A series of events are happening to celebrate the life and times of Olaudah Equiano (known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa). As a prelude to the events at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road (which is on the site of Equiano’s final resting place), a small group visited the grave of Joanna Bromley at Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington.
Joanna is significant as she was Equiano’s 2nd daughter. Joanna’s sister, Anna Maria, died at the age of 3 so Joanna was the only one of Equiano’s offspring to live to adulthood. She married Henry Bromley who was a Minister in the Anglican church, at St James’ church, Clerkenwell, in 1821. she was 26. Joanna had been left a tidy sum in Equiano’s will (on her 21st birthday she came into a sum equivalent to £160,000 today) and so the likelihood is that she married for love rather than out of financial necessity.
Following the wedding, the couple moved to Appledore in Devon where Henry was a Minister. They stayed in Devon for five or six years before Henry’s work took him to Clavering in Essex. This was to be their home until 1845. Bromley resigned his post as Minister in 1845 citing his wife’s health which was ‘suffering from the injurious influence of the situation.’ Quite what the ‘situation’ was has never been established, leading to some speculation that Joanna could have been subjected to some sort of racism. The couple moved to London where Henry Bromley became secretary of the Provident Society for the Widows of Dissenting Ministers. Later he took up a Ministry in Harwich which is where he was at the time of the 1851 census. At this time Joanna was living a few miles away in the town of Stowmarket (she had a young female servant living in her household so was clearly not in financial difficulty).
Later Joanna moved back to London where she died on 10th March 1857 at the age of 61. Henry Bromley was not present at the time. As she and Henry never had children, Equiano’s blood line died with her.
Joanna died in London at the age of 61 and, as she and Henry Bromley never had children, Equiano’s blood line died with her.
Her grave was only re-discovered a few years ago and Arthur Torrington, who was our guide for the visit, described how the plot was completely overgrown and the monument broken and lying on the ground. It has been partially restored but more work is needed to return it to its original condition and make it into a more fitting memorial.
We are pleased to say that the book we worked on last year with the Windrush Foundation is now available and can be obtained via the Windrush Foundation website or downloaded as a free pdf:
The book was produced as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury. It tells the stories of over seventy passengers on the Empire Windrush itself (the ‘Pioneers’) or who came in the following years (the ‘Champions’). The stories aim to document the outstanding contributions that these pioneering men and women have made to British society.
The Historycal Roots team contributed to almost half of the profiles included and, although some of the stories are relatively well known, others are not. We are particularly pleased that our work with Edna Chavannes is included. Edna is a lady you are unlikely to have heard of but, she is one of the thousands of unsung heroes from the Caribbean who helped build the NHS. You can read about Edna in the book or in more detail on the page dedicated to her on this site (in the ‘Windrush Generation’ section).
We hope you enjoy the stories as much as we enjoyed !researching them!
NOTE: This was previously published as a separate page on this site, it has now been turned into a post. If you have previously read the page then nothing has been changed, if you haven’t read the page then welcome to the story of a great uncle who was a pioneering Methodist minister on Barbados.
John Rowland Gleave was neither black nor mixed heritage but he was the great, great uncle (I think that’s the right number of ‘greats’) of a member of the Historycal Roots team and so we have bent the ‘rules’ to include him. He lived in Barbados as a young Methodist Minister, married on the island and had his first two children there. His most significant contribution to black history was to help re-establish the Methodist Church in Barbados less than 40 years after one of his predecessors, Reverend William Shrewsbury, was forced to flee the island when his Church was torn down by a rowdy mob. The mob’s aim was to “eradicate from this soil the germ of Methodism, which was spreading its baneful influence over a certain class, and which ultimately would have injured both church and state.” The mob’s proclamation ended with a warning to any of Reverend Shrewsbury’s potential successors that “all Methodist preachers are warned not to approach our shores as, if they do, it will be at their own peril.”
The mob’s real issue was that they considered the Methodist Church as “enemies of slavery” and when they talked of “a certain class” they meant black people, in particular, enslaved black people.
After Reverend Shrewsbury left Barbados, incredibly brave people such as Sarah Ann Gill defied all threats and violence to ensure all were free to worship. There is little doubt that Gleave would have been a contemporary of Sarah who is now commemorated as one of the 10 National Heroes of Barbados. This is the story of John Rowland Gleave.
