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Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records ServiceResearch resources for Caribbean Studies and the History of Black and Asian people in the UKCASBAH SURVEY REPORT
Introduction
Survey Data
Contact DetailsIntroductionBedfordshire is a diverse county. In 1993, it was reckoned that there were over 80 nationalities in the country, with African-Caribbean and Asian people representing 9.3% of the country's population compared with 4.7% for England as a whole. There is also a high proportion of people from Eastern Europe, as well as from Italy and Poland. The Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service was targeted because of their project to survey collections relating to the county ethnic groups which was undertaken by staff (Carol Parry under the direction of Philip Gale between 1993 - 1994. In his article published in Metropolitan Lines (no.41, June,1996) entitled, 'Records of Ethnic Minorities in Bedfordshire: a retrospect', Chris Pickford states that the aims of the project were to:
The following is a list of the ethnic groups covered in the survey:
Sources for Records Relating to Ethnic Minority Groups[Parish records] [Wills] [Records of Quarter Sessions] [Estate Records] [Trade Directories and Census Returns] [Records relating to War - Refugees and Prisoners of war] [Records of local government] [Newspapers] [Records of organisations] 1. Parish RecordsThe parish registers of Bedfordshire have been transcribed and indexed to 1812 and include many references to people of different ethnic origin living in the County. Gypsy queens, Welsh drovers, French Huguenots can all be found including people from much further afield. The earliest example of a black person living in the County is a baptism at Cardington in July 1661 (B.P.R.S. Vol 8, p.18). All such references are indexed in the ETHNIC GROUPS section of the Subject Index. Parish registers after 1812 are available on microfiche but are not indexed. Other parish records such as churchwardens' accounts and the accounts of the overseers of the poor can also provide information. For example there is a reference to a black person being given relief in the Ampthill Overseers' Accounts in 1815 (P30/72/1), and the removal of gypsies is mentioned several times in the Constable's Account Book for Tempsford 1786-1841 (P20/9/1). 2. WillsOccasionally wills can reveal the fact that people of different ethnic origin were living in the County. Such an example is the will of William Rudd of Carlton, made 24 June 1741 (ABP/W 1745/22) who bequeathed to his maidservant Sabina the Black a cottage to live in for the rest of her life. Sabina subsequently married George Newton at Bedford in December 1745. An early example of a mixed marriage. 3. Records of Quarter SessionsQuarter Sessions
records have much information on the passage of Irish and Scots paupers through
the County during the first part of the 19th Century (see VAGRANCY section in
the Quarter Sessions Index). There is also a set of vagrant contractor's receipts
which gives the names of all Irish people travelling through the County as paupers
back on their way to Ireland from October 1829-September 1830 (Q.V.P. 3/1-5).
Gaol Books give the place of last residence for those people committed to gaol
which gives some idea of ethnic origin. The first photograph of a black person
in the County, Thomas Jenkins, a ship's cook from Alabama, is in a Bedford Gaol
Register (Q.G.V. 10/4). He was committed in May 1863. 4. Estate RecordsSeveral Bedfordshire families owned estates in the West Indies (for further information see the Bedfordshire Record Office publication "Bedfordshire and the World", pages 14-17). Black people sometimes came to this country as a consequence. The account book of Richard Antonie who ran a plantation in Jamaica mentions payment for "mine and Negro Toms passage from Jamaica to London" in 1761 (X 800/34). Workmen and specialists from abroad are occasionally found working in the great houses in the County. Continental confectioners and cooks were employed at Woburn Abbey in the 18th Century (R/747/1) and the Italian architect Leoni drew up plans for the alterations of Wrest Park House in 1715-16 (L 33/46-48). These were never in fact carried out. Huguenot craftsmen and artists are mentioned in the account books kept by Marc Antonie for the Dukes of Montagu between the period 1706-1719 (X 800/1-15), probably for work done on Boughton House in Northamptonshire. 5. Trade Directories and Census ReturnsA glance through a 19th Century Trade Directory will provide names that are not English in origin. A quick check through the census return closest in year may well show where the person originally came from. This procedure has been done for the Bachini family, Italian blockmakers in Luton during the 19th Century (CRT 130 LUT 59). 6. Records Relating to War - Refugees and Prisoners of warMany people have come to the County as a result of war - as refugees, prisoners of war or as part of their military duty. References to French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic era appear in contemporary correspondence. Photographs are held of Belgian refugees who came over during the First World War and there are several documents relating to German P.O.W.s during that period. Soldier foremens' weekly time sheets state the place where the P.O.W.s were employed, the number of prisoners and their names (W.A.V. 10-13). Not many records are held at the Record Office about P.O.W.s during the Second World War and most information has to be gleaned from local newspapers. Some of the best
