There are a number of historians who make it their business to improve our understanding of British history by documenting the contribution of Black and mixed heritage men and women. We are honoured to have two of them, Audrey Dewjee and John Ellis, as regular contributors to this site.
Today it is the turn of John Ellis, who has given us a short article about Thomas Crawford, a man who served his country with distinction during the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Africa (Guinea) in about 1772, Thomas was buried at St. Cuthbert’s church, Darlington on 27th February 1836.
Sean Creighton was another of the dedicated band of historians who sought to re-balance British history. Sadly, Sean died earlier this year but he was someone who enhanced our knowledge in many ways and John Ellis particularly asked me to mention him in the context of this latest article. Sean attended Durham university, he continued to take a keen interest in the history of the area up to his death and Thomas Crawford was someone he knew of and wrote about. We acknowledge Sean’s own contribution and are glad that we had the privilege of knowing him.
The question of where Olaudah Equiano / Gustavus Vassa was born has long been a subject of scholarly debate. There is conflicting evidence pointing to an area in modern-day Nigeria and the slave plantations of South Carolina. I recall being challenged on this when I was taking people round an exhibition in London.[1]https://www.historycalroots.com/equiano-2019/ I inadvertently referred to Equiano having been born in what is now part of Nigeria without mentioning any alternative possibility. It is a subject that can generate heated discussion!
If we accept South Carolina as his birthplace then the ‘Interesting Narrative’ has to be seen as a work of imaginative fiction (albeit a well researched one) rather than an auto-biography of a real person – having read the book, that has always seemed somewhat far-fetched to me.
One of the main supporters of the ‘Nigeria’ theory is Professor Paul Lovejoy and he has recently re-visited the subject:
It is more ‘academic’ than much of the material we publish on this site but offers a very readable account of the subject. Much as the professor may hope this is the ‘definitive’ answer, I strongly suspect the debate will go on.
The process of re-writing British history to more fully reflect the Black presence continues apace with two new articles for Historycal Roots.
In the first, John Ellis continues his exploration of the presence of soldiers ‘of colour’ in the British Army in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This time he turns his attention to the 20th Regiment of the Light Dragoons. During the period 1797 to 1818 he has identified two dozen men of colour who served in the regiment at one time or another. He has dubbed these men ‘A Band of Brothers’ not least because the names apparently include two sets of brothers. John starts his story at the end with the discharge of a group of men in Ireland in 1818. Five of them, all born on the island of St. Domingo (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic), had enlisted, along with others, in the Caribbean on the same date in October 1798. They served together, saw colleagues die, and were discharged together after twenty years’ service. John’s article is here:
The second article is by another stalwart contributor, Audrey Dewjee. The recruitment of Black women to the ATS and WAAF (the branches of the Army and Royal Air Force that were open to women) in the latter part of World War 2 is relatively well documented. The story of one of them, Nadia Cattouse, can be found elsewhere on this site, she died recently at the age of 99.[1]https://www.historycalroots.com/nadia-cattouse/
What is less well known is that some women of colour, resident in Britain when the War started, had successfully defeated the colour bar that was in operation at the time and joined up anyway. Audrey’s article identifies twelve such pioneers. They include Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan whose story is relatively well known (she parachuted into France, was captured by the Germans and shot as a spy), and others about whom we know very little at all. Audrey’s article is here:
It has been my habit for the last thirty years to visit Stonefall War Graves cemetery in Harrogate a few days before Remembrance Sunday, to put poppies on the graves of nine men.
This year I have decided to do something different by way of remembrance – hence this article.
Stonefall War Graves cemetery
Stonefall War Graves cemetery contains the graves of over 1,000 men and women who died in two World Wars. Two-thirds of the 988 graves from WW2 belong to men of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who left their homes thousands of miles away to fight Nazi Germany. Many other graves contain the remains of airmen from Australia. Every year wreaths from Canada and Australia are placed on the central Stone of Remembrance and sometimes flags of these countries are placed on individual graves.
There are graves of other servicemen and women in the cemetery, most of them native British, but there are also a few graves of servicemen from other European countries who died in Britain during the war, including Russians, a German and a Czech airman.
