Black Historyin Westminster

Black History in Westminster

Henry Sylvester Williams50 Hamilton Gardens, St. John’s WoodJohn Alcindor17 Elgin Avenue, Maida ValeRegent’sHenry Sylvester WilliamsChurch Street WardJohn Alcindor23 Westbourne Park Road, BayswaterSamuel Coleridge-Taylor31 Talbot Road, PaddingtonBob Marley12a Queensborough Terrace, BayswaterHyde ParkMary Jane SeacoleKensingtonGardens3 Cambridge Square, PaddingtonJomo Kenyatta95 Cambridge Street, PimlicoProduced by Westminster City Council’s Planning and City Development DepartmentOctober 2006 (Edition 2)

William Davidson12 Elliots Row, Marylebone (now Dorset Square)Jimi Hendrix23 Brook Street, Mayfairs ParkOlaudah Equiano10 Union Street, East Marylebone (now 73 Riding House Street)Amy Ashwood GarveyCarnaby Street, SohoMary Jane Seacole14 Soho Square, SohoJimi HendrixRonnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Frith Street, SohoIra AldridgeTheatre Royal, Govent GardenRobert WedderburnHopkins Street, SohoWilliam CuffaySt. Martin’s-in-the-FieldsGreenParkOttobah Cugoano80-82 Pall Mall, St James’sIgnatius SanchoSt. Margaret’s Church, WestminsterIgnatius SanchoCharles Street, Mayfair (now King Charles Street)Samuel Coleridge-TaylorCaxton Hall, WestminsterIgnatius SanchoChristchurch Gardens, Victoria Street

1ForewordWestminster has a rich and diverse cultural history. Today, around 30% ofWestminster’s residents belong to black or minority ethnic communities andover 150 languages are spoken across Westminster’s schools.There are a large number of different ethnic minority groups in the city, withAfrican-Caribbean residents constituting one of the larger minority groups.This cultural diversity has a long history; with people from black and ethnic minoritycommunities having lived and worked in Westminster since at least 1511.In celebration of Black History Month, this booklet provides just a glimpse intothe lives of some of Westminster’s most gifted black residents through history.I very much hope you enjoy reading this booklet and it awakens your curiosityto discover more.Sir Simon MiltonLeader of Westminster City Council

2ContentsPageBlack History Mapinside front coverIntroduction3Jimi Hendrix4Amy Ashford Garvey6William Cuffay8Jomo Kenyatta10Bob Marley12Mary Seacole14Olaudah Equiano16John Alcindor18Ira Aldrige20Samuel Coleridge-Taylor22Ottobah Cugano24William Davidson26Ignatius Sancho28Henry Sylvester Williams30Robert Wedderburn32The Green Plaques Scheme34Westminster Archives Centre34

3Introduction: hidden heritageThe City of Westminster lies at the heart of London, world famous for itsnational monuments, buildings and institutions; its unique cultural heritagemakes it both a distinctive and attractive place to visit, live and work.Yet behind the more familiar monuments, iconic buildings and landmarks,the heritage of Westminster is also made up of other, perhaps less familiarhistories of the many diverse people who have worked and lived here.Their stories form an integral part of the rich and evolving heritage of theCity of Westminster.This booklet therefore celebrates the lives and contributions of a few ofWestminster’s most talented black residents. Amongst them, musicians,abolitionists, writers and revolutionaries, who have contributed to the diverse,multi-ethnic Westminster of today.Henry Sylvester Williams50 Hamilton Gardens, St. John’s WoodWilliam DavidsonJohn Alcindor12 Elliots Row, Marylebone (now Dorset Square)17 Elgin Avenue, Maida ValeJimi Hendrix23 Brook Street, MayfairRegent’s ParkOlaudah Equiano10 Union Street, East Marylebone (now 73 Riding House Street)Amy Ashwood GarveyCarnaby Street, SohoHenry Sylvester WilliamsMary Jane SeacoleChurch Street Ward14 Soho Square, SohoJohn AlcindorJimi Hendrix23 Westbourne Park Road, BayswaterRonnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Frith Street, SohoSamuel Coleridge-TaylorIra Aldridge31 Talbot Road, PaddingtonTheatre Royal, Govent GardenBob MarleyRobert Wedderburn12a Queensborough Terrace, BayswaterHopkins Street, SohoHyde ParkMary Jane SeacoleWilliam CuffayKensingtonGardensSt. Martin’s-in-the-FieldsGreenPark3 Cambridge Square, PaddingtonOttobah Cugoano80-82 Pall Mall, St James’sIgnatius SanchoSt. Margaret’s Church, WestminsterIgnatius SanchoCharles Street, Mayfair (now King Charles Street)Samuel Coleridge-TaylorCaxton Hall, WestminsterIgnatius SanchoJomo KenyattaChristchurch Gardens, Victoria Street95 Cambridge Street, PimlicoEach historic figure featured in this booklet is colour-coded.See where they lived or worked in Westminster on the foldout map at the front of this document

LIVED AT 23 BROOK STREET, MAYFAIR (1968 - 1969)4Copyright: Miki Slingsby.Jimi Hendrix(1942-1970)Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix in 1942 in Seattle and wasknown as ‘Young Jimmy’. He took an early interest in music and taughthimself to play guitar by listening to records, though he never learned toread music.Widely recognised as one of the most creative and influential musicians of the20th century, Jimi Hendrix pioneered the explosive possibilities of the electricguitar. Hendrix’s innovative style of combining fuzz, feedback and controlleddistortion created a new musical form that redefined the electric guitar. Hismusical language continues to influence a host of modern musicians.In 1966, Jimi was still playing the rounds of smaller venues in New York,when he met up with the Animals’ bassist Chas Chandler, who was tobecome his manager. Chandler was impressed with Jimi’s performance andreturned again in September 1966 to sign Hendrix and move him to Londonto form a new band.Having installed the young guitarist in the Hyde Park Towers Hotel in InvernessTerrace, Bayswater; Chandler’s first move was to change Hendrix’s name to‘Jimi’. In October 1966 Jimi Hendrix played his first significant UK concertat Regent Street Polytechnic, later to become the University of Westminster.The Jimi Hendrix Experience quickly became an essential fixture in London’smusic scene.

