20th Century

Jamaican Nurse ‘starved’ out of Camberwell by a patient boycott

John Ellis shares a cutting from the South London Press, dated 19^th September 1913 (NB: the article contains an extremely offensive racist term):

COLOUR PREJUDICE

The Board proceeded to the appointment of a medical officer for the Christchurch district at a salary of £120 per ann., with extra fees for midwifery.

The Dispensaries Visiting Committee only submitted one name to the Board – that of Dr. Horace J Gater, of Lyndhurst Road, Peckham; and recommended that the gentleman should be appointed. It was understood that there was only one other candidate for the position.

Councillor Roe thought it singular seeing that the post was extensively advertised, that there were only two applicants for the position. He considered that the Board should have interviewed both candidates.

Mr Brown explained that it was not deemed advisable to bring the second candidate before the Board.

Mr Roe: You haven’t brought the second man here because of his colour. I don’t care what the colour of his skin is. I believe in looking upon all men as brothers.

Dr Capes said the officer would have to attend poor people, who were much more fastidious than well-to-do people. They would probably decline to be attended by what was known as a man of colour. Some years ago a well-qualified nurse came from Jamaica to earn her livelihood in Camberwell, but people objected to her colour and she was starved, owing to their boycott. In plain English the second candidate was a nigger, and men of colour were not suitable for a position of this kind.

Replying to Mr Roe, Dr Capes said the qualifications of the coloured gentlemen were exceedingly good. One objection to him was that he declined to give up an appointment he held at Marylebone.

Dr Gater was then unanimously appointed to the position.^[1]The South London Press, 19^th September 1913, Findmypast

Clearly this raises a number of questions, not least the name of the Black candidate whose application was not even put forward for consideration. But John wonders whether the Jamaican nurse in Camberwell ‘some years ago’ could have been Sarah Woodbine?^[2]https://www.historycalroots.com/sarah-woodbine-a-black-nurse-in-victorian-britain-2/

Let us consider the evidence.

The fact that Sarah Woodbine was not Jamaican and never claimed to be, is neither here nor there, the British press has been known to be very imprecise about where a Black person came from. ‘Jamaica’ has often been used as a general catch-all label covering a multitude of foreign parts. Sarah was actually born in Buenos Aires of Jamaican heritage.

Sarah Woodbine could certainly be described as ‘well-qualified’ as she had finished top of the class in the nursing exams she took whilst working as a probationer nurse at Croydon from 1894 to 1897.

Geographically, Camberwell is not that far from Sarah Woodbine’s known stamping ground. She worked in Croydon from 1894 until she moved to work at Hither Green in 1897. Her time at Hither Green was brief because the hospital there only officially opened on 12^th July 1897 and in November 1898 she found employment at Eastville, Bristol.

Hither Green is barely five miles from Camberwell, sufficiently close for any story concerning her to be known to the men considering the vacancy at Christchurch (most probably Streatham, itself less than four miles from Camberwell). So, the geography is plausible. The timing fits too if we accept that the distance from 1913 to 1897 counts as ‘some years ago.’

There is no evidence (yet) concerning the circumstance of Sarah Woodbine’s departure from Hither Green, so the suggestion that she was the subject of a boycott by patients can only be speculative.

If the ‘Jamaican nurse’ referred to was not Sarah Woodbine, then it raises the intriguing question of who was she? But, having initially been sceptical, we are now leaning towards the view that the report does indeed refer to Sarah and is indicative of the sort of extreme prejudice she may have encountered.

References[+]

References
↑1	The South London Press, 19^th September 1913, Findmypast
↑2	https://www.historycalroots.com/sarah-woodbine-a-black-nurse-in-victorian-britain-2/

A date for your diary, 8th March book launch

Who is this man, and why will I be talking about him at the Black Cultural Archives on Sunday, 8^th March?

To find out, join me for the book launch of: The British West Indies Regiment: Black Soldiers at Seaford and Beyond.

The event will be held at the Black Cultural Archives, Windrush Square, London, SW2 1EF, from 3pm to 5pm.

As this will be International Women’s Day we are expecting a very special guest of honour!