I used to put poppies on the graves of nine men who came from distant countries in the then British Empire. As they are simply recorded as ‘British’ and not by their countries of origin, I was afraid they would not be known about, or remembered by anyone else.
War graves at Stonefall (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
The Nine Men
The first of the nine to die was 136422 Flying Officer Ulric Leslie Look-Yan, son of Joseph and Maud A. Look-Yan, of Port of Spain, Trinidad, known to his family as ‘Lin’. He was killed in a flying accident on a training exercise, on 14th January 1944, aged 21, when the plane he was flying dived into the ground at Roseden, near Wooler in Northumberland. Lin’s mother was able to visit his grave in 1972. There is much more information about him on this link: http://www.milfield.org.uk/royal_air_force_milfield.htm#
714152 AC2 Patrick Constantine Marshall, son of Tenold Neel Marshall and Ethel Marshall of Spanish Town, Jamaica, died on 21st July 1944. He had arrived in Britain a month earlier as part of the first large contingent of RAF volunteers for ground crew duties who were doing their initial British training at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey, Yorkshire. Patrick died from meningococcal meningitis, aged 19.
714017 AC2 Byron Sylvester Martin, son of Mary Deleon and twin brother of Joyce, of Spa[nish?] Town, Jamaica, died 17 days later on 7th August, 1944. His cause of death was listed as meningococcal meningoencephalitis. Byron was another member of the first contingent of men who were training at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey. He too was aged 19.
144463 Flying Officer (Pilot) Edward Fred Hutchinson Haly, DFC, son of John and Edith Marie Haly, of British Guiana, aged 23, is commemorated on the memorial plaque in the shelter at the cemetery. A Pilot Instructor based at RAF Marston Moor, Tockwith, he too was killed in a flying accident, along with the rest of the plane’s crew, on 17th September 1944. The plane was on a daytime training flight, when it dived into the ground on approach to the airfield with its wheels down and burst into flames. The cause of the accident was structural failure of an elevator. Air accident investigators found a sheared elevator control joint at the scene. While in Britain, Edward had married Daphne Pauline Biles in London in 1942. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for service with 51 Squadron, in August 1943.
Flying Officer Edward Fred Hutchinson Haly, DFC
One month later, 1553660 Sergeant Pilot Iskeli Doviverata Komaisavai, son of Ratu Savenaca Komaisavai and Adi Miriama Komaisavai, of Tailevu, Fiji, died on 19th October 1944. A note in records at the National Archives states his death was caused by ‘serious illness – polyserositis.’ He was 24 years old. Descended from the former kings of Fiji, Komaisavai sailed from Fiji to train with the Air Force in Canada. He had arrived in Britain in June 1941 and served as a pilot with 234 Squadron.
When I arrived to plant my poppy in November 2023, I was shocked to discover the grave covered in wreaths and a photograph of Sgt. Pilot Komaisavai next to the headstone. A wreath-laying ceremony, attended by the High Commissioner of Fiji, had been organised a few days earlier by Sergeant Sakeasi Iliesa, a Fijian currently serving with the RAF. Sgt. Iliesa, who came across Komaisavai’s story whilst researching Fijians who had served in the British Forces, said he wanted to raise awareness of Sgt. Komaisavai’s service and how he was a pioneer for Fijians in the RAF.
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723562 AC2 Wilfred Octavius Dawns, son of Zachariah and Ellen Dawns of George’s Plain, Jamaica, died of pneumonia on 17th January 1945, aged 24. He was a member of the second main contingent of ground crew volunteers who arrived to do their basic British training at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey in November 1944. He was taken ill at Filey during a bitter cold winter.
TML/75289 Private Shabani Selemani of the African Pioneer Corps [East Africa] died on 15th May 1945. No further details are known of his exact birthplace, his age or his family. I am not even certain whether Selemani is his first name or his surname. For many years I had wondered how he found his way to his final resting place in Harrogate, until military historian, John Ellis, and Elizabeth Smith, Public Engagement Coordinator (North East) of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, supplied further information. Shabani Selemani had been a Prisoner or War, probably captured at the fall of Tobruk in May 1942 and taken first to Italy and then to a camp in occupied France. It is likely he was liberated at the end of the war and brought to the UK to a military hospital, possibly in the military wing of Harrogate General Hospital. We don’t know whether he died from illness (most likely) or whether he had been wounded.
723376 AC2 Ivan Copeland Ashman is another person about whom there is little information in official records, other than he was from Jamaica. He died on 28th April 1945 of pulmonary tuberculosis, aged 19. He was another member of the second main contingent of ground crew volunteers who arrived to do their basic British training at RAF Hunmanby Moor, Filey in November 1944
724737 Leading Aircraftman Isaac Roland Bryan, son of George and Olga Bryan of Fair Prospect, Long Bay, Jamaica, died while still in service with the RAF, two years after the war ended, on 7th May 1947. At the time of his death he was a clerk at 1 Personnel Holding Unit, Innsworth, Gloucestershire, probably awaiting repatriation to Jamaica. He came to Britain in March 1945 in the third main contingent of ground crew recruits who did their initial British training at RAF Melksham in Wiltshire. Isaac died of pleurisy secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis, aged 21.
We know that eight of these men were young – aged between 19 and 24, and there is no reason to suppose that Shabani Selemani was much older. None of them died in combat, although Shabani Selemani may have been wounded in action, which could have contributed to his death. This should remind us that many who lost their lives during the war, died from accidents of all kinds, sickness, ill-treatment by captors and illness caused by adverse weather and conditions of deprivation, as well as during combat. No doubt, all of these men left their homes with high hopes that they would help create a better world and better lives for themselves after the war. Instead they lie buried in a cemetery in Yorkshire, far away from their homes and loved ones. Remembering them with gratitude for their sacrifice is the least that we can do.
A decade ago we worked on a project to identify Black soldiers who served in the First World War and who were commemorated in the UK. We had some successes, as a result of our work the ‘lost’ grave of Lionel Turpin was located and his final resting place in a Leamington cemetery is now marked. The project also led us to the story of the Walker Brothers and a book that tells their story:
We were helped in our work by two books, recently published at the time, Black Poppies by Stephen Bourne and Black Tommies by Ray Costello, but there was still a sense that this was a hidden history and that there were those who wished to deny the presence of Black soldiers in Flanders – if they were there at all, they were there simply as labourers, not as fighting troops. Thanks to the work of John Ellis our website now contains the stories of a number of men of colour who served in combat roles (just type ‘somme’ into the search box to find them).
The photo we feature below is further proof of a Black presence at the Battle of the Somme in 1916:
John Ellis provides some context:
This unit is D Company of the 1st/4th Gloucestershire Regiment (City of Bristol Battalion). They were formed from civilian volunteers living in Bristol when WW1 broke out. They went to France in 1915 and in July 1916 they participated in the Battle of the Somme. The photo was taken after a successful attack on the German trenches They have taken trophies: A German machine gun. German helmets and swords. Within a few days they went back into battle. The Battle of the Somme ended in November 1916. Over 400,000 British soldiers were killed. So many of the men in the photograph would have been wounded or killed after it was taken.
Only a few of the men in the photo have been identified. Most are unknown. Including the Black soldier sitting behind the machine gun among his comrades.
The photograph comes from the collection of amateur historian, Ian Chard, who reached out to the BBC in an attempt to find out who some of the men were. You can read more about the story here:
Nadia Cattouse in her Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Nadia Cattouse just a few days short of her 100th birthday. Born in British Honduras (now Belize) she led a remarkable life as a singer, actor and activist as well as serving her country as a member of the ATS during World War Two.
We are lucky that in April 2020 Audrey Dewjee wrote an article about Nadia that was cleared by the lady herself and given her blessing. There is a lot of fake history on the internet but we can be sure that Audrey’s article is factually accurate in every respect, you can read it here, it is a fitting tribute to a life well lived: https://www.historycalroots.com/nadia-cattouse/
Information leading to the identification of this woman
The lady pictured here features in Audrey Dewjee’s latest article on Welsh Black history.
Audrey explains that at the end of a talk she gave in a small Yorkshire village, a member of the audience showed her this photograph and asked how she could find out who this beautiful young lady was. She had discovered the image in an album inherited after the death of a distant relation, and she had no idea who the young woman might be or how she may have been connected to the family. It was taken in ‘Newtown, North Wales’ (now in Powys) by a photographer named John Owen. Audrey supposes it dates from somewhere around 1890. We invite you to share this image far and wide and let us know of any clues as to the lady’s identity.
