Dear Carol
This is an excellent idea and I fully support it. Two additional persons who
come immediately to mind are George Padmore and Kwame Nkrumah, but of course
there are several others from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean (even if restricted
to those who have died).
Best
Harry Goulbourne
Carol Dixon wrote:
> At a recent BASA Management Committee meeting the issue of putting forward
> names of black and Asian historic figures to English Heritage in order for
> commemorative blue plaques to be erected on (or near the site of) their
> former UK residences was discussed.
>
> Altho' proposals have been submitted by individual members of BASA for many
> years this is the first time that the Association plans to co-ordinate a
> UK-wide campaign involving nominations from the entire membership.
>
> For information: English Heritage (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/), the
> body responsible for awarding blue plaques in the UK since 1986, are able to
> consider suggestions for plaques if the people being proposed have been dead
> for twenty years or were born 100 years ago, whichever is the earlier. They
> also state that for a nomination to be considered the figure needs to have a
> "strong reputation" and gained recognition through their life and work.
>
> BASA's secretary, Marika Sherwood, has been in contact with representatives
> of English Heritage on this issue and, to-date, has identified that plaques
> currently exist for the following figures:
>
> Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
> Mahatma Gandhi
> Jimi Hendrix
> Mohammed Ali Jinnah
> Jomo Kenyatta
> Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
> Harold Moody
> Jawaharlal Nehru
> Sardar Patel
> Paul Robeson,
> Ram Mohum Roy
> Vinayak Savarkar
> Rabindranath Tagore
> Lokamanya Tilak
> Sol Plaatje.
>
> [In addition plaques for Marcus Garvey, Ignatius Sancho and Bob Marley are
> under consideration, but given that in London alone some 800 plaques have
> already been erected since 1986, this current list of <15-18 names is not
> fully representative of the contributions and achievements of Britain's
> numerous black and Asian pioneers and key figures]
>
> Please circulate your suggestions via this list - including dates, main
> place(s) of residence in the UK (if known) and a brief statement about why
> your nominees deserve a blue plaques, as English Heritage will need to
> consider the merit of the nomination as well as verify all the surviving
> places of residence as part of their research and assessment).
>
> Suggestions can also be sent to BASA post, c/o Marika Sherwood, BASA
> Secretary, ICS, 28 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DS.
>
> To get the discussion started I've listed a few suggestions of my own below:
>
> John Richard Archer (1863 - 1932)
> John Archer was born in Liverpool in 1863, the son of a Barbadian seaman and
> an Irish mother. He left Merseyside in his early 20's, travelling around the
> world as a seaman, and later settling in Battersea, South London, with his
> Black Canadian wife, Bertha. Whilst in London he worked as a photographer
> and became involved in local politics. He came to prominence in 1906 when he
> won the local election and became the first British born Black Labour
> councillor. In November 1913 John Archer was elected the tenth Mayor of
> Battersea. In addition to his work in local government, he was also heavily
> involved in the African Progress Union, and became its President in 1918,
> working with many leading Black political figures of his time. Throughout
> his political career he spoke out about racism and the social issues facing
> Black peoples in Britain. In particular Archer helped to organise an
> anti-racism protest in Liverpool in response to the riots of 1919.
>
> Pastor Kamal A. Chunchie (1886 - 1953)
> Founder of the Coloured Men's Institute in London's East End during the
> early 1920s, particularly as a result of the discrimination faced by black
> and Asian seamen following racist legislation such as the Coloured Alien
> Seamen's Order (1925).
> Significant addresses associated with Chunchie and, thus, worthy of blue
> plaques include: (1) Coloured Men's Institute, 13-15 Tidal Basin Road,
> Victoria Docks (original building was demolished in 1930, but the plaque
> could be erected somewhere near to the site as the top floor of the
> Institute was Chunchie's residence for c. 4 years); (2) Queen Victoria
> Seamen's Rest (The Seamen's Mission of the Methodist Church, 121-131 East
> India Dock Road, Poplar, London E14)
>
> Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757 - 1801)
> Ghanaian born former slave Ottobah Cugoano came to Britain from Grenada in
> c.1772 and was granted his freedom by his master. The black community in
> London advised Cugoano to become a Christian, as a further safeguard against
> being returned to slavery in the Caribbean. As a free man Cugoano went into
> service for a famous painter, Cosway, received an education and began
> writing about the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade. By 1786
> Cugoano's writing had made him one of the central figures in Britain's
> anti-slavery movement and in 1787 published an influential book on the
> system of slavery, entitled 'Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked
> Traffic of Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species'.