FREE EVENT – TICKET DETAILS TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE, SHORTLY

20th January 1916

On the 20^th January 1916 the War Diary of the 1^st Battalion of the British West Indies Regiment reported that:

39 Officers and 1,559 other ranks entrained at Seaford, Sussex to proceed overseas

Charles Milton Walker was among them:

Born in British Guiana (now Guyana) on 23^rd May 1896, Milton (as he was known by his family) was nineteen years old. He was not the youngest of the men leaving Seaford that day but he was among the youngest. He came from a military background, his father had served in the West India Regiment for almost a decade, which may help explain why Milton had been so keen to enlist (his service number, 272, indicates that he had been among the first to join up).

None of the men leaving Seaford, as far as we know, has left any written record of their feelings as they set off for service overseas, but it is easy to imagine the mixture of excitement and trepidation they must have felt on the train journey across southern England to Plymouth where a ship, HMT Marathon, was waiting to take them on the next stage of their journey. They may also have felt relief at leaving the training camp at Seaford where seventeen of their comrades had died, including one, Reginald Fitzherbert Laing, who died the day before they set off.

The train carrying the men, paused at Exeter before making its way to Plymouth. The following day the men were on their way, bound for Alexandria and service in Egypt. What happened next is told in:

You can read the story of Charles Milton Walker and his brothers, Leonard and Clarence, in this book by his daughter, Maria Downer:

The British West Indies Regiment: Black Soldiers at Seaford and Beyond

Just click on the cover if you wish to buy the book!

Over a few short months from September 1915 to January 1916, around two thousand Black soldiers from various British colonies in the Caribbean area passed through the small Sussex town of Seaford. They were members of the 1^st and 2^nd Battalions of the newly formed British West Indies Regiment, a Regiment whose very existence had been fiercely opposed by the War Office where the prevailing view was that Black men had no place in the British Army. They were being trained in readiness to play their part in the battles that were raging a few short miles away across the English Channel, but only a handful saw active service in France.

Nineteen of them died in Seaford and are buried in Commonwealth War Graves in a cemetery there. It has frequently been asserted that, housed in poorly constructed huts and unaccustomed to the English weather, the men who died in Seaford succumbed to pneumonia. In fact, pneumonia was the principle cause of death of only seven of them. The death certificates of these nineteen men tell a more complicated story, one that this new book reveals for the first time.

In addition to tracing their journey to Seaford and describing their time there, this book tells the stories of men who left Seaford on 20^th January 1916 to set sail, not for France as they had hoped and expected, but for Alexandria. The War Office opposed the idea of Black men, who they believed to be inherently inferior, being allowed to take shots at White men, even if they were German. In the warped racial hierarchy of the time it was considered more acceptable to deploy the men of the BWIR in Egypt where they would be faced by Arab and Turkish forces, men who were almost equally inferior, and definitely not White.

Initially denied a combat role, men of the BWIR played a big part in the successful campaign in the Middle East, a campaign that saw Allied forces advance out of Egypt, into Israel and on to the capture of Jerusalem. Some men were also deployed in separate campaigns in East Africa (present day Kenya and Tanzania) and Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq).

They served with distinction and drew praise from their commanding officers. But they also encountered racism, in particular when the War ended and they were sent to Italy to await demobilisation and return to their homes in the colonies.

A BWIR Corporal receiving the Military Medal

Men in the BWIR were awarded a range of medals: five Distinguished Service Orders, nineteen Military Crosses, eleven Military Crosses with Bar, and forty-nine mentions in dispatches. The Imperial War Museum identify the man on the left as Lance Corporal Leekham but this is probably incorrect, the man’s true identity is not known. Several of the men who received medals or were mentioned in dispatches are known to have trained at Seaford.

In total, around 15,600 men served in the BWIR from its formation in 1915 to its disbandment in 1919. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website identifies 1,499 men from the Regiment who died (the Imperial War Museum offers a slightly lower number). Most, as the book shows, died as a result of illness or disease contracted on active service – malaria was a particular killer. Few of those who returned to their homes in the Caribbean were unscathed by the experience, as existing pension records show.

The service of these men has been largely ignored by the history books and it is time that omission was rectified. This book seeks to play a part in that.

