Iconic museum dedicated to preserving Brunel's pioneering steamship SS Great Britain changes its name to represent 'diversity'

By JAKE HOLDEN, UK NEWS REPORTER Published: 01:50, 12 June 2026 | Updated: 01:59, 12 June 2026 The iconic museum dedicated to preserving Brunel's pioneering steamship the SS Great Britain has changed its name for the sake of 'diversity'. The maritime museum aboard the ship in Bristol has declared it will discard the name SS Great Britain in favour of 'Bristol Dockyards' after a 37 per cent drop in visitors since the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the historic name will become a side note, as the museum will describe itself as 'home to the SS Great Britain'. A revised version of the museum, opening next month, will now be about the role the vessel played in the British Empire, focusing on themes of migration and inclusivity. The SS Great Britain was the biggest and fastest passenger ship in the world from 1845 to 1853, designed by legendary Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It ran between Bristol and New York under the Great Western Steamship Company's transatlantic service. Andrew Edwards, the chief executive of the SS Great Britain Trust, accepted that some would describe the name change as 'woke'. He added that many people think the 'SS' in the ship's name stands for 'slave ship', when in fact it is short for 'steamship'. The vessel was built after the British abolition of the slave trade. Brunel's iconic SS Great Britain museum is set to be renamed Bristol Dockyards for the sake of diversity after the site experienced a 37 per cent drop in visitors since Covid CEO Andrew Edwards accepted some would call the change 'woke' as the revamped experience will focus on the ship's role in the British Empire and people of colour on board The museum will now focus on human stories about ordinary people in the colonial era, with a new focus on people of colour on board. One is George Moses - a ship's cook from Jamaica - or Barbados musician and poet James W Jones, who travelled from Melbourne to Liverpool. The revamped Australian section will explore the ship's role in carrying 15,885 emigrants from the UK and the First Nations cricket team. On the colonial military side, exhibits will delve into SS Great Britain's transportation of troops in global conflicts like the 1853-1856 Crimean War and the Indian Rebellion in 1857.  The remarketing of the museum is to make it 'cooler', Mr Edwards said, after Bristol was voted Britain's 'coolest' city. He said the exhibit 'has to be cool too to make ourselves relevant to the people around us'. He told the Guardian: 'Change is never easy. You'll always get those that are resistant, but when we were shaping the vision, I tried to take stock of where the city was and what the city was all about.' Mr Edwards added that he wanted to avoid 'stereotypical ideas of what a maritime museum should look like', and make it 'more rooted in Bristol'. Bristol has had other incidents of so-called 'woke' renaming of attractions. Slave trader Edward Colston's statue was torn down and thrown into the harbour in June 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests. The statue of slave trader Edward Colston was dumped into the harbour in Bristol in June 2020 during Black Lives Matter protests and Colston Hall was renamed the Bristol Beacon The city's largest concert hall - formerly named Colston Hall - was then renamed the Bristol Beacon to lose the affiliation with the 'toxic' slave trader. The renaming of the SS Great Britain is part of a wider project for the site to become a 'cultural campus' in the city over the two dockyards- meant to tackle issues around heritage, sustainability and diversity. This would be to celebrate the vessel's 60th anniversary in 2030 after returning to Bristol after it was salvaged from the Falkland Islands in 1970. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.