John Cass

Sir John Cass (February 1661[a] – 5 July 1718) was an English merchant, Tory Member of Parliament and philanthropist.

In 1705 Cass became a member of the Court of Assistants (equivalent to the board of directors) of the Royal African Company[3] which since 1662 had held the monopoly in England on trading along the West Africa coast in gold, silver, ivory and slaves.

During the years that Cass held the position of Court of Assistants (1705–1708), the company undertook and documented fifty-five voyages, mostly journeying from London, of over 14,000 enslaved Africans for the Americas.

[8] He died on 5 July 1718, aged 57, of a brain haemorrhage and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary Matfelon, in Whitechapel, now the Altab Ali Park.

He had made a will at this time, but when his health failed in 1718, he planned to make a new version taking account of the extra property he had acquired in the intervening years.

The school continued for a few more years under the aegis of Valentine Brewis, one of the trustees Cass had named, but was closed down after his death in 1738.

In the early 1740s the remaining trustees petitioned Parliament for the permanent endowment of the school, and the will was finally upheld 30 years after Cass's death.

In the United States in May 2020, George Floyd, a black man, was murdered by a white police officer, and in response there were protests in many cities around the world.

The foundation itself committed to change its name,[17] later announcing that it would be called The Portal Trust, taking effect in Spring 2021.

[18][19] The business school at City, University of London, removed its association with Cass, instead adopting the name of the 18th century mathematician Thomas Bayes in September 2021.