sources for ethnic matters after 1945 can be found amongst the archives of Bedfordshire
County Council and the Borough/District Councils. The Borough minutes for Bedford
and Luton are invaluable for finding out about trends in housing, education
etc. They are bound and indexed up until local government reorganisation in
1974, thereafter they are stored in quarterly bundles. The Annual Report on the Health of Bedford (bound in the back of the Borough minutes (BOR.BM.) is excellent for its information on immigration and housing matters. Between 1951 and 1961 it contains statistical tables of "Houses in Multiple Occupation" giving nationalities of occupants, 1956-1961. The reports describe each separate wave of immigration. The annual reports of the Luton Borough Medical Officer of Health from 1971-1973 have tables showing country of origin and defects amongst immigrant children (BOR.L/EH/10/29-30). Some information can be found in the reports of the County Medical Officer of Health (He Pu 1/1-27) particularly from 1961 onwards. b. Education Special provision was required for the education of immigrant school children from the 1960's onwards. Details of arrangements made at Luton can be found in the Luton Borough Minutes, particularly those for 1967 (BOR LM 58). Multi-ethnic language centres were established in the 1970's to deal with children who arrived in the County with very little or no English. Records of two of these schools, the Portway Centre (SD Portway 1-5) and the English Language Resources Centre (E.V. 137/1-5), both in Bedford, are held at the Record Office (the latter is subject to a 30 year closure period). The background papers to the establishment of these centres provide useful statistics of immigrant children attending Bedford schools (CS/BB/Ed 60). A specialist multi-racial teaching centre was also established at Luton but the Record Office does not hold the records. Major reports on multi-ethnic education are found amongst the Agenda papers of the Ethnic Matters Working Party, 1982-1985, (PR/WP P1/1-2) and its successor the Equal Opportunities Sub Committee, 1985-1991 (Em/Sub P2/1-34). c. Housing Health reports mentioned
above are an excellent source of information on the housing of early immigrants
particularly in Bedford. A special study on the development of Bedford was produced
by the County Council in 1967 and the section on housing (PL/PU/BS/5) describes
ethnic minority housing at that date. Problems associated with early immigrant
housing such as overcrowding are revealed in a press cuttings book compiled
by the Public Health Department of Luton Borough Council (BOR L/EH/20/1). More
recently, an important report by North Beds District Council was issued in January
1987 on "Race and Housing" (D.C.N.R. 52). The County Council and the District Councils have been particularly concerned with equal opportunities issues from the early 1980's onwards. The County Council set up the Ethnic Matters Working Party in 1982 (PR/WP P1 /1-2) which was succeeded by the Equal Opportunities Sub Committee in 1985 (Em/Sub P2/1-34). There are many references to equal opportunities matters in the minutes of the District Councils particularly from about 1985 onwards. Newspapers are a very important source for ethnic minority matters in the period after 1945. The Bedfordshire Times ran numerous articles on the impact of Italian immigration to Bedford in the 1950's. The Bedford Record ran special articles in Italian "For our Italian Readers" during 1956 and 1957. Newspapers provide details of early clubs and organisations that were set up to help and provide support for immigrants. Occasionally special articles will appear highlighting a particular ethnic group such as a Jamaican family's views on living in Bedford (Bedfordshire Times, 30 September 1960), and arranged marriages amongst Indians (Bedfordshire Times, 6 July 1979). Many Bedfordshire newspapers are held at the Record Office, often on microfilm. Some newspaper references to ethnic minority matters have been indexed in the ETHNIC GROUPS section of the Subject Index. This however can only provide a starting point to research and there are many references as yet not indexed. The Record Office does not hold runs of Luton newspapers apart from a volume of the Luton Leader for 1979. The Dunstable Gazette has been collected from 1988 which does cover some Luton material. Luton Central Library holds the Luton News and also has newspaper cuttings on ethnic groups from 1981. 9. Records of OrganisationsThe Record Office
does not at present hold many records relating to minority organisations. Papers
relating to St Andrew's West Indian Club and the Bedford Committee for West
Indian Welfare, 1956-1964 are held (X 544/24/1). Individual items from various
minority groups have also been deposited and references to them can be found
in the ETHNIC GROUPS section of the Subject Index. Survey Data
Contact DetailsTo contact the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Office telephone on 01234 228833/228777, email: archive@csd.bedfordshire.gov.uk, visit the website at: http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/ , or send enquires to: County Hall Cauldwell Street Bedford MK42 9AP England. Created: January 2002 by Dr. Roiyah Saltus - Blackwood
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