roots1937

New discoveries: Black soldiers in Edinburgh 1792-1848

New discoveries cause us to constantly revise our thoughts about history in general and Black British history in particular. More and more records are being digitised and made available online and these lead to new finds and deeper understanding.

Regular contributor, John D Ellis, recently stumbled across a set of data he had never seen before. Careful analysis of the Army attestation registers for Edinburgh, has enabled John to identify the names of over forty Black soldiers who enlisted in British Army regiments between 1792 and 1848 in the city of Edinburgh alone. John makes the point that if such a register was maintained in Edinburgh, similar registers must have been kept in other cities – where are they and what would they reveal about the Black presence in Britain?

We first became aware of John’s work when he spoke at an event we attended in Huddersfield in 2018, what he had to say about the presence of Black soldiers in the British Army in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries opened our eyes to an area of black British history that we had been largely unaware of. Since then, our understanding of the Black presence, in terms of both numbers and geographical spread, has come on in leaps and bounds. Working on this site and becoming aware of the work of John, Audrey Dewjee, Ray Costello and many others has been an educational experience for us and, we hope, for you too.

You can read John’s article here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/black-soldiers-and-edinburgh-c-1792-1848/

From Jamaica to Hampton Court

Born on Jamaica in about 1780, a ‘Black man’, John Fitzhenry, had seen service in the British Army in Spain and in ‘the War of 1812’ in America before the 1841 census found him living at Hampton Court Palace with his wife and three children. John was working there as a servant.

Interesting enough, but John D Ellis’s latest article for Historycal Roots about John Fitzhenry’s life has two postscripts.

The first, identifies some other ‘men of colour’ who served with John Fitzhenry’s regiment (the 14^th Dragoons). It includes an instructive detour to Australia where a former officer of the regiment came to an inglorious end whilst hunting down members of the Nyungar tribe, whose ancestors had lived on the land for countless centuries before the arrival of British colonists, in Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania).

The second postscript traces the exploits of John Fitzhenry’s son who competed as an athlete in Yorkshire in the 1840s and subsequently moved to Liverpool.

You can read John’s wide-ranging article here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/from-jamaica-to-hampton-court-palace-private-john-fitzhenry-of-the-14th-dragoons/

The Royal Academy, London: Entangled Pasts 1768 to now

This exhibition brings together several of our favourite paintings under one roof. As the mini guide says:

‘Entangled Pasts explores connections between art associated with the Royal Academy and Britain’s colonial histories.’

The mini guide handed to visitors and free audio guide draw out the associations and the full catalogue contains an excellent introductory essay. You can buy the catalogue from the RA shop, it is pricey (as these things always are) but it is beautifully illustrated and gives a real flavour of the exhibition:

https://shop.royalacademy.org.uk/entangled-pasts-1768-now-art-colonialism-and-change

To whet your appetite here are just a few of the paintings on display.

Ignatius Sancho is believed to have been the first Black man to vote in a British Parliamentary election and in 1768 Thomas Gainsborough painted this portrait of him.

Sancho was a man of letters, as was Ottobah Cugoano and a selection of his manuscripts was on display:

Better still, the exhibition also includes the only known image of Cugoano, an etching on paper (now attributed to Thomas Rowlandson) dating from c1784 or c1790. Cugoano was employed for a time as a servant by Richard and Maria Cosway and this depicts him in that role.

‘The Head of a Negro‘ by John Singleton Copley was painted in 1777/78 and the subject matter is extremely unusual, at this time biblical scenes or paintings of great battles were the general order of the day. Although Copley had been the owner of enslaved people, this man, whose name, regrettably, is not recorded, is painted with evident respect for his humanity:

These images were previously known to us but a lot of others were not, including this one, a detail taken from a painting by Zoffany, ‘Colonel Blair and his Family and an Indian Ayah’. The catalogue of the exhibition points out that the girl looks too young to be an Ayah (nanny) and is more likely to have been the daughter of an Ayah or an illegitimate daughter of Colonel Blair. We are grateful to Audrey Dewjee for pointing out that Zoffany was in India in 1786 when this was painted.

There are many, many more exhibits to enjoy but we will finish with, Dido Elizabeth Belle, who in many ways was the inspiration that led us to start this site in 2015/16. It was painted in 1779 by David Martin, the previous attribution to Zoffany is now believed to be wrong. To think we travelled to Scone Palace, Perth to see this painting! Our visit was in 2014, before its importance was fully recognised by its owners and we found it hung in a rather obscure corner of a guest bedroom.

The exhibition is on until 28^th April and, if you are in London and can spare the time, we can thoroughly recommend it.

