It’s all change at Jesus College, Cambridge. The marble memorial to Tobias Rustat is coming down. His portrait is no longer displayed. And his name has been removed from the conferences held at the college. Yet for one emeritus fellow of Cambridge’s Magdalene College, these steps do not appear to go far enough. Colin Kolbert, a retired judge, said: ‘If he (Rustat) was so abhorrent, they should liquidate the present proceeds of his benefaction and give it to the descendants of the people he was oppressing.’ Is this really a wise idea?
That Tobias Rustat dealt in slaves is not disputed. He made the majority of his wealth as a courtier, and invested £400 in the Royal African Company. That Jesus College benefited from his wealth is not in question either: In 1671, he donated £2,030 to the College to fund eight scholarships. That this history implies the College should rid itself of the proceeds to fund the descendants of the wronged is less clear.
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