statue of Edward Colston, which was completed in 1895 – 170 years after Colston's death. With growing awareness in the late 20th century of his involvement in the Bristol slave trade, there were protests and petitions for changes to institutions named after Colston, alterations to the statue's plaque, or for the statue to be removed, culminating in June 2020, when the statue was toppled and dumped in Bristol Harbour by Black Lives Matter protesters. After the statue was toppled, the Merchant Venturers issued a statement claiming that it had been "inappropriate" for them to have become involved in the rewording of the plaque in 2018. In the sixteenth century the society had maintained a free school for mariners' children under the Merchants' Hall in King Street. A century later sailors were being instructed in the 'Arte of Navigacion'. This was to evolve into the Merchant Venturers' Technical College in Unity Street towards the end of the nineteenth century when over 2,500 students were enrolled. When University College, Bristol achieved its charter as the University of Bristol in 1909, the Merchant Venturers' Technical College provided the faculty of engineering, whilst the remaining departments of the college eventually became the University of the West of England. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the society took on Edward Colston's 'Colston's Hospital', a school for 100 boys (now Colston's School). This moved to Stapleton in 1861, becoming co-educational in 1991. In 1891 Colston's Girls' School (now Montpelier High School) was opened on Cheltenham Road using funds from Edward Colston's endowment. It became an academy in 2008, when Withywood School reopened as Merchants' Academy. In 2016 the Bristol Autism Free School, now called Venturers' Academy, opened nearby. Since 2017 the society and the University of Bristol have jointly sponsored five primary schools, a secondary school, an all-through school and a special school in Bristol. The overarching Venturers' Trust now oversees the education of more than 3,200 students. The Merchant Venturers cared for twelve poor mariners in the sixteenth century and the society continues to be involved with the care for older people. The society has managed Colstons Almshouses on St Michael's Hill since its foundation by Edward Colston in 1696. Since 1922 the society has been the endowment trustee for the independent charity, the St Monica Trust, enabling very substantial developments to accommodate older people in recent years. The Society has also been sole