October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Ottobah Cugoano, from Ghana, lived in the second half of the eighteenth century and was a campaigner for the abolition of slavery. Captured and sold into slavery at the age of 13, he was shipped to Grenada where he worked on a plantation. In 1772 he was purchased by an English merchant who took him to England, where he was taught to read and write, and was freed following the ruling in the Somersett Case (1772). Many Englishmen misinterpreted this case as outlawing slavery, which in fact it did not.

Later working for artists Richard and Maria Cosway, he became acquainted with British political and cultural figures including the poet and artist William Blake and the Prince of Wales, and joined the Sons of Africa, a group of African abolitionists in England.

In 1786 he played a key role in the case of a kidnapped black man who was to be shipped back to the West Indies, by contacting a well-known abolitionist, who was able to have the man removed from the ship before it sailed. (Possibly one of those pesky ‘activist lawyers’ we hear so much about from the Government these days.)

In 1787, possibly with the help of his friend Olaudah Equiano (see No 2 in my series for this month) Cugoano published an attack on slavery entitled Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species. The work was sent to King George III, the Prince of Wales, and leading politician Edmund Burke, though it does not appear to have changed the mind of the King on the subject of the slave trade.

Four years later, in 1791, Cugoano published a shorter version of his book, but nothing is known of him after this.

Just two months ago, it was announced that Cugoano is to be honoured with a blue plaque in London.

More about Ottobah Cugoano at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottobah_Cugoano

The petition organised by residents in East Cambridgeshire needs 100 more signatures from East Cambs residents today if it’s to be allowed to be debated at the District Council’s meeting next Thursday.

To achieve a debate in the (online) council meeting next Thursday evening, the organisers need over 2,000 signatures from people living in the East Cambridgeshire district.

And they’re about 100 short.

The signatures from Chatteris residents are wonderful evidence of support, but the district council won’t count them as Chatteris is in Fenland.

So if you live in East Cambridgeshire, haven’t yet signed the petition, and believe that Mepal Outdoor Centre should be allowed a future as an outdoor leisure and activity centre, please head to https://www.change.org/p/ecdc-mepal-outdoor-centre-to-remain-a-leisure-centre and sign the petition.

A positive and productive meeting of the County Council’s Environment & Sustainability Committee this morning, with Cllr Graham Wilson, Anna Bradnam, and myself in attendance from the Lib Dem team.

Graham asked for reference to be made in the minutes of the Fens Flooding Tactical Plan debate from the previous meeting, to the activities of other agencies, not just the IDBs, in maintaining flood defences.

I asked for a timeline for the completion and submission of the County Council’s revised response to the Northstowe Phase 3 planning applications. Officers to circulate a timeline, while the County Council continues to maintain its holding objection to the proposals.

We received an excellent report on carbon valuation, with the council setting out on a journey to price up the carbon impact of the business cases it receives for new project. No real money will be charged at this stage, but it’s an important first step in ensuring that we take decarbonising seriously.

The first grim reports on the council’s financial position have begun to be presented to committees as a precursor to setting the coming year’s budget. Anna and Graham sought assurances, which were given, about local councillors being engaged in discussions if any proposals were to be made which would affect recycling centres in their areas. We agreed to note and comment on this initial report, being clear that this does not mean our endorsement of any and all proposals being brought forward by the ruling Conservative group.

An initial report on the council’s capital programme was also approved on the same basis.

Council officers were complimented on their hard work on a draft revised heat agreement for the council’s proposed Swaffham Prior heating scheme, which will be presented to residents for review on Wednesday 21 October. A number of changes are being proposed including a review of the tariffs and the withdrawal of a proposed cancellation charge.

We discussed the council’s draft response to the Government’s controversial Planning For The Future White Paper. Anna and Graham commented on the importance of water sufficiency, if large developments in Cambridgeshire are to be rushed through in the driest area in the country. The White Paper starts by blaming councils for the slow rate of housebuilding – quite wrongly, as there are a million homes nationwide which have been given permission but remain unbuilt, as developers bank land and slow the release of new housing to keep prices high.

Finally Anna raised an important issue about bio-security in the council’s approach to its tree and woodland strategy.

Not for the first time, most Conservative councillors remained almost totally silent for the whole of the meeting, leaving opposition councillors to lead the debate.

October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Sara Forbes Bonetta, originally named Omoba Aina, was born in 1843 as an Egbado princess of the Yoruba people in West Africa. She was orphaned during a war with the nearby Kingdom of Dahomey, and at the age of five she became the slave of King Ghezo of Dahomey.

Two years later she was liberated from slavery by Captain Forbes of the British Royal Navy, who had arrived on a diplomatic mission to try to end Dahomey’s participation in the Atlantic slave trade. King Ghezo refused this request, and offered Aina as a gift. Forbes feared that she might end up as a human sacrifice, so he accepted her on behalf of the Queen and returned to Britain.  

Captain Forbes renamed her Sara Forbes Bonetta, after his ship the HMS Bonetta. In 1850 she met Queen Victoria who had her raised as her goddaughter. In 1851 she was sent to school in Sierra Leone. She returned to England in 1855, when she was 12 and was entrusted to the care of a clergyman and his wife in Gillingham.

In 1862, Sara attended the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice, and in August of that year she married Yoruba businessman Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies. After their wedding the couple moved back to Africa, where they had three children. Many of Sara’s descendants now live in either England or Sierra Leone, with a separate family branch remaining prominent in Nigeria.

Sara Forbes Bonetta died of tuberculosis in 1880 in Funchal, Madeira, and is buried there.

More about Sara Forbes Bonetta at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Forbes_Bonetta

(With thanks to Bill Prenzlau for suggesting Sara Forbes Bonetta as a subject for this series.)

My question to tomorrow’s Health Committee

I’ve sent this question in to Cambridgeshire County Council’s Health Committee, which meets at 1:30PM tomorrow (Thursday 14 October).

“The period between now and the beginning of December sees a number of annual community events, all of which will be affected in some way this year by COVID-19 and whatever restrictions and guidance are in place at the time in the interests of public health. Residents are seeking advice and information from their councillors on what they can and cannot do, and on safe alternatives to enable as much normality and celebration as possible at what is for many a very bleak time. The best time to have offered this information was a month ago, when residents began planning for these events. The second best time is now.

• Halloween (31 October): I asked on 23 September whether the Public Health team, the council’s Communications team, and the local police could provide advice and positive suggestions for local communities on how they can enable some form of safe Halloween activity to replace the usual ‘trick or treating’ which would be unwise this year. Advice and suggestions are now urgently needed, with individuals and local communities unclear on what they might be able to do in just two weeks’ time, and whether their alternative ideas are as COVID-safe as they hope they are. When will advice and ideas be forthcoming?
• Bonfire Night (5 November): my question to the Fire Authority at the Full Council meeting on Tuesday 13 October elicited a helpful answer for which I thank the Fire Authority, and I am pleased to see that its publicity campaign on bonfire and firework safety began the same day. There is clearly a danger that with professional and large community events cancelled, more bonfires and firework displays will take place in people’s gardens, with the resulting risks to people and property. What are the Public Health team and other appropriate parts of the local COVID planning system doing to support this campaign?
• Remembrance (11 November): the marking of Remembrance by means of large public gatherings is often led by local faith organisations, but with a strong civic and armed forces component. What advice has been given to these local groups and organisations, and how is this being shared with councillors and with the public more widely?

Finally, I’m aware that most cities and towns have cancelled their Christmas lights switch-on events and some have moved them online.”

Four motions debated at the Full Council meeting today – all passed unanimously.

The first motion, from Lib Dem Cllr Lucy Nethsingha, drew attention to the particularly serious impact of COVID-19 and school shutdown for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and the £28 million deficit in Cambridgeshire’s funding to meet their needs. The council agreed to write to the Secretary of State Gavin Williamson, and to the county’s MPs to seek their support in challenging the Government over this funding gap.

The second motion, from Labour councillor Joan Whitehead, also addressed issues of school funding, and the unevenness of the latest financial allocations from Government which will mean some small rural primary schools in Cambridgeshire losing out. The council called on the Government to look again at the funding formula, and to enable councils to make local adjustments to how the funding was distributed to meet specific local needs and protect vulnerable but vital schools.

The third motion, from Lib Dem Cllr Ian Manning, asked for council officers to investigate the extent to which expensive delays in council highways projects were the result of utility companies not knowing where their underground infrastructure was, so that the Highways & Transport Committee can decide whether to take this up with Government ministers. This has been an issue on a number of occasions, including the Ely Bypass and the Fendon Road roundabout on the A1307 near Addenbrooke’s.

The fourth motion, from Conservative councillor Joshua Schumann, also achieved unanimous support, but only after a long and somewhat fractious debate. The motion couldn’t seem to make up its mind whether it was about welcoming multiculturalism or merely tolerating it, and it was equally uncertain whether it was referring to prejudice in general or only to anti-Semitism. Two sensible amendments, one from the Liberal Democrat group and one from the Labour group, were defeated by the Conservatives. In the ensuing debate on the unamended motion, I expressed my concern about the rise in open prejudice nationally against people of colour, against Muslims, against EU citizens, against LGBTQI+ people, and others – and said that we need to be eternally vigilant on behalf of all communities and celebrate, not just tolerate, the differences of our richly varied county.