On 15th December 1910, after a lifetime of service to the Church, Reverend Gleave entered the Liscard Wesleyan Methodist Church. After getting his breath back he hung up the heavy coat which had protected him from the cold winter air outside. It was exactly 10 days to Christmas Day and, like all clergymen at that time of year, he was facing a busy couple of weeks.
This was his first Christmas back in the Liscard area which forms part of Wallasey in Cheshire. He had retired as resident Minister at Epsom and Ewell in Surrey earlier that year. Sadly, his replacement, Reverend John Wesley Howells, was destined to die in World War 1 in 1917.
Today he was here to give a religious instruction class to children from the adjoining school. He took his Bible from his briefcase, said good afternoon to the children and took his seat. He felt dizzy, then saw only blackness before slumping forward and hitting the floor with a thud. A Doctor was called but it was futile. In truth, Reverend Gleave was probably dead before he struck the ground. A couple of days later an inquest attributed his death to heart disease.
As a man of God, Reverend Gleave would have been content to draw his last breath in a place of worship. But the Liscard Chapel held even more special memories for him. As a former Superintendent of the Seacombe Circuit of which Liscard was part, he was instrumental in the building of the Church which had opened as recently as 12 July 1904.
John Rowland Gleave had been born in Warrington on 21 August 1837. Throughout his adult life he referred to himself as J Rowland Gleave but for the purposes of telling his story as well as for brevity, we will refer to him as Reverend Gleave.
Reverend Gleave’s life had been of sufficient importance for his death to attract interest. A syndicated article appeared in newspapers right across Britain and Ireland the following day. The article was short and to the point. The Dublin Daily Express of 16 December reported that “Reverend J Rowland Gleave, a supernumerary Wesleyan Minister, 70 years of age, died suddenly at Liscard, Cheshire yesterday afternoon.”
As might be expected, the local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo went into greater detail explaining that Reverend Gleave was; “About to give religious instruction to a class. He suddenly collapsed and when medical aid was summoned the Doctor pronounced life extinct and the body was conveyed to the mortuary.”
In summarising Reverend Gleave’s life the article recalled that he had been born in Warrington and went on to become a scholar at one of the great Wesleyan Colleges (the exact location is not quoted). He had worked in Liverpool, London and parts of Kent and also had a lengthy spell as Superintendent of the Seacombe circuit. He became a supernumerary Minister only 12 months previously and at the time of his death was living at Withens Lane, Liscard. He was said to have been 74 years of age when he died. He was, of course, having been born in August 1837, 73 years old when he died but at least the Liverpool Echo got it a lot closer than the syndicated article which had knocked 3 years off his age.
Given that Reverend Gleave had been a Minister since approximately 1861 and Wesleyan Ministers normally changed locations every 3 years, it is clear that the Liverpool Echo article omitted many of his previous posts. In addition to those towns quoted he had served as a Minister in places such as Hull, Huddersfield, Preston, Nelson, Bingley, Colwyn Bay, Rawtenstall and the north-east of England.
But far and away the most notable omission was the spell, almost 50 years before his death, that Reverend Gleave had spent in Barbados. We don’t know the precise year Gleave left for Barbados but it was quite probably his first posting as a newly-ordained Minister. He married on the island and his first two children were born and baptised there. He was living in Liverpool by 1871 which suggests he lived in Barbados for a number of years, certainly no less than three, between 1861 and 1870.
The Methodist, or Wesleyan, Church was introduced to Barbados in 1788 by the first ever Methodist Bishop, Thomas Coke. Methodists were detested by slave owners as one of the Methodists’ objectives was to introduce enslaved people to the Christian faith. The upper class saw Methodists as anti-slavery agitators but even more than that, feared their teaching would upset the ‘natural balance’ where black people identified themselves as inferior to the white population. Every effort was made to disrupt gatherings of Methodists, they were pelted with stones and there were even efforts to make Methodism illegal. In 1823 the Methodist Chapel in James Street (which was to later play a significant part in Reverend Gleave’s life) was torn down.
Coke died in 1814 well before Gleave was born. But Reverend Gleave would certainly have met one of the 10 National Heroes of Barbados – Sarah Ann Gill. Sarah was born in 1795 as a ‘Free Coloured’ of mixed heritage.
Sarah became a Methodist and even in the face of violence and threats, refused to renounce her religious beliefs. She joined the Methodist Church in her early 20s at a time when the establishment in Barbados was most fervently opposed to the principles of Methodism. She was a relatively wealthy person and in 1819 donated £10 towards the building of the first Methodist Chapel in Bridgetown.
