Deputy Chancellor Hodge acknowledged that this did not excuse Rustat’s willingness to invest in the slave trade, but, quoting LP Hartley, noted that: “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”

He said that to remove all challenging imagery from places of worship would mean having “to do away with the painful image of Christ on the cross, or images of the martyrdom of saints”.

He added that by contextualising the memorial it “may be employed as an appropriate vehicle to consider the imperfection of human beings and to recognise that none of us is free from all sin”.

Lawrence Goldman, the historian and Jesus College alumnus, who was one of 68 opponents to removal represented at the hearing, said the ruling should set a legal precedent.

‘Ludicrous use of college money’

He said: “This should really be a definitive ruling. It tells institutions that this is not a sensible way of dealing with heritage and contested issues from the past, trying to cancel and remove and close down is not the way to deal with these perfectly legitimate questions and issues.

“It was a ludicrous use of college money. When institutions come across these kinds of problematic cases, what this judgment shows is that they must not themselves rush to judgment, they need to sit back and be thoughtful and mature and do their research carefully before they start firing off emails and claiming moral offence.”

Rustat, who lived from 1608 to 1694, commissioned the marble memorial himself from the studio of Grinling Gibbons, and it has been described as one of the most important pieces of funerary art in the country. Rustat, who is buried in the chapel, made bequests that have paid for scholarships for more than 800 students to date.

Deputy Chancellor Hodge said that: “I would hope that when Rustat’s life and career is fully, and properly, understood, and viewed as a whole, his memorial will cease to be seen as a monument to a slave trader.”

A spokesman for the Rustat Memorial Group, which opposed its removal, said: “We hope that all parties can agree that the issues raised by the petition are now resolved. We wish Jesus College well as it focuses again on today’s challenges in university.”

A spokesman for Jesus College said: “We are deeply disappointed and shocked by the decision. Rustat’s involvement in the slave trade has never been in question… it was right for us to have submitted this application. We will now carefully consider our next steps.”