At Cambridgeshire County Council today I asked a question of the Chairman of the Fire Authority about what their plan of action will be for Bonfire Night this year. I asked:

_{^{“One of the effects of the current pandemic, and the rules about social gatherings, will be that professional or large community fireworks celebrations and bonfires on 5 November will be prohibited. This may well mean many more smaller family firework events being held in people’s gardens. As one of the reasons for encouraging attendance at larger communal events in previous years is that this is safer than large numbers of enthusiastic amateurs handling fireworks, what plans is the Fire Authority putting in place to (a) advise the Cambridgeshire public in the coming weeks, (b) try to minimise the risk of harm to people and property, and (c) liaise with other blue light services in advance of 5 November?”}}

The response was that the Fire Authority will be discouraging residents from having their own bonfires or firework displays, but will also be publishing some general safety tips, including buying from licensed vendors and remembering the fireworks safety code.

The RSPCA’s Bang Out Of Order campaign discourages the use of fireworks due to their impact on animals.

October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

John Kent (1805-1886) was a British police constable in Carlisle and is reported to be the first black police officer in Britain. He served seven years in this office before being dismissed in 1844. He then became a court bailiff, then a Parish Constable at Longtown.

Until 2006 it was thought that Britain’s first black police officer was Norwell Roberts of the Metropolitan Police, though Astley Lloyd Blair joined Gloucestershire Constabulary as a Special Constable in 1964.

Kent was the eighth child of a seaman who worked on the estate of a colonial civil service worker in the West Indies. Kent’s father is believed to have arrived in Britain at Whitehaven, and worked in service with a family who considered him a slave. He was later given his freedom and went to sea.

As a constable he was known among city residents as Black Kent and this nickname was used by adults to scare unruly children. He had some notable achievements as a constable, but 6 December 1844 Kent arrived for duty while intoxicated – common enough in the days before safe drinking water, but he was disciplined and dismissed. He then became a court bailiff and later a parish constable in Eskdale.

Kent returned to work in Carlisle after leaving the police force. At the age of 78, he was employed as an attendant by the London and North Western Railway Companies, working in the waiting rooms at Citadel station.

Kent died in 1886 in Carlisle, and was buried in Carlisle Cemetery.

More about John Kent at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kent_(police_officer)

October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Andrew Watson, born in Demerara in British Guiana in 1856, is widely considered to be the world’s first black person to play association football at international level. He played three matches for Scotland between 1881 and 1882.

Watson was the son of a wealthy Scottish sugar planter and a local British Guianese woman. He came to Britain with his father and older sister, and they inherited a substantial amount when their father died in London in 1869.

Watson was educated at Heath Grammar School Halifax and King’s College School Wimbledon. He studied natural philosophy, mathematics and engineering at the University of Glasgow but left after a year and became a partner in Watson, Miller, and Baird, a wholesale warehouse business in Glasgow. He married twice, the second marriage following the death of his first wife. Watson moved to Liverpool and qualified as a marine engineer.

Watson played for a couple of local sides, and was also the first black administrator in football, while also taking part in athletics competitions.

In 1880, he was selected to represent Glasgow against Sheffield, and was also selected for a tour to Canada in 1880 which was cancelled after the death of the secretary of the Scottish Football Association.

In April 1880, he also signed for Queen’s Park, then Britain’s largest football team – he led the team to several Scottish Cup wins, thus becoming the first black player to win a major competition.

In 1882, he moved to London and became the first black player to play in the English Cup; and in 1883 he was the first foreign player to be invited to join the leading amateur club in England, the Corinthians. He also played for other amateur English clubs.

Watson signed for Bootle in 1887, where he was paid professionally. This means his professional career predated that of Arthur Wharton, who was previously considered to be the first black footballer to play professionally.

Watson went on to win three international caps for Scotland before moving to London in 1882, a decision which effectively ended his international career as the SFA only picked players based in Scotland at this time.

Watson retired to London in around 1910 and died of pneumonia at Kew in 1921. He is buried in Richmond Cemetery.

More about Andrew Watson at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_(footballer,_born_1856)

October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Lilian Bader (1918-2015) was one of the first black women to join the British armed forces. Born in Liverpool to a Barbadian father and a British-born mother, she and her two brothers were orphaned when their father died. At the age of nine she was separated from her brothers and placed in a convent, where she remained until she was 20.

At the start of WWII Bader enlisted in the NAAFI at Catterick, but was dismissed after seven weeks when it was discovered that her father was not born in the United Kingdom. In 1941 she enlisted in the WAAF, trained in instrument repair, became a Leading Aircraft Woman and was eventually promoted to corporal.

In 1943 she married Ramsay Bader, a tank driver in the Artillery, and they had two children together. After the war, they moved to Northamptonshire. Bader studied at London University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree, and then became a teacher.

More about Lilian Bader at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_Bader