>
> William Cuffay (1788 - 1870)
> Chatham born William Cuffay was the son of an ex-slave from St. Kitts.
> During his early adult life he worked as a tailor and became heavily
> involved in trade unionism. In 1839 he became a leading member of the
> Chartist movement, campaigning for social justice and parliamentary reform.
>
> William Davidson (1786-1820)
> Jamaican-born political reformer involved in what became known as the 'Cato
> Street Conspiracy' (London).
>
> Olaudah Equiano (c.1745 - 1797)
> Anti-slavery campaigner famous for his autobiography 'The Interesting
> Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustuvus Vasa the African',
> published in 1789, and active in the campaigns to abolish the slave trade
> whilst living in Britain - particularly his research into the Zong atrocity
> in association with the Abolitionist Granville Sharp, where over two hundred
> slaves were thrown overboard so that the owner could claim the insurance
> money.
>
> Joseph Emidy (n.d. - 1835)
> Famous violinist who was active in Cornish musical circles since his arrival
> in England from Portugal in 1799.
>
> Claudia Jones (1915-1964)
> Trinidad-born journalist and political activist Claudia Jones lived in the
> UK between 1955-64 and was actively involved in political and cultural
> organising among the black communities in London throughout this period. She
> is particularly well known for founding and editing The West Indian Gazette
> and Afro-Asian Caribbean News and was the founder of what has now become the
> Notting Hill Carnival.
>
> Noor Inayat Khan (1914 - 1943)
> British SOE secret agent in France during WW2, posthumously awarded the
> George Cross, M.B.E. and the Croix de Guerre. Lived in Oxford whilst working
> as a nurse for the WAAF in 1940.
>
> Dadabhai Naoroji (1825 - 1916)
> Dadabhai Naoroji was the first Indian to run for Parliament in Britain,
> becoming MP for Finsbury Park in 1892.
>
> Mary Seacole (1805-1881)
> Jamaican-born nurse and heroine of the Crimean War. In 1857 she returned to
> the UK and published 'The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many
> Lands'. The book was a great success and Mary Seacole became a popular
> figure. She spent the rest of her life travelling and working between London
> and Kingston. She was awarded the Crimean Medal and the French Legion of
> Honour.
>
> Udham Singh (1899-1940)
> Indian political activist involved in the work of the Indian Workers
> Association, UK. Udham Singh became famous after being convicted and hanged
> for the assassination of Michael O'Dwyer, governor of the Punjab at the time
> of the 1919 Amritsar (Jallianwallah Bagh) Massacre.
>
> Henry Sylvester Williams (n.d. - 1911)
> Henry Sylvester Williams was born and died in Trinidad, but much of his
> adult life was spent in the UK. Williams qualified as a teacher at
> Tranquillity Normal School and taught in country schools until1890 when he
> left for the USA to gain qualifications unobtainable in Trinidad. His
> activities in North America are unknown, except for 1893-4, when he attended
> Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Arriving in London in 1896,
> Williams enrolled at King's College and was admitted to Gray's Inn in
> December 1897.
> He earned his living as an official lecturer for the Temperance Society and
> later as a lawyer. Throughout his time in England Williams lectured on
> colonial issues on many platforms, including a meeting at the House of
> Commons in 1899 when he appealed for representative government for Trinidad.
> After travelling throughout the UK, he founded the African Association,
> which called a Pan-African Conference in July 1900. In the early 1900s
> Williams lived in England and South Africa, returning to Trinidad in 1908.
> He was admitted to the Bar and soon built a successful practice in
> Port-of-Spain and San Fernando. He died on 26 March 1911.
>
> Phyllis Wheatley (c.1753 - 1784)
> Senegalese born Phyllis Wheatley was the first black woman to be published
> in London. Her book, 'Poems on various subjects: religious and moral'
> consisted of 39 poems and sold widely throughout Britain because the works
> had been written whilst Wheatley was enslaved by a Boston-based family of
> tobacco barons, resident in England between 1773-1778. Abolitionists eager
> to prove the "human potential of black people" reissued her poems in the
> 1830s.
>
> NB: Recipients of blue plaques do not have to be British-born, but need to
> have been resident in the UK at some time during their lifetime, as the
> primary objective (in the words of English Heritage) is to "mark the
> interest of the surviving building".
>
> Best wishes
> Carol
|