Cecil Rhodes was one of the most powerful men in the British Empire in the late nineteenth century. He made his fortune mining diamonds in South Africa, founding the De Beers diamond firm which until recently controlled the global trade. Alfred Mosely, a diamond merchant and friend of Rhodes, commissioned this plaque for the house at 6 King Edward Street where Rhodes lived in 1881 while studying at Oriel College, Oxford. Rhodes was a controversial figure in his lifetime, and the controversy surrounding him has continued over a century after his death. He was a staunch imperialist, playing a dominant role in Southern Africa in the late nineteenth century and annexing large areas of land for the British Empire. In 1877 Rhodes wrote ‘I contend that [the British] are the finest race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race…’.