Hastings RX Morris

Nice one, Hastings RX Morris

Hastings Stand Up To Racism welcomes the decision by local Morris side, Mad Jack’s to rebrand themselves as “Hastings RX Morris”. A statement from Hastings’ Stand Up To Racism.

Mad Jack’s Morris were named after John “Mad Jack” Fuller MP (1757-1834), the wealthy squire of Brightling in East Sussex. Fuller was a slave owner, and over 250 enslaved Black Africans toiled on his two Jamaican plantations to create the wealth that paid for his privileged lifestyle. Fuller used his position as an MP to thwart and delay the abolition of slavery.

‘Mad’ Jack Fuller

A notorious drunkard and anti-Semite, Fuller had an undeserved reputation as a “philanthropist”. With the advent of the Black Lives Matter Movement, the myth of Fuller the philanthropist has been successfully challenged by raising awareness of his true character both nationally and here in East Sussex. In 2021, local activists persuaded the prestigious Royal Institution of Great Britain to end its two “Fullerian Professorships” and 1066 Country to amend its tourist website to present an accurate biography of Fuller.

In April this year, Hastings SUTR organised a successful public meeting: “Exposing The Myth of Mad Jack Fuller”. Consequently a letter was sent on behalf of the Group to Mad Jack’s Morris expressing widespread concern that an important local community organisation and leading Morris Dance side was named after a man with an appalling record on slavery.

On behalf of Hastings Stand Up To Racism, Simon Hester said, “We recognise that after nearly half a century, a change of name presented challenges, but the bold move to rebrand as Hastings RX Morris is an important and welcome step to remove the stain of slavery from Britain’s cultural heritage”.

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