People, Places, Events   

Beryl Agatha Gilroy (née Answick), 30 August 1924 – 4 April 2001 was a Guyanese educator, novelist, ethno-psychotherapist, and poet. The Guardian described her as "one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants." She emigrated to London in 1951 as part of the Windrush generation to attend the University of London, then spend decades teaching, writing, and improving education. She worked primarily with Black women and children as a psychotherapist and her childr

Cleopatra Mary Palmer, MBE (née Sylvestre) born 19 April 1945), known professionally as Cleo Sylvestre, is an English actress in film, stage and television. She was the first black woman ever to play a leading role at the National Theatre in London. She was brought up in Euston, north London by her mother, Laureen Sylvestre (née Goodare), a cabaret artist at the Shim Sham Club in Wardour Street, who was born in Yorkshire in 1911.

Chief Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Hon. FRCN (née Scott, 1915 – 18 June 1992) was a Nigerian nurse who was one of the first notable black nurses to work in Britain's National Health Service. She subsequently became vice-president of the International Council of Nurses and the first black Chief Nursing Officer of Nigeria, working in the Federal Ministry of Health.

Sybil Phoenix started fostering for Lewisham in 1961. She also became a community worker, providing support for unwanted children. In recognition of her work in Lewisham she was awarded the MBE in 1972. In partnership with the London Borough of Lewisham she began a supported housing project for single homeless young women aged from 16 to 21, and in 1979, the project was named the Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust, in memory of her own daughter, who died in a car accident in 1974.

Sancho was born aboard a slave ship in 1729 and was orphaned soon after. His mother died in the Spanish colony of New Granada and his father committed suicide rather than live in slavery . He was baptised, Ignatius and brought to England at the age of two. He was “given” to three maiden sisters in Greenwich. The three women added “Sancho” to his name, after the Don Quixote’s companion. His life with them was unhappy as they often psychologically abused him by threatening to r

In 1951, Henderson travelled to England to study piano tuning at the North London Polytechnic. He settled in England and founded Britain's first steelband combo (The Russ Henderson Steel Band) with Mervyn Constantine and Sterling Betancourt in late 1952. They played their first gig at The Sunset Club at 50 Carnaby Street. Other compatriots Henderson worked with in the early London days were calypsonians Lord Kitchener and Young Tiger.

Sterling Betancourt, has had his services to the steel pan culture recognised in many quarters and in many countries.  He received the Sunshine Award, from the USA Folk Art Institute, Brooklyn and was the first steelpan musician to be honoured by a British University for his contributions to the Caribbean musical art.

Francis Sydney Dove MM (3 September 1897 – 10 February 1957) was a British (mixed race) boxer who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1920 he was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the heavyweight class after losing his fight to the upcoming silver medallist Søren Petersen. After the outbreak of World War I, Dove joined the British Army and won the Military Medal for bravery during the Battle of Cambrai (1917).

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was a British-Sierra Leonean composer and conductor. Of mixed-heritage, Coleridge-Taylor achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the early 1900s.