Daphne Steele honoured

Photo courtesy of AGNAP (the Association of Guyanese Nurses and Associated Professionals

We were so pleased to see that Daphne Steele has now been commemorated with a Blue Plaque in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Daphne is credited as having been the first Black matron in the NHS (from 1964). The new plaque commemorating her contribution is at what was formerly St Winifred’s maternity home where she was based for a number of years.

Daphne was one of several members of the Steele family who came to England from British Guiana (now Guyana) in the early 1950s. She arrived in 1951 and was soon followed by the best known of her siblings, her sister, Carmen, now known as Carmen Monroe, the actress. My own father-in-law was another Steele who made the journey, he was met by Carmen when he arrived in London in 1952 and spent many years working in the Post Office, a less glamourous contribution to Britain’s post-war regeneration but important nonetheless. The Steeles are just one example of the countless families who helped rebuild Britain after the devastation of World War Two.

Daphne trained at St James’ hospital in Balham and it was our privilege to be present when a Nubian Jak plaque was unveiled there in 2018:

https://www.historycalroots.com/daphne-steele-first-black-matron-in-the-nhs/

After two years in south London she then trained as a midwife before going on to work for the NHS in Oxfordshire and Manchester (as well as a stint in America) before settling in Yorkshire.

The unveiling ceremony was featured on the BBC news website and you can read more about Daphne here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bradford-west-yorkshire-68380732

One fact about Daphne you won’t find in any of the articles about her online is that, according to my sister-in-law, she baked a mean scone!

Amanda Ira Aldridge and Avril Coleridge-Taylor: Getting the Tempo Right

Life is full of surprises and we certainly were not expecting Stephen Bourne, a published author with a number of books to his credit, to ask us out of the blue to publish his latest book. When he said he wanted to tell the story of Amanda Ira Aldridge and Avril Coleridge-Taylor we really could not refuse. Both these ladies, the mixed heritage daughters of famous fathers, have long been of interest to us.

Stephen’s informative and nicely illustrated book is now available to buy (just click on the cover):

For a long time recordings of the work of these two composers were hard to find but that is changing, gradually.

There are two short pieces by Avril on ‘Beyond Twilight’, a CD of music for piano and cello by a number of female composers, and her ‘Sussex Landscape’ is included on a CD that features some her father’s best music (his Violin Concerto is a particular favourite).

Music by Amanda (aka Montague Ring) is harder to come by but the American pianist, Rochelle Sennet, has included some piano pieces by her on two recent releases:

This music is all available on Spotify for those of you who have access to that service.

We do hope you will have the chance to listen to their music while reading about these ground-breaking women in Stephen’s book.

You can find more about Stephen’s work here: http://www.stephenbourne.co.uk/

Roots entwined

Audrey Dewjee’s latest contribution to Historycal Roots is of particular interest to us and we hope you will find it enlightening too. Audrey has chosen the title ‘Roots entwined’ for the article and in it she explores the history of inter-racial marriage in her home county of Yorkshire.

The earliest mixed marriage she mentions in the article took place in Deptford, London, in 1613, but, as she puts it, ‘Yorkshire eventually caught up.’ She goes on to mention the marriage of John Quashee and Rebecca Crosby at Thornton by Pocklington on 12^s. November 1732.

St Michael’s church, Pocklington, the site of John and Rebecca’s wedding?

Audrey goes on to cite 18^th, 19^th and 20^th century examples. One of her 19^th century Yorkshire marriages features John Perry, a Black man born in Annapolis in Nova Scotia in about 1819, who married in Ripon in 1844 and ended his days in Sydney, Australia, having been transported to the penal colony. As an illustration of how ‘entwined’ these stories can become, John Perry has featured in an earlier Historycal Roots article by John Ellis which Audrey references.

Of course, similar stories can be found in virtually any part of the country and there must be people who are puzzled by the results they get back from a DNA test. As Audrey says ‘colour fades quickly if [mixed heritage] children and grandchildren have White partners … and gradually the memory of a Black ancestor fades,’ something my wife and I are only too aware of as we watch our grandson growing up.

Audrey’s article is here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/roots-entwined-inter-racial-families-in-yorkshire/

A handsome new book about the Empire Windrush

In recent years our knowledge of who was on the Empire Windrush when she docked at Tilbury in June 1948 has developed considerably. Bill Hern has played a big part in this and some of the fruits of his latest research can be found in a new book produced by the Windrush Foundation. It is beautifully illustrated – I was going to describe it as a great ‘coffee table’ book, but such books are usually used as rarely opened adornments, this book is so much more than that. The words tell the stories of over eighty of the Windrush passengers, most of which have never previously been told. If you still believe the passengers on the Windrush were all Jamaican men coming to the UK in search of work, this book will set you straight!