In October 1823 that Chapel was destroyed by white rioters. The Methodist Minister William Shrewsbury and his pregnant wife were forced to flee the island in fear of their lives.
Sarah and her sister Christiana continued to defy all threats and hosted worship in Sarah’s home. In April 1825 one of Reverend Gleave’s predecessors, Reverend Moses Rayner wrote to Sarah asking for advice on taking the post in Barbados. She replied that “I don’t advise you to come, but if it was me, I should come.”
Partly due to the abolition of slavery, conditions had improved by the time Reverend Gleave arrived on the island in the early 1860s but nevertheless some of the hatred directed at the Methodist Church only 40 or so years earlier cannot have disappeared entirely. No doubt Reverend Gleave thought and prayed long and hard before deciding to take up the post.
Before leaving England Reverend Gleave had met Louisa Hitchcock a young dressmaker from Liverpool. This must have made the decision to leave England even harder for him. Reverend Gleave resolved the matter by asking Louisa to marry him and move to Barbados. She said ‘yes’ and sailed for Barbados where she joined her husband-to-be in October 1865.
The couple married on 10 October 1865 at the Wesleyan Chapel, James Street, Bridgetown. Reverend Henry Hurd, who was the Chairman of the District as well as the General Superintendent, officiated. Reverend Gleave’s address was shown as Speightstown which is about 10 miles north of Bridgetown.
It would seem highly probable that, as a leading member of the Methodist faith in Bridgetown, Sarah Ann Gill would have greeted Reverend Gleave shortly after his arrival on the island. Indeed she may even have been involved in his selection for the post. Sarah worshipped at the James Street Church so she would almost certainly have been in the congregation on that day in October 1865 to help celebrate the marriage.
Reverend Gleave had been appointed to the Bethel Church which opened as the Bay Street Chapel on 28 March 1844 and became the main church of the Bethel circuit in 1848. It is a beautiful church and has changed little since Reverend Gleave’s days.
A son, Henry Hurd Gleave, was born in 1866 and was baptised at Bethel by Reverend Henry Hurd on 8 August 1866. At this stage the family’s address is shown as Bethel. Reverends Gleave and Hurd obviously had a good relationship and respect for one another as young Henry was named after the Reverend.
A daughter, Florence Louisa, was born on 1 November 1867. We know she was baptised on Christmas Day 1868 but careful checking by officials of the Church and this author has failed to find an entry in the Bethel register of baptisms. This is a mystery that remains to be solved another day.
My search did however reveal the existence of a William Gleave Thomas of Bay Street, born on 17 February 1868 to William and Sarah Thomas. Reverend Gleave had carried out the baptism and the parents had paid him the honour of giving their son his name. Gleave isn’t a traditional Bajan surname but this discovery led me to wonder if there was a small enclave of people on the island who had inherited the unusual moniker. Alas, this wasn’t to be. William Gleave Thomas married his wife Annie on 9 September 1893. The couple moved to New York in 1905 where they had a daughter Kathleen in 1908. William took American citizenship on 16 April 1940, Annie having pre-deceased him. Thus the surname would seem to have disappeared from Bajan ancestry.
The pulpit where Reverend Gleave preached is still there:
Although the Liverpool Echo had failed to mention Reverend Gleave’s spell in Barbados we are fortunate in having a record of his views of the island and its people. On 19 October 1881 he gave a speech at the Annual Public Missionary Meeting and this was recorded by the Jarrow Express two days later.
What he said might seem patronising now but he was trying to argue against the widely held perception that prevailed in those days that black people were lazy, unintelligent and disruptive. He (or perhaps the reporter) avoids using the term ‘black’ or ‘white’ but instead contrasts ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ classes. However, he betrays what he really means by referring to Dr Davies, who, although black, was very wealthy and upper class, as an example of one of the ‘many’ who had an English outlook on life as well as a high level of intelligence.
“At one time the upper classes were callous and immoral, the lower sunk in ignorance and superstitions, whereas the immoral men were shunned and the lower classes were intelligent, religious, law abiding and industrious”. Of the Wesleyan churches on the island he said, “the people were conscientious, liberal and regular in all that pertained to their religion and had the respect of all classes of the community.” He also referred to the “people being imbued with English ideas, and many were endowed with the highest intelligence” and instanced several bright examples, including Dr Davies, at one time well known in this country. The ‘Doctor’ in question is surely James Pinson Labulo Davies the wealthy African who married Sarah Bonetta Forbes, the goddaughter of Queen Victoria, in Brighton in 1862.
