The Guy’s and St.Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Guy’s and St.Thomas‘ Charity, and King’s College London issued a statement on Thursday 11th June stating their intention to remove statues of Thomas Guy from public view.

 A petition has also recently been started by 2 current King’s College medical students calling on King’s College to rename the Guy’s Campus. They have suggested it be named after Archbishop Desmond Tutu- a suitable role model.

These matters have been brought to the fore as a result of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and the belief that Thomas Guy was involved in the slave trade and made his fortune from this. I am a consultant physician living and working in South London who trained as both a medical student and junior doctor at Thomas Guy’s Hospital and hold this belief to be untrue. 

Thomas Guy was a devout Christian, bookseller, astute investor and MP for Tamworth. During his life he  acquired a large number of shares in The South Sea Company ( SCC ) in exchange for government debt that he held, which he was required to do. The government paid SCC shareholders a dividend and the company was granted the right by Queen Anne to supply the Spanish colonies with slaves a right that Britain acquired under The Treaty of Utrecht (1713). He sold his shares in 1720 just before the share price collapsed in a stock market bubble thereby making a fortune which he largely reinvested in Government bonds. As these events show he was an investor at a time 300 years ago when ethical investing was a pipe dream. He did not own slaves ,nor was he a slave trader, nor did he reinvest in the SCC which continued its activities for many years after. 

Subsequently, he used his fortune to build and endow Guy’s Hospital for the relief of the poor and suffering of Southwark. As a consequence of his philanthropy a world famous Hospital was created which over 300 years has provided healthcare to South East London and has trained tens of thousands of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who have taken their skills and knowledge to care for the sick and needy all over the world irrespective of creed or colour. Such singular achievement should be recognised.

We ask that the absurd and shameful decision to remove his statue from public view be reversed and that any plans to rename the Guy’s campus be abandoned.