Westminster City Archives: City of Westminster Archives Centre

Title: Westminster City Archives: City of Westminster Archives Centre

Description: The City of Westminster Archives Centre contains collections of books, maps, illustrations, newspapers, parish registers, parish records and other documents relating to the City of Westminster, from 1256 to the present day. The collections extend to over 5 kilometres of shelving, including over 23,000 books and pamphlets relating to Westminster's local history and the history of London. Full details about the Centre's collections are listed on the web site at http://www.westminster.gov.uk/archives. Within these collections there are approximately 30 books, 20 pamphlets, c.50 illustrations and 300 parish register entries providing information about the history of Black and Asian peoples in Westminster. The Centre has also compiled an exhibition and resource pack entitled 'Celebrating the Black Presence in Westminster 1500-2000' based on a selection of the primary sources from its archive collections and divided into the following 7 sections:

• FIRST ARRIVALS - including an illustration from the Westminster Tournament Roll of 1511 (reproduced with the permission of the College of Arms) featuring the image of a black trumpeter in the household of Henry VIII, and the following burial entry from the parish registers: 'Burial of Margaret, a Moor, St Martin-in-the-Fields, 1571'.
• LIFE IN SERVICE - including examples of 18th century manuscripts. The first was written by a magistrate in 1736 and documents information about the lives of Robert and Margaret Jenando. It states that Robert Jenando (1673 -1716) was born in Guinea and, at the age of six, became a page to the Duke of Devonshire, living at Berkeley House, a mansion in Piccadilly, London. In 1692 he married 16 year old Margaret, who may have been a fellow servant. By 1736 Margaret was widowed and appealing to the magistrate for help. The second features information about an Indian woman, referred to as 'Cathrine Bengal', who was brought to Britain at the age of nine by merchants of the East India Company to work as an 'ayah' (nanny).
• ROAD TO REFORM - including information about the writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), who had lived in Westminster when he wrote his biography 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African' in 1789. There is also a baptism entry for Olaudah Equiano, listed in the parish register as `Gustavus Vassa / a Black born in Carolina / 12 years old', St Margaret's Westminster, 1759.
• THE STRUGGLE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - illustrations showing the 'Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators' in 1820, and a portrait of Jamaican-born political reformer William Davidson (1786-1820). There is also a newspaper article about the black Chartist leader William Cuffay (1788-1870) from the Reynolds's Political Instructor, dated 13 April 1850.
• A DIVERSE COMMUNITY - containing samples of 19th century satirical cartoons, prints and drawings featuring images of black people in the London crowds.
• WORK AND LEISURE - containing information about black and Asian peoples who lived and worked in Westminster throughout the 19th century, including a baptism entry for 'Samuel Ram-sami' an Indian seaman, or 'Lascar', dated 1861.
• TWENTIETH CENTURY: ANSWERING THE CALL - a range of sources showing key events in the 20th century history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain, including a photograph of Indian Army soldiers who had fought during World War 1 on a victory march through London, dated 2 August 1919, and a page from the Empire Windrush Passenger list, 1948, showing that some of the 492 Jamaicans immigrants who travelled to Britain on the Empire Windrush had addresses in Westminster as their first place of residence in the UK.

The full exhibition is available in CD-ROM format from the City of Westminster Archives Centre, and can also be viewed online at http://www.westminster.gov.uk/archives/blackpresence/.

Strengths: Material on the history of the Black and Asian presence in Westminster

Size: c.30 books, c.20 pamphlets, c.50 illustrations and over 300 parish register entries relevant to the history of Black and Asian people in Britain.

Catalogue: Westminster Libraries and Archives Web Based Catalogue (GeoWeb)

Catalogue URL: http://194.201.203.253:8000/

Main URL: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/archives/

Access: Open to the public without appointment. Reference only.

Acquisition dates: The centre houses material dating from 1256 to the present.

Note: The CD-ROM 'Celebrating the Black presence on Westminster 1500-2000' can be purchased from the City of Westminster Archives Centre, currently priced at £15.00. Two large posters `Celebrating the Black Presence in Westminster 1500-2000', and `Celebrating the Black Presence in Westminster 1500-2000: Hidden Lives' can also be purchased, currently priced at £5.50 each (including postage and packing).

Interest: Asian, Black

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Social history

Migration

Ethnic groups

Personal/Corporate names

Davidson, William, 1786-1820

Equiano, Olaudah, c.1745-1797

Cuffay, William, 1788-1870

Places

London, United Kingdom

Westminster, London, United Kingdom