By 1871 Reverend Gleave had returned to England and was living in Warrington with his young family. Shortly afterwards he took up a post in Lambeth, London. The rest of his career would see no more foreign postings but he did cover many other locations in England and Wales.
In the late 1890s Reverend Gleave was Minister at the Wesleyan Church in Carr Road, Nelson. The Home Reading Union, part of the Church, had organised a trip to the Lake District. On Friday 12 August 1898 eight members of the trip had set out on a boat on Derwentwater. The wind suddenly got up and the boat began to rock and take in water. Panic set in and the boat capsized. Five young girls drowned. They were all cotton weavers from Nelson. Four were aged 21 and the other was 20.
The girls were buried together. A monument in memory of them was unveiled in Nelson on 12 May 1889. At this ceremony Reverend Gleave, as reported in the Burnley Express of 17 May 1899, expressed his feelings at having to break the news to the devastated families. He said he “would never forget the testimony which was borne by those who had passed through great sorrow. The families bereft lost precious treasures, but they were cheering themselves with the thought that one day they would see their loved girls in the Father’s house on high.”
Reverend Gleave continued to serve the Church diligently until his death in 1910. If he was to now return to Barbados, he’d find that there are still people who believe black people have many of the negative traits touched upon in his speech at the Missionary Meeting in 1881 but his spirits would be raised to the rafters by his old Church in Bridgetown. It remains a beautiful, light and airy building. The congregation is thriving and enthusiastic. It is the most welcoming of churches and the young people that attend are truly inspirational. It also provides support for the less advantaged in the local community.
The inside will have changed very little since he last stood in the pulpit about 150 years ago and he would recognise the font (if not the dodgy wiring behind it!) where his first two children were christened:
and he would no doubt experience with joy the shaking of the floor when the famously loud Bethel organ gets into full flow.
Two thirds of the Historycal Roots team attended the final event of the Windrush 70 project at Lambeth Town Hall. It was a varied evening of: entertainment (calypsonian De Alberto, supported by Alexander D’Great and flautist Keith Waithe, performing with Manjeet Rasiya on tabla); education (Ansel Wong, who spoke about the many different components of the Caribbean diaspora and how they had transformed British society); and inspiration (Baroness Floella Benjamin, who spoke about some of the obstacles she had faced and overcome during her life).
The event was well supported by Lambeth council. The current mayor, Councillor Christopher Wellbeloved, spoke from the heart about his own experiences growing up as a young man of mixed heritage in the UK. Councillor Sonia Winifred spoke about the importance of education and the need to love our young people and help them turn away from violence (if you live in London the subject of knife crime is hard to avoid).
I will focus though on the presentation by Arthur Torrington, founder with the late Sam King, of the Windrush Foundation. Arthur spoke about the e-book that the project has produced. The book, which will be available shortly through the Windrush Foundation website (https://windrushfoundation.com/profiles/), tells the story of 70 ‘Windrush Pioneers and Champions’. The Historycal Roots team are proud to have played a part in producing this book.
We were lucky enough to have several pioneers in the room with us: Allan Wilmot, who arrived in December 1947 on a ship called the Almanzora; and Alford Gardner who was on the Windrush itself.
Also present was Edna Chavannes. Edna came to the UK in 1951 as a trainee nurse and served the NHS for 45 years before retiring in 1996. Edna was delighted to be presented with a silver salver commemorating her role as a pioneer.
Edna Chavannes – Windrush Pioneer
Without Edna and the thousands like her who travelled to the UK in the 1950s and 1960s there really would not be an NHS. As the event’s compere, Burt Caesar, said, the story of the Windrush itself is usually a story about men, the story of the many thousands of women who migrated to Britain has never properly been told.
Another pioneer who featured was Mona Baptiste. Although Mona is no longer with us, the Windrush Foundation had nevertheless produced a silver salver in her name.
Mona Baptiste – Windrush Pioneer
We collected this on her behalf and hope to have the great pleasure of presenting it to her family in 2019.
Returning nicely to the theme of education from earlier in the evening, Arthur also spoke about the education resource pack the project has produced to help teachers tell pupils at Key Stage 2 (about the ages 7-11) about the contributions of the Windrush generation.
It was a lovely evening and well done to Arthur and his team for this event (and the others that preceded it) and for the delivery of a very successful project.
To conclude, I can’t resist including a link to the song that De Alberto performed live. Ardent monarchists may prefer not to click on the link!
The Historycal Roots team’s quest for the truth knows no limits, well very few anyway!
Our search for more information about Mona Baptiste took us to Dublin recently where we: visited her grave at Deansgrange cemetery; visited the house where she used to live in Ballsbridge, a mile or so from the centre of the city; and obtained a copy of her death certificate from the General Register Office. As you might imagine, this was thirsty work, fortunately Dublin was not short of places where weary travellers could quench their thirst.
Our first stop was the cemetery, situated several kilometres to the south of the city:
We had the reference number for Mona’s plot but, almost inevitably, it was incomplete and inaccurate. For the record, she is actually buried in the St.Patrick’s section, row Q, plot 56. She was interred in the Morrison family grave and lies with her mother-in-law and father-in-law – not perhaps everyone’s ideal scenario!
It’s a little surprising how worn the stone has become, Mona only died in 1993.
Having paid our respects we next went to her old home in Ballsbridge. Here we were in for a pleasant surprise because the front door of her old house still bears her name. It was quite moving to think that this door must have changed very little since she passed through it for the final time twenty five years ago:
Our final visit was to the Register Office which we walked past at least three times before finally locating the entrance at the back of a car park. The staff, possibly surprised that we had managed to find them, were very helpful and after only about ten minutes we held a copy of Mona’s death certificate in our hands. Such certificates always make sad reading, this one was no exception. It showed that Mona died from natural causes after a short illness. She passed away on 25th June 1993 at St James’s Hospital, Dublin. just four days after her 65th birthday and 45 years and three days after she stepped off the Empire Windrush at Tilbury.
Until very recently Wikipedia and other sources stated that Mona died and was buried in Krefeld, Germany, it’s nice to have set the record straight.
We are pleased to announce that a new book in the ‘Fern and Kate Meet…’ series is now available. This time the girls meet Walter Tull, one of the first black professional footballers and one of the first black officers to lead troops in combat in World War One. Walter Tull’s achievements are all the more remarkable when you consider the difficult start he had in life – both his parents died before he was ten and he was sent away to be brought up in a children’s home in the East End of London.
The book is a short story for children between the ages of 7 and 10 (it’s difficult to be precise as children develop their reading skills at such different rates). In addition to the fictional story, the book gives factual information about Walter’s life and achievements.
The book is available from Amazon or you can order through this site, just go to the Walter Tull page (look for the ‘Our Books’ heading) for details.
At Historical Roots we are so grateful to Yorkshire historian, Audrey Dewjee, for drawing our attention to dramatic new research into the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle.
Dido has been something of a fixation with us for approaching 30 years, ever since going to Camden library to get a copy of a short pamphlet that the local history society had produced about the mysterious black girl in the double portrait at Kenwood House. Gradually over the years, more snippets of information have emerged but until now, if anyone asked, we always had to say that, sadly, no one knew what had happened to Dido’s mother, Maria.
Now, thanks to fantastic work by Joanne Major, we know rather more about what became of Maria Bell. If you share even one tenth of our interest in Dido’s story you really must read Joanne’s article:
Joanne has found that John Lindsey, having fathered a number of illegitimate children, married in 1768. But it seems that Lindsey ‘did not neglect his former lover.’ Indeed, Joanne goes on to say ‘In 1773 Lindsay began a process to transfer a piece of property he owned in Pensacola, Florida to Maria Bell, with the requirement that she build a house there. At the time, Maria Bell was living in London but a year later, when the deal was finalised, she had travelled to America. In the document, she was referred to as “a Negro woman of Pensacola, formerly of Pensacola, and then residing in London”’. This, of course, raises the tantalising thought that, if Dido’s mother lived in London for several years while her daughter was being raised in Lord Mansfield’s household at Kenwood House, might they have been in contact?
There is a great deal more of interest in Joanne’s article which is a fascinating read.
I notice that the heading of the page is ‘All Things Georgian’ and underneath it says that the site is for: ‘Super Sleuths who blog about anything and everything to do with the Georgian Era’. Well, Joanne Major definitely deserves to be regarded as a ‘super sleuth’ for casting fresh light on Dido’s story.
