Sometimes the Black presence in British history seems to be invisible but … can you see a Black presence in this painting which depicts an actual historical event that took place in Dublin in 1821 (very much part of the United Kingdom at the time)?
You probably can’t. But here is a detail from the same painting.
The eagle eyes of John Ellis spotted the drummer about half way up the picture at the left hand side. Not only did he spot him, John’s research enables us to know the name of this painted smudge!
Today we note the sad passing of Raymond Henry (Ray) Costello.
We first met Ray in 2016 when we attended an event in Manchester for the launch of his book, Black Tommies. We nervously approached him after his talk, he was a Professor and the author of numerous books and we were, frankly, nobodies. Many academics can come across as aloof and full of their own importance, Ray was neither of these things. He readily engaged in conversation and took a keen interest in the project we were working on about Black soldiers in World War One. He was warm and engaging and we stayed in touch. He may not have realised it but we came to regard him as a mentor and, between ourselves, referred to him as ‘Uncle Ray’.
With Ray at the Black Salt exhibition
We made several visits to Liverpool and he was always happy to meet up and talk. He treated us to a guided walk round some of the less well-known Black history sites in Liverpool and to a personal tour of the ‘Black Salt’ exhibition at the International Slavery Museum, an exhibition that celebrated his own book of that title and which he had curated. He also treated us to more than one meal!
Ray was keen to help us understand just how far back British Black history goes and shared his concern that, important though it undoubtedly was, there was a danger that focusing too much on the Empire Windrush might obscure all the history that preceded it. He also told us ‘you’ll never make money out of writing books’ (we were working on one at the time) and he was right about that!
Ray was kind and generous with his time and happy to share his vast knowledge of Liverpool’s long Black history. He had no particular interest in football but helped when we were writing Football’s Black Pioneers by mentioning that he remembered a member of a long-established Black Liverpool family had played for Tranmere Rovers. We dug into it and he was right, of course, and the intriguing story of Albert Payne emerged.
Ray visited London on more than one occasion to support events where we were speaking, he didn’t have to do that and we are so grateful that he did.
Ray had been seriously ill for several years so news of his death was a shock but not a surprise, it still came as a big blow. Ray was a titan of Black British history and we are privileged to have called him a friend.
Born in Trinidad in 1925, Prince Albert (Jake) Jacob left his homeland at the age of 17½ to serve with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
In 1948 he married a white girl, Mary Gore, at Oldbury Register Office. They faced tremendous hostility from her family, not a single family member attended the wedding, and from their local community, but stayed together for many decades.
With wife Mary on their Wedding Day, 27th April 1948
Jake celebrated his 100th birthday on 9th July 2025. We wish him a very happy birthday and it is our pleasure to share the story of a remarkable life.
If you have ever had the task of sorting through old family photos, you will know the frustration of not being able to put names to faces. Perhaps you recognise your mother as a young woman, or some other relative, but who are those other people in the picture?
I have just been shown a photo of a woman seated with a young child on either side of her and a rather splendid teddy bear at her feet. Fortunately my wife is able to tell me that this is her grandmother with her two children. I have met all three, perhaps sixty or seventy years or so after the picture was taken, but without my wife’s prompting I could not have put names to their faces. Having your picture taken in a studio would have been a big deal and it shows in the slightly stilted poses, except perhaps the child I know as ‘Aunty Claudette’ who looks as though she might burst out of the shot were it not for her mother’s gently restraining grip.
Usually, putting names to faces is harder to do. But sometimes diligent research combined with a slice of good fortune can fill in the gaps. The photo below is of a group of ATS recruits who came to England for training in October 1943.
The photo, which comes from the National Army Museum’s collection, has been used many times but never with their names attached.
Until now!
This link will take you to an updated version of Audrey Dewjee’s article about the ATS women who came from the Caribbean to serve. The names of these nine ladies have now been included:
We aren’t always so lucky. In October 2024 we published this photo of a young woman taken in Powys, North Wales, probably in the 1890s, and asked for help identifying her. So far her identity remains a mystery.
I mentioned that luck is often a factor, that’s what we need in this case. If anyone has any clues please get in touch.
On 19th May I gazed out of a train window and wondered why I was making the journey. I was heading towards the market town of Hawes, deep in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I mused that in the time it was taking to get to Hawes from south London, well over four hours, I could have reached the capital city of virtually any European country (Nicosia, Cyprus would have taken longer but that’s about it I think).
I had never visited the Dales before but when I heard that Audrey Dewjee was delivering a talk on the hidden Black and Asian history of the area it had seemed like a good opportunity to rectify the omission. But I was having second thoughts as I watched the countryside roll past. The view was nice, the sheep looked contented as they grazed their way towards someone’s Sunday dinner table, but could there really be much Black and Asian history hidden here?