It is customary for ‘wanted’ posters to offer some sort of reward, unfortunately we can offer no money but you will earn our immense gratitude, reward enough, surely?!
This is just one of the fascinating snippets contained within Audrey’s article which you can find here:
The Britannia Panopticon Hall, Glasgow, where Ophelia performed in July 1864
John Ellis continues his trawl through the rapidly growing stock of digitised newspaper archives with the story of Ophelia Powell. Probably born in Jamaica in 1839, Ophelia became a big star in the burgeoning music hall scene in Victorian Britain, performing in some of the most prestigious venues as a serio-comic vocalist, a genre we had not previously heard of but one that bore many resemblances to modern stand up comedy. Serio-comics had to be adroit at dealing with hecklers who, in Ophelia’s case, would no doubt have had few qualms about commenting on her colour in robust terms. That she was able to sustain her career for over twenty years speaks volumes for her talent, resilience and determination.
The last trace John found of her in the archives dates from 1876 but where and when Ophelia faced the ‘final curtain’ is not known.
Audrey Dewjee’s latest article for Historycal Roots starts with the birth of Edward Albert in Kingston, Jamaica in about 1830 and leads inexorably through the generations to Jack London. Born in British Guiana in January 1905, Jack won both a gold and a silver medal at the Olympic Games held in Amsterdam in 1928.
Audrey’s article takes us on a fascinating journey. To be honest, the story of Edward Albert is remarkable in its own right, encompassing life in the Royal Navy from the age of nine, the amputation of both legs below the knee at the age of twenty-one, his ‘death’ following the operation (greatly exaggerated as it transpired), time spent begging on the streets, a successful business venture (he was robbed of his profits), marriage and fatherhood. Edward’s resilience in the face of adversity and repeated setbacks is inspiring, but his story does not end there.
Among other discoveries, Audrey has identified two grandsons and a great-grandson who served in the Army during World War One or Two, including one who was captured by the Germans at Arnhem and another who died in Singapore.
Jack London enters the story in 1938 when he married Agnes Downham, a grand-daughter of Albert.
Born during the time of slavery, Edward Albert’s story, and that of many others like him, reminds us of Maya Angelou’s poem:
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Thank you, Audrey, for illuminating Black British history with your research and for helping to ensure that people like Edward Albert ‘rise’ and are not forgotten.
How time flies! We were reminded at the ceremony in central London to unveil a plaque commemorating Olaudah Equiano, that our research in 2018 contributed in a small way to identifying his final resting place. A ceremony at the American Church in Goodge Street, London, on 15th June 2024 was attended by many of the ‘great and good’ and somehow we snuck in too! Hosted by Reverend Jennifer Mills-Knutsen on behalf of the church and Arthur Torrington of the Equiano Society, there was poetry from Nairobi Thompson and readings from Equiano’s ‘Interesting Narrative’ by actor, Burt Caesar.
For us, the story began with a visit to the London Metropolitan Archives where we were able to examine the register of burials at the non-conformist chapel in Goodge Street for the years 1796-1808. The name Gustavus Vassa (as Equiano was known for most of his adult life) was there, showing his burial on 6th April 1797.
Ever since then, Arthur Torrington has been working with the church and Camden Local Authority to have a plaque put in place to commemorate the site of Equiano’s burial (the burial ground has long since been paved over and only a few traces of its original function survive).
Arthur Torrington speaking at the event
After the speeches we assembled outside for the blessing and unveiling.
‘Searcher of hearts, God of Providence, bless this memorial of your servant Olaudah Equiano, Gustavus Vassa, that this acknowledgement of his original resting place in death would inspire those who live today.’
The plaque is prominently placed, turn left out of Goodge Street station and you can’t miss it.
The plaque in Goodge Street
Six years is a long time but congratulations to Arthur and the Equiano Society for persevering and getting the job done!
The question of where Olaudah Equiano / Gustavus Vassa was born has long been a subject of scholarly debate. There is conflicting evidence pointing to an area in modern-day Nigeria and the slave plantations of South Carolina. I recall being challenged on this when I was taking people round an exhibition in London.