‘A woman of courage with a heart of gold’ – the words her sister, Carmen Munroe, used to describe Daphne Steele, who became the first Black matron in the NHS in 1964. The occasion, the unveiling of a blue plaque to commemorate Daphne’s contribution, took place at the site of St James’ Hospital, Balham, where Daphne trained when she first arrived in England.
The Windrush and the ships that came after it, transported around a quarter of a million people from the Caribbean to the UK between 1948 and 1961. In some cases many people from the same family made the trip. The Steeles were one such family and they were among the earliest to come.
My own father-in-law, Allan Steele, was on the SS Cottica when it docked at Plymouth in May 1952. He got the train to Paddington where he was met by his cousin, Carmen Steele. Carmen would go on to make her name as Carmen Munroe, the actress. Carmen herself had been met when she arrived in 1951 by her sister, Daphne Steele. Alan would himself meet his cousin William Steele following his arrival at Plymouth on 6th March 1953. At least two other members of the Steele family also made the journey. The Steeles were among the earliest arrivals, official figures show that 2,200 arrived in each of the years 1951 and 1952 with a total of 3,600 in the years 1948 to 1950.
Born in British Guyana (as it then was) in 1929, Daphne Steele was one of the many people from the Caribbean who dedicated their lives to the National Health Service and, on 16th October 2018, a blue plaque was unveiled in her honour (actually, thanks to a gust of wind, it unveiled itself!). Daphne became the first Black matron in the NHS, when she successfully applied for that role in 1964 at St.Winifred’s hospital in Ilkley, Yorkshire. Her son, Robert, also present at the unveiling, commented that when he and his mother arrived in Ilkley the Black population of the town increased by two, to a total of … two. It was clear from his comments that he and his mother were soon made to feel very welcome in the town and in fact Daphne remained there until she died in 2004.
Daphne’s sister, Carmen, at the unveiling:
Another sister, June, was also at the unveiling. She too had warm words of praise for her sister: ‘Daphne was someone with the most heart- warming smile and a great sense of humour. She put 110% into everything she did, giving freely of her time and was always willing to help people.’
The Nubian Jak Community Trust must be thanked for their tremendous work in getting blue plaques in place to commemorate the Black contribution to our history (40 and counting!). You can find out more about Nubian Jak’s work here: http://nubianjak.org/. On this occasion the Trust was ably supported by AGNAP (The Association of Guyanese Nurses and Allied Professionals). London and Quadrant Housing must also be acknowledged for welcoming the placement of the plaque on one of their buildings.
The 100 or so attendees were blessed with bright sunshine throughout the hour-long ceremony. It was a fitting celebration of the life of a remarkable woman.
Here at Historycal Roots we take a pretty broad view of what counts as ‘history’, if something happened earlier than yesterday then perhaps it could be classed as ‘historical’? And, although much of the history you read in books is about ‘great’ men (and perhaps, occasionally, great women), we believe that the actions of more ‘ordinary’ people help to shape events at least as much. So, is it OK to celebrate the life of a pioneering Black footballer? Absolutely!
Friday 28th September marks the anniversary of the passing of one such footballer, Albert Johanneson. Many people think Albert was the first ever Black footballer to ply his trade in English professional football, he was far from that. However, he was arguably the very first high profile Black player of the modern age – if the advent of ‘Match of the Day’ can be said to mark the birth of modern football. As such he faced challenges not experienced by any of his predecessors.
Albert joined Leeds United on 5th April 1961, signing from Germiston Colliers in South Africa. He was a shy young man who, because of the evil impact of apartheid, lacked confidence about his place in a white dominated society.
He made his debut at Elland Road in a 2-2 draw with Swansea on 8th April 1961and went on to play a total of 197 games (plus three appearances as a substitute) for the club, scoring 67 goals – a prolific return for a winger. He was the first Black player to play in a European match for an English club and, on 1st May 1965, he famously became the first Black player to appear in an FA Cup Final.
Albert suffered horrendous racism in his native South Africa and, when he moved to England, he continued to be racially abused by fans and opposition players. Monkey chants and the throwing of bananas were common place. We won’t ever know how all of this affected his confidence as a man or his performance as a footballer. We do know that both his parents were alcoholics and at some stage Albert sadly followed suit. This had inevitable negative consequences on his finances, marriage and his family.
