Researching African-Caribbean presence in Tower Hamlets

The 16^th century was a time of exploration and discovery, which led to the opening of new trade routes and the resulting movement of people. This period saw Britain’s increasing involvement in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In 1802 the West India Docks were built across the Isle of Dogs to serve the ships bringing goods from the Caribbean.

Search entries in Switching the Lens: Black and Asian presence in parish registers. This dataset includes entries from 16th century onward from across London. The project includes Tower Hamlets Church of England parish registers at The London Archives.

Highlights in our collections include

• Day Books of Baptisms of St. George-in-the-East, series L/SGE/B/1 and Day Book of Baptisms, Banns and Marriages of St. John at Wapping, L/SJW/2/1: these include baptisms of black North American and Caribbean people, where place of origin is usually given.
• Illustrations of the Docks including West India Docks and Robert Milligan statue, Class 964
• 'African History at the Tower of London': A research publication by Tower Hamlets African Caribbean Mental Health Organisation (THACMHO)'s Health Through History project, 2008. S/THM/1
• 'Power Writers and the Struggle Against Slavery', 2003 and 2005: ‘Discovering and celebrating Five African Writers who came to London in the Eighteenth Century'. Phillis Wheatley, Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, John Marrant, Olaudah Equiano and Quobna Ottobah Cugoano’. By THACMHO/Hansib, LC1513 and LC1984, Class 490
• Agreement of subscribers to pay for the construction and maintenance of a road from West India Docks to Aldgate (Commercial Road) and from Commercial Road to Queen Street, Ratcliff, 1801. Includes signature of trader Robert Milligan, L/ABH/750
• Cast in Stone, an investigation on Robert Milligan statue. Robert Milligan: Hidden moments of contest - Case studies by Georgie Wemyss, University of Exeter (includes some images from our collections. Available online at the University’s Cast in Stone website.

By the First World War a relatively large black population of seaman were residing near the Port of London, in areas such as Limehouse and Cable Street, Stepney. For example

• records of Ebenezer Chapel, Shadwell include visiting case notes on Mr Selby, ‘a man of colour’, 1840s, W/CAE/B/3/1
• The Strangers' Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders opened in 1857. It housed around 5,000 black and South Asian seamen during the latter part of the 19^th century. The location of the home and those residing there became the focus of headlines during the Race Riots of the summer of 1919. Explore newspaper cuttings on the riots and images and cuttings on The Strangers Home, West India Dock Road
• The East London Suffragettes: Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. In January 1920, McKay had been involved with the Workers' Dreadnought, Women's Dreadnought and the Workers' Socialist Federation, a council communist group active in the East End. Read Claude McKay : queer, black and radical by Rudy Loewe, 2015, LC13347
• Chris Braithwaite, leader of the Colonial Seamen’s Association, was born in Barbados and lived in Stepney during the 1930s
• Kamal A. Chunchie, Methodist minister, carried out missionary work among the transient African, Caribbean, Indian, Malay, and Chinese seamen in London's docks. He helped found the first ‘Coloured Men's Institute’, a religious, social and welfare centre for Black and Asian people in Victoria Docks

Explore books about black presence during military conflicts, for example

• Black Poppies: Britain's black community and the Great War by Stephen Bourne, 2014, LC11629, Class 080 BOU
• The Ethiopian patriots: forgotten voices of the Italo-Abyssinian war 1935-41 by Andrew Hilton, 2007, LC8657, Class 345 HIL

Other topics you may want to browse include sport, for example

• Jewish and black boxers in Britain edited by Michael Berkowitz and Ruti Ungar, 2007

• Our biography Class 100 includes books on notable local people, such as army officer and footballer Walter Tull

After the Second World War there was a growing black population in Stepney, Cable Street and the surrounding area. Especially after the arrival of Caribbean people on Empire Windrush vessel at Tilbury Docks in 1948. Explore the following sources

• Michael Banton's ‘The Coloured Quarter’ (1955). Banton’s pioneering social study of the Cable Street area of Stepney during the post-war period. It includes a map showing cafés and lodging houses run by and catering for African and Pakistani people, among others,  L2256

• Papers of Edith Ramsey, local educationalist and community worker, P/RAM. Ramsay was Head of Stepney Women's Evening Institute, 1931-1960. In the 1950s she was active in the campaign against vice, particularly clubs and sex work, in Stepney. She also undertook voluntary social work, helping children, alcoholics and immigrants. She was particularly concerned with the conditions of colonial seamen and served as a member of the Colonial Office Advisory Committee. Her papers include correspondence to and from African seamen and the Colonial Office. There are also papers and reports on issues affecting the African and Caribbean population in Stepney, 1940s-1950s. These include housing and education matters and flyers for African clubs.