Ena Collymore-Woodstock: 10^th September 1917 to 2^nd December 2025

^[1]Ena in 1943 https://www.historycalroots.com/caribbean-women-in-the-ats-from-mid-1943-onwards/

We are sad to share news of the passing of Ena Collymore-Woodstock at the age of 108. The news was reported by the Gleaner on 3^rd December. The article included a brief summary of this notable lady’s many achievements:

https://share.google/uBobn5kv2XurFChzb

Audrey Dewjee has sent us a link to an article that tells us more about Ena’s role in the ATS during the Second World War:

https://thelogbookproject.com/a-c-collymore-ena-r/

And here is one of the many articles that can be found online about her:

https://www.forcesnews.com/heritage/history/remarkable-life-british-armys-oldest-surviving-female-veteran

A remarkable life and a very remarkable woman.

References[+]

References
↑1	Ena in 1943 https://www.historycalroots.com/caribbean-women-in-the-ats-from-mid-1943-onwards/

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month – we will remember them

Today is a day for quiet reflection as we honour the sacrifices of all members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty in all conflicts and wars since those who laid down their lives in the First World War. This is the day in 1918 when the guns fell silent on the Western Front after more than four years of fighting.

But if today is about ‘remembering’, then it should not only be about the Western Front, the 1914-18 war was indeed a World War and few places were untouched by it.

I followed a link on the BBC website this morning to an article entitled ‘What role did the British Empire play in the war?’ I thought this ‘Bitesize’ article would be illuminating. It was, but perhaps not in the way I had hoped.

I learnt that ‘British colonies sent over two and a half million men to fight for Britain during the war.’ They came from ‘India’ (which the article adds, at that time included Pakistan and Bangladesh) and ‘colonies as far away as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Rhodesia (which is now Zimbabwe) also sent thousands of soldiers.’ ‘Bitesize’ history indeed.

Perhaps it is unfair to expect the full story from a self proclaimed ‘bitesize’ piece, but that shouldn’t stop us from filling in some of the gaps. Britain’s colonies in the area of the the Caribbean sent around 15,600 men to serve in the British West Indies Regiment (BWIR), a small number in the grand scheme of things but that doesn’t mean their contribution should be forgotten.

There is a book by Dominiek Dendooven which covers the presence of the BWIR on the Western Front and there will soon be a book covering the contribution of the 1^st and 2^nd battalions of the BWIR (we are spending today proof reading it!). These men, around two thousand of them, trained at a camp at Seaford in Sussex and then went on to serve in campaigns in Egypt and Palestine and also in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and in East Africa, a few also served in Flanders. They served with distinction but many never returned to their homes and are commemorated from Dar-es-Salaam to Basra and many places in between. Their stories have never previously been told.

Today, we remember all of them.

New articles – Black History Month 2025

We have new articles this month from regular contributors, John Ellis and Audrey Dewjee. The fact we are in Black History Month is purely coincidental, at Historycal Roots, every month is Black History Month!

John tells us of three more Black soldiers in World War One.

Lance-Corporal Joseph AW Peterson, Hampshire Regiment, service No.17350

I know that John was irritated by criticism of the film 1917 when it was released in 2019. It garnered high praise for its technical brilliance (seemingly shot in one continuous take although, in fact, there were some barely noticeable edits), and for its unvarnished depiction of the horror of war. One reviewer said:

This film is overwhelming. I have nothing further to add, other than the compelling need for eternal remembrance to those who sacrificed their lives in any way, we can not fathom.

But there were those who criticised the ‘unrealistic’ inclusion of Black and Asian soldiers which allegedly arose from a need to appear ‘woke’:

All movie producers these days are under pressure to kneel before the “Woke” generation and showcase minorities, even if it couldn’t have happened.

When I asked Google A1 about this I got the following response:

The 2019 film ‘1917’ features black soldiers, but their presence with integrated British infantry units was largely an artistic choice to reflect that the war was a global conflict, rather than an accurate depiction of military integration at the time While black soldiers did serve in the war, they were typically in separate units or labor corps, with a few exceptions like Walter Tull, a black officer in the Middlesex Regiment.

Sadly more and more people will get their ‘history’ filtered by AI rather than from the whole series of articles that John has written on the subject. AI can be helpful, of course, but clearly there are huge risks if we come to rely on it.