5“When I die, I want people to playmy music, go wild and freak outand do anything they want to do.”Hendrix’s flat was at 23 Brook Street, on the doorstep of the London musicscene of the late 60s. It was a short stroll from legendary venues like theMarquee, the Speakeasy and the Saville and he would spend many eveningswandering from club to club looking for a chance to play. Upon learning thatthe composer Handel had lived next door at 25 Brook Street 250 yearsbeforehand, he went to a local record shop and bought some worksincluding ‘Messiah’ and ‘Water Music.’Although Hendrix experienced overwhelming success in Britain, it wasn’tuntil he returned to America in June 1967 that he ignited the crowd at theMonterey International Pop Festival with his incendiary performance of‘Wild Thing’. Literally overnight, ‘The Jimi Hendrix Experience’ became oneof the most popular and highest grossing touring acts in the world.Following a live performance with Eric Burdon and War at Ronnie Scott’sJazz Club on Frith Street in Soho, Jimi returned to the Samarkand Hotelin Kensington. The following morning, Jimi was found unconscious,having vomited in his sleep. Medics were unable to revive him andhe was pronounced dead at St. Mary Abbott’s hospital just after middayon 18th September 1970.Sources: www.handelhouse.org/house.htm www.jimi-hendrix.comNewspad (Paddington, Bayswater, Hyde Park and Maida Vale Newsletter) www.newspad.co.uk

WORKED IN CARNABY STREET, SOHO6Copyright: Connexions, Hidden British History.Amy Ashwood Garvey(1897-1969)Amy Ashwood Garvey was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica, in 1897. Herpolitical activities started as a teenager and in 1914, at the age of seventeen,Amy Ashwood became one of the founding members of the Universal NegroImprovement Association (UNIA), when she first met Marcus Garvey. TheAssociation sought to unite “all the people of African ancestry of the worldinto one great body to establish a country and Government absolutely of theirown”. Later Amy went on to organise the women’s auxiliary of the UNIA.In 1918 she travelled to America, where she worked as Marcus Garvey’s chiefaide in the UNIA and secretary of its New York branch. Amy married MarcusGarvey on Christmas Day, 1919 and went on to become a director of theBlack Star Line Steamship Corporation, as well as establishing the NegroWorld newspaper.After her marriage to Marcus Garvey ended in 1922, she became a worldtraveller. Her dedication to the cause of black social welfare and politicscontinued and in 1924, she was instrumental in founding the NigerianProgress Union.In 1935, Amy Ashwood Garvey moved to London, living in Bassett Road,Ladbroke Grove. She established her restaurant, the Florence Mills SocialParlour, in Carnaby Street with the Trinidadian and calypsonian musicianand composer, Sam Manning.

7A crusader for Black Nationalism,feminist, writer, playwright andbusinesswoman, and the firstwife of Marcus Garvey.Whilst in London, Amy remained active in the cause of Pan-Africanism andin equality for women. Her restaurant served as a meeting place for fellowPan-Africanists and students and she was involved in establishing an Africanwomen’s centre in London. Following the murder of Kelso Cochrane in May1959 by six white youths, Amy chaired the committee to organise approachesto Government over black/white relations. Amy Ashwood Garvey left Londonto live in West Africa in 1946. She died in 1969, aged 72.Sources: www.aaregistry.com/african american history/1954/Amy Garvey and frontline activist www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/garvey/peopleevents/ p ashwood.html http://.moec.gov.jm/heroes/marcus garvey/garveywomen.htm

LIVED IN SOHO8Copyright: National Portrait Gallery. (Cropped image)William Cuffay(1788-1870)William Cuffay was born aboard a merchant ship in 1788. The son of anAfrican naval cook and former slave, Cuffay’s family settled in Chatham,Kent where he became a journeyman tailor.Cuffay’s political involvement began when the new Tailors’ Union went onstrike in 1834 and he lost his job. Enraged by the way he had been treated,Cuffay became convinced that workers needed to be represented inParliament and so joined the struggle for universal suffrage. By 1839 he hadhelped to form the Metropolitan Tailors’ Charter Association and become animportant figure in the Chartist movement in London, demandingconstitutional and social reform to improve conditions for the working class.In 1841, Cuffay was elected delegate from Westminster to the MetropolitanDelegate Council and by 1842, he was also elected president of the LondonChartists; dubbed by The Times as ‘the black man and his party’. He adopteda hard line position in his politics and became a class-leader in Soho, wherehe lived in lodgings. Cuffay was married twice in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields andonce in St. James’.The British establishment was greatly threatened by the Chartist movement,fearing any public unrest the marches and petitions they planned mightignite. There is a common misconception concerning Cuffay’s involvementin the extremist factions of Chartism. In part, this was due to the press,