I too would question the value of twenty first century eyes peering at
photographs to evaluate whether people "appear white". In fact one of the
problems of enforcing apartheid and other racial segregated social systems
is that the boundaries are difficult to police. In some areas, such as
Brazil "whiteness" could be bought (and not simply through bribery as
happened off the record elsewhere). The appeal system for racial
categorisation in force in South Africa used language as a major factor.

The invention of the Afrikaans as a racial category revolved to a great
extent around language, and in particular how a creole language cased on
Dutch developed with the appearance of mass produced newspapers which
could vary in how the used language etc. Confronted with an ethnic
continuum amongst the Afrikaanse speaking communities, the architects of
the new racial category sought the establishment of a racial category
broader enough to represent an electoral challenge to the English
speakers, but still excluding a substantial number of Afrikaanse speakers
they could call "coloureds".

Gerald Horne's "Race War: White Supremacy and The Japanese Attack on the
British Empire" (2004) is very useful on this topic, having a chapter
entitled: To be of "Pure European Descent" a term taken from the 1936 Air
Ministry Colour bar restrictions. Horne's cites an African administrator
as indicating that there was a "tendency to suspect colour in anyone who
has been near the [West] Indies. (p. 41)

So let us not add further confusion to an area which through its very
irrationality must perforce be riddled with confusion by adding a further
layer of speculation.

all the best

Fabian



> Looks can be deceiving and names are also not a very good guide to a
> person’s ethnic or racial antecedents! Many people with mixed
> backgrounds ‘passed’ as their route ‘up and out during these times.
>
>
>
> D. Thomas
>
> Devon C Thomas
>
> Co-ordinator, Pepys Heritage Centre
>
> Chair of the Black Heritage Group
>
> 07535 500 726(mobile)
>
>
>
>
>
> From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Peter B Freshwater MA, DipLib, FSA Scot
> Sent: 23 November 2012 18:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: an African descent British army officer prior to Walter Tull
>
>
>
> Just one caveat over this stream of identities, in that, of course, some
> West Indians were White. I have two, dead, in the Edinburgh University
> WW1 Roll of Honour:
>
> George Staunton HUSBAND, from Jamaica; captain in the Indian Medical
> Service. Killed in action 6 March 1917
> Fernand J M Louis DE VERTEUIL, from Trinidad (but born in Martinique);
> surgeon-lieutenant RN. Killed on HMS Good Hope on 1 November 1914
>
> From their photographs they both appear to be White.
>
> And there were others, whose names are European, among serving officers
> who fought and survived the War. The photographs of those who served and
> survived do not appear in the published Roll of Honour, so there is
> nothing here to indicate their ethnic origins. I am systematically
> collecting their names from the alphabetical list, for further research.
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> Peter B Freshwater MA, DipLib, FSA Scot
> 43 Corstorphine Road
> Edinburgh
> EH12 5QQ
> Tel. +44(0)131 337 7049
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> On 23/11/2012 16:23, Susan Bolton / Jeffrey Green wrote:
>
> There were black British soldiers in the British army in WWII so Marika
> needs to adjust her focus in her planned book - Stephen Bourne's recent
> The Motherland Calls (History Press, 2012) details some.
>
> Cyril Charles Alcindor, the son of Dr John Alcindor, was a regular soldier
> in the 1930s and on 24 March 1944 he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the
> Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment (Army List 1945, p 1596). At the
> time of his death in 1936 he was a Captain. He was born in England and was
> rather dark-skinned. His brother served in REME and Roland Alcindor, the
> youngest brother, flew in the RAF (including flying Lord Mountbatten in
> India).
>
> There is a strong suggestion that in the elite infantry group which seized
> Pegasus bridge in the small hours of the morning of D Day (6 June 1944)
> included an infantryman nicknamed "Darkie".
>
> Leslie Thompson, born Jamaica in 1901, settled in London in 1929 and
> ex-West India Regiment, was a Sergeant in the Royal Artillery in WWII and
> is shown in Portsmouth in 1943 in his autobiography Swing from a Small
> Island (Northway Press, 2009). I lent the photograph to Stephen Bourne for
> his book.
>
> Jeff
>
>
>
> ========================================
> Message Received: Nov 23 2012, 12:58 PM
> From: "msherwood"
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: an African descent British army officer prior to Walter Tull
>
>
>
>
> I dont think the ‘Pure European descent’ was lifted in WWII. I know of
> no Black British soldiers in the British army at all – except for the
> medical folk already mentioned. Moody’s non-medical son was sent to the
> Caribbean Regiment. The RAF had to lift the colour bar because it was so
> short of men with suitable qualifications. And then of ‘ground crew’,
> so some 5,000 men were imported from the ‘West Indies’.
>
> I’m working on a book, World War II: Colonies and Colonials….. Should
> be ‘out’; fairly soon. Self-published, to keep the price down.
>
> From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of BBM/BMC
> Sent: 23 November 2012 11:27
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: an African descent British army officer prior to Walter Tull
>
> As it's obvious there were African officers before Tull, the distinction
> pointed out by Marika is a good one to highlight
>
> It would seem although around the 2nd world war the "European descent"
> barred the likes of Dr Alcindor, and Dr Moody had to kick up a fuss for
> that criterion to be lifted, in the 19th century African doctors were
> allowed to become officers despite the "European descent" criterion for
> pragmatic reasons. Unlike Bemand, Horton asserted his Africanness by
> adding Africanus to his name, so the military could be in no doubt that he
> was not of "European descent". Of course, whilst he worked with
> (colonial) European officers and subordinates, he spent most of his
> military life in west Africa
>
> Kwaku
>
> www.TAOBQ.blogspot.com
>
> On 23 Nov 2012, at 08:10, msherwood wrote:
>
>
>
> Very important information. Thank you, dear Jeff.
>
> Of course, even during WWII the colour bar was there – though it was
> lifted for the children of Dr Harold Moody (even for the son who was not a
> doctor) and for a dentist.
>
> I wonder if we should differentiate between medical officers, who are all
> ‘officers’ and those who become officers by rising through the ranks,
> like Walter Tull.
>
>
>
>
>
>