Despite treatment, Albert died in relative poverty in 1995. His funeral was attended by his old teammates who remembered him with fondness and respect as did the many thousands of football fans who had been thrilled by his goals and skilful wing play.
George Best, who famously wrestled with demons of his own, once commented: ‘Albert was quite a brave man to actually go on the pitch in the first place wasn’t he? And he went out and did it. He had a lot of skill. A nice man as well – which is, I suppose, the more important thing, isn’t it? More important than anything.’
Through his courage, Albert Johanneson transcended the mere game of football and achieved more than many of us from far more privileged backgrounds can ever hope to claim.
Rest In Peace, Albert.
You will be able to read more about Albert and many other pioneering Black footballers in a book we are working on, keep your eyes open for it.
Whilst not quite ‘forgotten history’, Sarah Bonetta Forbes-Davies’ remarkable story is not as widely known as it deserves to be. Here, Bill Hern of Historycal Roots, re-tells her story and describes his visit to her final resting place, metaphorically and literally opening the gates to remind us of a sadly neglected figure.
Although not as well-known as Dido Elizabeth Belle (subject of the film ‘Belle’) who died in 1804, the story of the life of Sarah Bonetta Forbes-Davies has gained greater exposure in recent years. There is no doubt that Sarah is a significant figure in Black British History and yet she lies in an unmarked grave on the island of Madeira.
I visit Sarah’s grave each year in the beautiful British Cemetery in Funchal:
On each visit I feel a sadness that it does not even have a headstone. If it were not for a marker planted in the ground over her burial plot we would have no way of recognising where Sarah was laid to rest.
I understand that Sarah’s husband erected a granite monument more than 8 feet high in Ijon in Western Lagos but whether, 138 years later, that memorial still stands I do not know.
This year I was heartened to see that others must remember Sarah too. A figure had been placed on her grave. But surely one of the most prominent Black women in Victorian Britain warrants at the very least a headstone?
For those of you that aren’t conversant with Sarah’s amazing life here is a short summary:
Sarah was born in Oke-Odan, West Africa in 1843. She was the equivalent to a Princess and her birth name was Aina. She was orphaned when only 5 years old after enemies ransacked her village killing her parents and taking her into slavery.
She was being held by King Ghezo of Dahomey when a Royal Navy Captain, Frederick E Forbes, visited Dahomey on a mission to dissuade the King from continuing to deal in slavery. Captain Forbes allegedly persuaded King Ghezo to give the now 8-year old Aina to Queen Victoria. Other versions of this story claim that King Ghezo offered the girl as a gift to Queen Victoria. Whatever the truth, the little girl joined Captain Forbes on his ship, HMS Bonetta, to make the journey back to England.
Captain Forbes named the girl Sarah Bonetta Forbes after his ship and his own surname. On arrival in England Sarah was taken to see Queen Victoria. She enchanted the Queen just as she captivated many people over her short life. The Queen treated Sarah as a goddaughter.
Sarah was hugely intelligent and musically gifted. She was educated in Africa (Sierra Leone) and England.
In 1862, when still only 18 years old, Sarah married Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a wealthy Nigerian merchant, 13 years her senior. The wedding was a lavish affair at the Church of St Nicholas in Brighton.
As an indication of the status Sarah had reached with the Royal family she had attended, only one month prior to her own marriage, the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice. This was a private affair taking place only months after the death of Victoria’s beloved husband Prince Albert, yet Sarah was invited and attended.
Shortly after her marriage Sarah became pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter in 1863. After seeking permission from Queen Victoria, the proud parents named the child Victoria Matilda. Victoria went on to become a goddaughter of Queen Victoria.
The family then moved to Lagos, Nigeria and two further children Arthur (1871) and Stella (1873) were born.
Sarah never enjoyed perfect health and while in Lagos she was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB). For poor people TB meant almost certain death but people of Sarah’s standing and wealth were advised to go to a country with a more favourable climate in order to recover. Her doctor recommended she go to the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean. Sadly, the remedy was not a success and Sarah passed away on 15 August 1880.
Such was the affection in which Sarah was held, news of her death was quickly relayed to Queen Victoria who recounted seeing how distraught Victoria Davies was upon hearing of her mother’s death.
Victoria Davies would go on to marry a Nigerian physician Dr John Randle who was himself an important but much under-rated figure in Black British History and definitely a candidate for a further article on Historycal Roots.