John’s latest article is here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/three-black-soldiers-in-world-war-one/

Not content with that, John has also written about Private C Calvert, who served in the Middlesex Regiment in WW1. We would not know of Private Calvert were it not for a very brief item that appeared in the Daily Mirror on 1^st September 1915:

https://www.historycalroots.com/private-c-calvert-of-the-middlesex-regiment-in-ww1/

And, John has also found time to write about yet another Black soldier in World War One. You can read about Michael Cipriani here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/trooper-michael-cipriani-a-coloured-trinidadian-in-the-life-guards-during-the-first-world-war/

Audrey takes us further back into British history, to the proclamation issued by the Lord Mayor of London on 14^th September 1731:

‘for the future no Negroes or other Blacks be suffered to be bound apprentices at any of the Companies of this City’.

As you will read, the Aldermen of the City of London were clearly having second thoughts about granting the Freedom of the City of London just one week earlier to John Satia. Originally from Barbados, Satia had been brought to England as a servant and subsequently served an apprenticeship. Completing the apprenticeship ‘entitled’ him to the Freedom of the City, which was duly granted on 14^th September 1731.

Keen that London shouldn’t have it all its own way, Audrey introduces us to John Moore who gained the Freedom of York even earlier, on 29^th September 1687. As freemen these men would have been entitled to vote in General Elections and may well have done so.

You can read Audrey’s article here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/early-black-freemen-and-voters-john-satia-john-london-and-john-moore/

Enjoy reading these articles and remember, the next Black History Month – November 2025 – is just days away!

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor at the Three Choirs Festival

We don’t write about Samuel Coleridge-Taylor as often as we should, he featured in one of our first posts (in 2016) and a few since, but he was one of our main inspirations when we started Historycal Roots and we welcome any excuse to write about him again. Although he has never been ‘hidden history’ (he was hugely famous in the 1890s and early years of the 20^th century), he undeniably fell out of fashion for several decades before making a comeback in recent years. Now, as we approach the 150^th anniversary of his birth on 15^th August 1875, it would be remiss of us not to take the opportunity to celebrate his life.

The Three Choirs Festival (the choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford) gave him a big break when, at the age of twenty-three, he was invited to write an orchestral work for the 1898 festival, hosted that year by Gloucester. It was, the already famous, Edward Elgar who put his name forward to the festival organisers, describing him as ‘by far and away the cleverest fellow amongst the younger men.’ The piece Coleridge-Taylor wrote for that year’s festival, ‘Ballade in A Minor’, was a great success and is still performed today. A review in The Morning Post commented that although the composer was ‘hitherto little, if at all, known in Gloucester … the Music Committee was fully justified in asking him to contribute to this year’s Festival scheme.’ We might raise an eyebrow today at the description of the music as ‘half untamed’ and ‘half barbaric’ but the review goes on to say that ‘few composers have been greeted in so cordial a manner at a first appearance or received such an ovation as followed the conclusion of the Ballad.’^[1]The Morning Post, 15<sup>th</sup> September 1898

For anyone unfamiliar with it, you can hear it here (NB: I tried but failed to find a version without intrusive adverts, you can skip them after a few seconds, but it is, nonetheless, annoying. It’s the price you have to pay to watch brilliant music for free on You Tube):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbQEZjmaAPc

His offerings for subsequent festivals, ‘A Solemn Prelude‘ (1899); ‘The Soul’s Expression’ (1900); and ‘Idyll’ (1901), were less successful and have rarely been heard since. So far our searches have found no reviews of these concerts although we did find this programme for the 1899 concert.

A copy of the 1899 Worcester Music Festival Programme, detailing Elgar and Coleridge-Taylor pieces due to be performed. — ^[2]Source: https://3choirs.org/news/black-history-month-2022

This underwhelming run did not prevent an invitation to write a piece for the 1903 festival hosted by Hereford. It was a revival of that work, The Atonement, that drew us to Hereford cathedral on 31^st July 2025.

As we settled into our seats in the glorious nave of the cathedral we weren’t sure what to expect, the piece had not been performed since its premiere in 1903 – perhaps there was a reason for this?

