Black History U.K. Firsts (10)

I have put together information about 8 significant first Black History figures relating to the U.K. They have been set out in alphabetical order.

Allan Glaisyer Minns (1858-1930) was the first black man to become mayor in Britain - mayor of Thetford, Norfolk in 1904.

Bill Morris, Baron Morris of Handsworth (born 1938), generally known as Bill Morris, became the first black leader of a major British trade union - Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) (1992-2003).

Eleanor Smith (born 1957) was the first British African- Caribbean person to become an M.P in Wolverhampton South West in 2017. A seat formally held by Enoch Powell for two decades.

Ignatius Sancho (c.1729-1780) was a British abolitionist, writer and composer who was born on a slave ship in the Atlantic. In 1774 and 1780, once he had the status as a male property owner, meant he was legally able to vote in a general -election. He became known as the first Black Briton to have voted in Britain.

Ira Aldridge (1807-1867)was and American and later British actor and playwright, is the only actor of African-American descent , among
Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constaine MBE,(1901-1971), a former West Indian cricketer, lawyer and politician became the UK’s first black peer. He was knighted in 1962 and made a life peer in 1969.

Mary Prince (1788-1833) her slave narrative The History of Mary Price (1831) was the first account of the life of a black woman to be published in the U.K.

Paul Boateng (born 1951), a British Labour Party politician became the UK’s first black cabinet minister in May 2002.

Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos (born 1954), a British party politician and diplomat became the first black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) woman on 12th May 2003 to serve as a cabinet minister.

William Cuffay (1788-1870) was a Chartist leader in early Victorian times.
He was mixed race - the son of an English woman- Juliana Fox and a father of African heritage who was previously enslaved and originally from Saint Kitts. He was only 1.5 metres tall.
William by trade was a tailor. He rejected the Owenite trade unions of the London tailors. He helped form the Metropolitan Tailors’ Charter Association. He was elected first to the Chartist Metropolitan Delegate Council in 1841 and onto the National Executive in 1842. He chaired a Great Public Meeting of Tailors in February. After the leading Chartists were arrested in 1842 he became the interim president.
Betrayed by a government spy he was arrested and accused of ‘conspiring to levy war’. He was found guilty and sentenced to 21 years penal transportation in Tasmania. Received a pardon after 3 years but stayed in Tasmania to work as a tailor. He died in poverty, aged 82, in July 1870.
He was forgotten after his death in Australia and Britain. Media and interest rekindled in early 21st century.

Some information included on all 10 from Wikipedia.

(More at Black First U.K (second set of 10)

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