When I first started taking an interest in this history, I had the pre-conceived notion that it could be found in London, Liverpool, Bristol and Cardiff, obviously, and perhaps some other urban centres too, but with the help of expert guides (like Audrey and John Ellis) my understanding has blossomed. Historycal Roots describes itself as an educational site, well, it has certainly educated me!
Is there Black and Asian history hidden in the Yorkshire Dales? Undoubtedly, and Audrey’s talk did not disappoint. It demonstrated clearly that there is Black history everywhere if you open your eyes and take the trouble to look for it. She has kindly shared her talk with us and you can read it here:
On Saturday the 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the British Army sustained 57,000 casualties, still the bloodiest day in British military history.
In just under five months, The Somme would claim 300,000 British troops and an estimated 1 million casualties on all sides.
John Ellis has identified the presence of a number of Black British troops at the Somme, just putting ‘somme’ into the website’s search box brings up many articles:
But perhaps today of all days should just be a day of quiet reflection on the ultimate sacrifice made by so many men of all races, nationalities and creeds.
Lists, we all make them – shopping lists, ‘to do’ lists that never seem to get any shorter (come to think of it, that seems to apply to shopping lists too in this household!).
In his latest article, John Ellis draws attention to the lists that a historian with an interest in Black British history might draw on, they include: enslaved people (on vessels and in plantations); muster lists of Black Loyalists (from the American War of Independence); and liberated people (‘The Book of Negroes’, 1783). I would add to that the lists of the London Black poor compiled by the authorities in the 1780s and lists of names of men, women and children transported to Australia – lists that between them contain thousands of names. Names but, usually, little else. Each name on any of these lists represents a human being, they each lived a life and had some sort of story to tell but we rarely have any idea what their story was. A list captured their name in a moment in time and that was it.
I have looked at these lists myself at various times and have sometimes wondered about the possibility of finding the same person in more than one of them – that might start to piece together a life story. To do that requires patience, determination and a good slice of luck. I have never really had the first (or second) of those in sufficient quantity to get past the ‘wondering’ stage. Fortunately, John Ellis is made of sterner stuff:
For over twenty five years I have been compiling a database of Black soldiers who served in the Crown (or ‘King’s’) regiments of the British Army in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Very occasionally, an individual can be identified on more than one list. Daniel Green is one such individual.
We pride ourselves at Historycal Roots on presenting original research, new stories that you won’t find elsewhere, but occasionally we come across something too good not to share. With thanks to Audrey Dewjee for bringing it to our attention, we highly recommend this programme from the BBC:
Because it is on IPlayer it can only be accessed from within the UK and it is only available for a limited period of time (about a month), so do watch it while you can. The programme is presented by Griff Rhys Jones whose father was a doctor in the British Army during World War Two. Jones senior was sent to Burma as part of British efforts to fend off Japanese attempts to invade India. Key to the campaign was the use of Black soldiers from West Africa (The Gold Coast, now Ghana). Whilst I was aware of the Burma campaign, the fact that Black African soldiers played such an important role was entirely new to me. A number of the veterans are still alive and share their memories.
Griff Rhys Jones sums up:
A lot of people are completely unaware that a huge amount of the fighting was done by Indian, Gurkha and African troops.
Audrey Dewjee has alerted us to the sad news that Sir Geoff Palmer has passed. He was best known as a brilliant scientist but he understood the importance of Black History and devoted much of his later years to research and sharing what he knew. He was a great role model and inspiration for the young.
Now considered an intellectual giant, when he arrived in Britain in 1955 he was labelled “educationally subnormal” by the racist education system of the time.
He went on to become professor emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University and this article about him was published on the Edinburgh University website in June 2024: https://global.ed.ac.uk/uncovered/1960/geoff-palmer
For the past four years Barbara Ellis has produced a ‘Lest We Forget’ calendar commemorating the contribution of men and women of colour from the Caribbean to the British war effort in the two World Wars. We have them all.
You won’t be able to read the text in the following images but they give you an idea of the overall approach.
We have kept them because, in addition to being a wall calendar for the year, they each contain a wealth of Black British history. For each month there is a meticulously researched article about a particular person or on a theme. Honestly, if you could take the articles from the four years and put them together, you would get a great book about Black British history full of stories that are new to you.
The calendar costs £10 but, for obvious reasons, Barbara will sell the few she has left for £5. If you are interested you can contact her here:
babarasellis4(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com
Please be patient as we know that she is lucky enough to be on holiday at the moment.
While we have your attention, a subscriber asked if we could make the link to the list of prisoners of colour in Newgate gaol produced by John Ellis more accessible – your wish is our command! Here it is:
