British Culture Secretary Gives Grade II-listed Status to Cecil Rhodes Plaque at Oxford

The controversial statue of colonialist Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, University of Oxford, UK, issued on May 20 2021. PA Media

British culture secretary Nadine Dorries has granted listed status to a plaque commemorating the industrialist and colonialist Cecil Rhodes at a University of Oxford college.

The Oriel College memorial in Oxford, has a plaque of Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) on the outside wall,  just around the corner from the much-contested statue of the British mining magnate and politician.

‘Special Historic Interest’

In 2018, Historic England advised the government that the plaque should not be listed.