed from Parliament Square, will be re-erected and where.

The Minister of Works (Mr. Nigel Birch)

I am considering this question but I have not reached a decision.

Sir R. Clarke

While thanking my right hon. Friend for that reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that the Parliament Square Act stipulated that memorials which were removed should be restored, and that on at least three occasions his predecessors have said that this monument to the work of Buxton, Wilberforce and others who abolished slavery in the British Empire would be restored, and a place found for it in Victoria Gardens?

Mr. Birch

I realise that the feelings of the Anti-Slavery Society are very strong; so are the feelings of the Royal Fine Art Commission.