• Papers of Father Joseph (Joe) Williamson (1895-1988), who became the Vicar of St Paul's, Dock Street, Whitechapel, in 1952, P/WLM. Williamson's campaigning on the two issues of slum housing and sex workers made him a national figure. His papers include photographs showing African and Caribbean people in the local area.
• Project papers of Peter Gibson relating to Victoria Seaman's Rest, I/THI/B/15/2 and related records of Ezekiel Frederick (Fred) Soudien, South African-born merchant seaman, 1920s-1985, P/SUD
• The Izon (Ijaw) people of London: from immigrants to citizens 1808-2024 by Niger Delta Peace Initiative and Development (NDPiD) Heritage Project, 2024, LC15699, Class 490. The Ijaw (Izon) people are from southern Nigeria. The community settled their UK roots in Mile End. Their building provided a communal gathering space for pastoral care and cultural occasions. The Heritage Project documents early Ijaws, who arrived from the 1930s and lived in Tower Hamlets, through oral history interviews and written testimonies. Oral histories and documents are being deposited during 2025-2026.
• Stepney Coloured People's Association newsletter, 1954, LC9668, Class 400
• Kathleen Wrasama, BBC interview 'Surviving: Experience of Migration and Exile' reflecting the Somali community, M/SCT/2
• ‘Where I Belong: Black and Asian women's lives in Tower Hamlets’, O/WIB. Explore 13 oral histories recorded in 2014. Interviewees describe their experiences as immigrants and their first impressions of England. Themes include education, faith, home life and belonging. They also address difficulties including leaving family behind, learning a new language and holding on to their cultural traditions
• ‘Mapping the Change: Old Ford Voices and Island Memories', O/MTC, oral histories, 2011-2012 on Old Ford, Bow, including Fish Island. Explore one interview with 'Miss Anne', who arrived in the local area from Jamaica in the 1950s
• ‘Don't just live, live to be remembered: The Somali East End’, O/DJL. Explore the history of Somali migration to Tower Hamlets through 18 oral history interviews. These were carried out in 2013 with members of Somali community. They narrate their experiences as immigrants, the way in which they and their families lived, their years at school and their first jobs
• Photographs, Classes 652 and 822
• Nursing, Class 623

From 1970s onwards groups and organisations began in the borough focusing on health and culture.

• Tower Hamlets African Caribbean Mental Health organisation (THACMHO): publications, reports and leaflets collected by Harry Cumberbatch S/THM. Read '25 Years of Service to the Community' - a summary of their contribution and ongoing archive project at the end of this guide
• Black History Month pamphlets, 1990s onward Class 490
• Tower Hamlets Afro-Caribbean Association LC9829, Class 610. Also explore file on Tower Hamlets Council for Racial Equality and Tower Hamlets Afro-Caribbean Association, I/THI/B/5/17
• Saxon Youth Club, Saxon Hall, 10 Saxon Road, Bow, Classes 2 and 360.2. Includes cuttings, images, pamphlets and 'Whappen' magazine, 1982-1985. Items cover music and other events at the club. Also explore Paul Beasley's file on Tower Hamlets Arts, 1974-1977, P/BSL/A/2/1/4
• Music venues Class 390.5
• Uhuru Project, and police harassment: explore Paul Beasley, councillor’s ‘File A51 Ethnic Minorities’, 1986, P/BSL/A/5/1/51

Read our background to The Afro-Caribbean Community in Post-war Stepney

Explore our Women in Tower Hamlets guide for a list of sources on Black women

Read Harry Cumberbatch Heritage website. This includes his voluntary community work, youth work and supporting Black users of Mental Health services in the East End

The Izon (Ijaw) people of London: from immigrants to citizens 1808-2024 by Niger Delta Peace Initiative and Development (NDPiD) Heritage Project

Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives - YouTube for recent events

Black Cultural Archives, holds national sources on Black British history

The London Archives research guide on Black African and Caribbean Histories

The National Archives research guides on Colonial Sources and Caribbean Ancestors

National Maritime Museum guide on sources for African Caribbean Family History

London Museum Docklands – exhibition ‘London, Sugar and Slavery 1600-present’