We are not musicologists or music reviewers, we go to concerts to listen to the music and, hopefully, enjoy it. Coleridge Taylor’s ‘The Atonement’ kept us fully engaged throughout its 85 minutes, it was long but it didn’t feel long. The choir and soloists were excellent as was the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Samuel Hudson. We enjoyed it a lot and were glad we took the trouble to attend.

As we left, we chatted to one of the ushers who commented that the libretto (the words) was ‘all over the place’ and this is a comment that is reflected in an excellent piece written by John Quinn about the work in general and this performance in particular. Quinn’s article is honest about what he sees as the weaknesses of the composition as well as praising its strengths:

https://seenandheard-international.com/2025/08/the-three-choirs-festivals-revival-of-a-long-neglected-oratorio-by-samuel-coleridge-taylor/

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor died in 1912 and Quinn concedes that ‘had he lived longer, Coleridge-Taylor might have revised the work or, more likely, have produced much better choral/orchestral compositions.’ In fact, his best known work, ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast’, was first performed on 11^th November 1898 just two months after the Ballade in A Minor received its premier in Gloucester and almost five years before ‘The Atonement’ premiered. It is tantalising to think what he might have achieved had he lived longer.

We can only repeat that, whatever its weaknesses, we enjoyed ‘The Atonement’.

One disappointment was that among an audience of around seven hundred we counted just three people of colour, classical music apparently remains a closed book for a great many people.

There was a photo in the programme that accompanied the concert showing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (in the front, just to the left of the conductor) at the 1903 premier. It is a poor quality image but we include it for its historic interest:

The premier took place at the Shire Hall, a short walk from the cathedral. It is a splendid building and, although the decor is very much less elaborate than it was in 1903, it is recognisably the space where the above picture was taken:

Venue Image During our visit to Hereford we visited the Town Hall mistaking it for the Shire Hall (the Shire Hall would not have been accessible to us anyway). It also has a very grand interior space:

Council venues for hire – Herefordshire Council

Opened in 1905, it seems curious that Hereford should have two such similar spaces but this probably gives a good indication of the vibrancy of cultural life in the city at the turn of the century.

As this is a significant anniversary we hope that there will be other opportunities to celebrate this Black British composer. There has already been a CD released containing a number of his less well known works including Toussaint L’Ouverture (described as ‘a swashbuckling portrait in sound’ by the reviewer in Gramophone magazine)^[3]The CD is on the Avie label, AV2763 and, as is the modern way, can be listened to on Spotify if you have access to that service. It was reviewed in Gramophone‘s September 2025 issue.. Two pieces were also featured in the Great British Classics BBC Promenade concert on 5^th August (Isle of Beauty and The Evening Star)^[4]https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gdll (only available in the UK) and, on 5^th September, we will be at the Royal Albert Hall to hear Sir Simon Rattle conduct another piece, ‘The Bamboula’. All BBC Prom concerts are available to listen to in full for, I believe, at least a month after they are broadcast. Do check out this glorious music and, unlike You Tube or Spotify, it costs nothing to listen!

References[+]

References
↑1	The Morning Post, 15<sup>th</sup> September 1898
↑2	Source: https://3choirs.org/news/black-history-month-2022
↑3	The CD is on the Avie label, AV2763 and, as is the modern way, can be listened to on Spotify if you have access to that service. It was reviewed in Gramophone‘s September 2025 issue.
↑4	https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002gdll (only available in the UK)

Ray Costello, historian, author and friend – 1945 to 14^th June 2025

p1050456-3 — Ray Costello in 2016, signing his book for us

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’.

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.

Prince Albert (Jake) Jacob – one hundred not out

At Filey Plaque Unveiling, 1^st April, 2023

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, 27^th April 1948

Jake celebrated his 100^th birthday on 9^th July 2025. We wish him a very happy birthday and it is our pleasure to share the story of a remarkable life.

You can read Jake’s story in full here:

https://solihulllife.org/2022/10/03/jake-jacob-nothing-was-easy/

In addition to the article on the Solihull Life website he is also featured here:

https://www.facebook.com/BBCAntiquesRoadshow/videos/jake-jacobmp4/1220562953104865/

And there is another interview with Jake and more photos here:

https://brumpic.wordpress.com/2015/07/07/from-trinidad-to-birmingham-by-carl-chinn/