My understanding is that the book is only available through the Windrush Foundation, it can be downloaded as a free e-book / pdf via this link:

http://www.windrushfoundation.com

‘Women of Colour’ in Newgate Gaol

Over recent months we have published a number of stories that John Ellis has produced following his extensive research into Black inmates of Newgate Gaol. We try and draw John’s articles to your attention as they are published but one very important piece of research has not been specifically flagged up in this blog, an oversight that we are now correcting.

We have to take evidence of the Black presence in British history where we can find it. The stories of Black women in Newgate Gaol and of their trials at London’s criminal court, the Old Bailey, may sound unpromising, but working class Black women are rarely reflected in what we might call ‘standard’ history. They are rendered practically invisible precisely by virtue of being, Black, female and poor. The records of Old Bailey trials are available online, easily searched and are an incredibly rich source.^[1]https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ In fact, transcripts of court hearings are one of the few places where we hear the voices of Black women of this period in their own words as they desperately plead their innocence.^[2]Examples are: Sarah David https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18260216-169?text=DAVID; Ann Gilbert https://www.oldbaile:yonline.org/record/t17731208-48?text=GILBERT; Mary Kendrick: … Continue reading

John has identified twenty seven women of colour from the records of Newgate Gaol, not all stood trial at the Old Bailey, and of those that did, not all were found guilty. As is so often the case with John’s work, you will not have seen this history anywhere else!

https://www.historycalroots.com/forgotten-stories-women-of-colour-in-newgate-gaol-1817-1882/

References[+]

References
↑1	https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/
↑2	Examples are: Sarah David https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18260216-169?text=DAVID; Ann Gilbert https://www.oldbaile:yonline.org/record/t17731208-48?text=GILBERT; Mary Kendrick: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18390708-2110?text=KENDRICK ; and Caroline Periera: https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18500610-1040?text=PERIERA

West Indian airmen at Hunmanby Moor in World War Two

It is with real pleasure that we welcome Audrey Dewjee back to the pages of Historycal Roots. Her latest article describes something of the experiences of the 4,000 RAF West Indian airmen who were stationed at Hunmanby Moor in Yorkshire during the Second World War. The subject has been very close to Audrey’s heart for a long time and her article has been a real labour of love which we are delighted to lay before you. Veterans Alford Gardner and Gilbert Clarke (pictured) were among those present at the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in the nearby town of Filey in 2023. You can read Audrey’s article here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/west-indian-airmen-at-raf-hunmanby-moor-filey/

Thomas Smith: A ‘man of colour’ in the Royal Air Force in 1918

You have to be careful about claiming to have identified the ‘first’ of anything in the past, there is always the chance someone will find an earlier example – wise words that historian Ray Costello shared over a convivial lunch in Liverpool some years ago.

John Ellis is far too canny to fall into that trap but he has identified Flight Sergeant Thomas Smith, a ‘man of colour’ from Barnstaple in Devon, as a founding member of the Royal Air Force when it was formed on 1^st April 1918. As a ‘founding member’ you can’t get much more ‘first’ than that, although it is possible, of course, that there were other Black men who joined on the same day.

Perhaps others stories will emerge but, for now, we celebrate Flight Sergeant Thomas Smith. Thomas, who had a Black father, a White mother and an American grandfather, got into the RAF in spite of the provisions of the Royal Air Force (Constitution) Act of 1917 which restricted entry to men of ‘pure European descent’. Thomas was able to get round this manifestation of the institutional racism of the time because he was already serving as a Petty Officer in the Royal Navy Air Service and was able to transfer across into the newly formed RAF.

Thomas came from a humble background. His father, Moses, was a ‘hawker’ (a street trader) and his mother, Elizabeth, the daughter of a mussel gatherer, was also a fish hawker prior to her marriage to Moses. Moses, who undoubtedly faced racism, was no stranger to the Barnstable constabulary and was in the local gaol on more than one occasion. But he was also an eloquent man, well able to speak up for himself. He was also known to box at the local fair and there were occasions when he used his pugilistic skills to defend himself as the need arose.

Thomas had more than one brush with the law himself. In May 1911 he took revenge for an assault on his father by attacking both the father and sister of the culprit. He was serving in the Royal Navy at the time and his Commanding Officer spoke up for him, describing him as ‘a very good character’ and ‘a very good man’.

When war broke out in 1914 Thomas Smith was serving on the battlecruiser HMS Indefatigable and he saw active service in the Dardanelles and North Atlantic. The Indefatigable was sunk at the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 with the loss of almost the entire crew of around 1,000. Fortunately Thomas, following promotion to the rank of Petty Officer, had been transferred to another ship in December 1915 – a lucky escape.

You can learn much more about Thomas Smith, including his ground-breaking time in the RAF, in John Ellis’s latest article for Historycal Roots. It really is a remarkable story:

https://www.historycalroots.com/flight-sergeant-thomas-smith-a-founding-member-of-the-royal-air-force/