Spanish Armada hero Sir Francis Drake is CANCELED from the school named after him

Pictured: Sir Francis Drake

A primary school in London has voted to change its name due to namesake Sir Francis Drake’s slave-trading past.

Sir Francis is known for circumnavigating the world in a single expedition on his ship Golden Hind from 1577 to 1580 and defeating the Spanish Armada in 1588.

He was also one of the first known British slave traders, capturing men and women from West Africa as early as 1560 and targeting slave ships from Portugal to steal people on board.

According to the BBC, Sir Francis Drake Primary School in Lewisham held a vote to decide whether to change the name given its controversial role in the story.

Of the 450 parents, staff, students and local residents who voted, 88 percent called for a name change.

The school now becomes Twin Oaks Primary School – a name originally suggested by students and referring to two oak trees at the entrance to the site.

The school (pictured) will now become Twin Oaks Primary School – a name originally suggested by students, referring to two oak trees at the entrance to the site

Students are encouraged to enter a competition to design the new school logo, with future plans to redesign the school uniform and overhaul the front building with a new sign.

Headmistress Karen Cartwright reportedly said she was “thrilled” with the result in a letter to parents seen by the BBC.

The school hopes to keep costs to parents as low as possible, as the old school uniform could still be worn, along with unbranded sweaters.

A new school uniform featuring the Twin Oaks logo should be available by September, she reportedly said.

In September last year a statue of Sir Francis in his home town of Tavistock, Devon received a new information plaque detailing his slave trading expeditions.

The memorial was reviewed by the local city council in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and the new sign was later added, although it only received a letter of support.

Officials received 89 written objections to the proposal, including some who argued Sir Francis was a “national hero” and a “pioneering historical figure”.

The Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco also changed its name because of the British explorer’s historical connections to the slave trade.

In September last year a statue of Sir Francis in his home town of Tavistock, Devon received a new information plaque detailing his slave trading expeditions

The information panel reveals details of Sir Francis’ past, including three slave-trading expeditions

After closing during the Covid pandemic, the 426-room hotel has reopened as The Beacon Grand after a major renovation project.

Tom Sweeney, the hotel’s doorman for 43 years, said of the name change: “Everyone knew Sir Francis Drake, he was world famous.

“It’s definitely going to be a sad day in San Francisco – I think people are going to be quite shocked to see a new name.”

And in 2020, Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo was renamed Archie Williams High School to distance itself from the afflicted explorer.

Archie Williams was a former math and computer teacher who was also a gold medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics and one of the first African-American meteorologists.

The Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco changed its name because of the British explorer’s historical connections to the slave trade

That same year, Marin County officials removed a 30-foot-tall steel artwork of Sir Francis on Larkspur Landing “in response to planned demonstrations to knock down or tear down the statue” by protesters.

A statue of Sir Francis in Larkspur, California was also removed by city authorities.

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1581, Sir Francis was honored for his involvement in the Spanish conflict for centuries.

He was considered a hero by the British, and his exploits as a slave were largely ignored.

Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, Marin County was also renamed after notable US Olympian Archie Williams in 2021

But he is widely regarded as one of the first British slave traders in history.

Sir Francis died of dysentery while on a voyage and was buried in a lead coffin at sea. He was never found.

He’s not the only British historical figure to have been cancelled.

Across the UK, dozens of schools have joined the trend of removing the names of key figures targeting those believed to have benefited from colonialism or hold “unacceptable” views on race or gender.

The House system, in which pupils are organized into mixed-age groups to take part in sporting and academic activities, has traditionally honored national heroes, founders and local dignitaries – but names like Sir Francis have been dropped.

How Elizabethan naval officer Sir Francis Drake helped defeat the Spanish Armada and became the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world

Sir Francis Drake was an English admiral who sailed around the world – and is considered the most famous sailor of the Elizabethan era.

Drake took part in one of the first English slave voyages in 1567 as part of a fleet led by his cousin John Hawkins, bringing African slaves to work in the ‘New World’.

All but two of the expedition’s ships were lost when the fleet was attacked by the Spanish – who became a lifelong enemy to Drake.

Sir Francis Drake was an English navigator who circumnavigated the world between 1577 and 1580

In 1572, the sailor commanded two ships in a marauding expedition against Spanish ports in the Caribbean. He captured the port of Nombre de Dios on the Isthmus of Panama and returned to England with a cargo of Spanish treasures.

After the success of the raid, Drake was secretly commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to set off on an expedition against the Spanish colonies from what is now Drake’s Island in 1577.

Drake reached the Pacific Ocean in October 1578 with only one of his five boats, the Pelican, remaining. He was the first Englishman to travel the Strait of Magellan.

The sailor used plans by Sir Richard Grenville, an English sailor who died at the Battle of Flores in 1591, in his expedition.

He traveled along the South American coast, pillaging Spanish ports and hoping to find a way to the Atlantic Ocean.

Drake navigated farther up the west coast of America than any European before him, landing on the coast of California in June 1579.

Then in July 1579 he turned south and embarked on a voyage across the Pacific in his lone ship, now renamed the Golden Hind.

A few months later he reached the Moluccas, a group of islands in the western Pacific Ocean to the east of present-day Indonesia.

On September 26, the Golden Hind sailed back to Plymouth with Drake and his 59 remaining crew aboard, along with a rich cargo of spices and captured Spanish treasures.

The sailor was hailed as the first Englishman to circumnavigate the earth, and he was knighted aboard his ship in April 1581.

Source: BBC