From the 16th Century to the modern day, Olivia Opara investigates Haringey’s Black history

Baroness Osamor

1940–Present

Martha Osamor is a community activist and civil rights campaigner who was the first Nigerian baroness of the House of Lords after she was given the title of Baroness Osamor of Tottenham in 2018. In the late 1970s, Martha co-founded the United Black Women’s Action Group, which later became part of the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD), a national Black women’s movement. She served as a Labour councillor representing the Bruce Grove ward from 1986 to 1990 and later became the deputy leader of Haringey Council and a founding member of the Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign. Martha came to the UK in 1963 and lived with her husband in Tottenham.

Skepta

1982–Present

Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, more commonly known as Skepta, is a British-Nigerian rapper, grime MC and producer from Tottenham. Skepta began his career DJing as part of Tottenham grime collective Meridian Crew. He then joined grime crew Roll Deep in 2005, when his focus shifted to MCing, before founding his own grime collective and record label, Boy Better Know with his brother Jme that same year. He released his debut album Greatest Hits independently in 2007. His fourth album Konnichiwa won the Mercury Prize in 2016.

The Hornsey Cooperate Union

1964 – 2013

On 7th April 1964, ten British-Caribbeans set up one of the first credit unions in the country in response to discrimination within the banks’ credit systems, which either charged higher interest rates, asked for larger deposits, or refused to help those from the Black community. The ten founders were members of the local Ferme Park Baptist Church and 200 people joined the credit union within its first year. The credit union was located on Drylands Road in Hornsey and later merged with London Capital Credit Union in 2013.

Walter Tull

1888 – 1918

Walter Daniel John Tull was one of the first professional Black footballers who played for England and Tottenham Hotspur. He joined the club aged 21 after signing for the Football League (FA) First Division and playing for the amateur football club Clapton. In December 1914, Walter enlisted in the British army during World War One, serving in the first football battalions of the Middlesex Regiment. He became the first British-born Black officer in the army and would later be commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1917. Walter was killed in action during the second Battle of the Somme in March 1918.

Uncle John’s Bakery

1995–Present

The sweet homemade bread at Uncle John’s Bakery is a staple within the Afro-Caribbean community – and has been since founder John Mensah and his wife Emelia Mensah opened their first bakery on West Green Road in 1995. John and Emelia relocated to the UK from Ghana in 1982 and first started baking bread as a side project after missing the loaves that his mother Nana Mary used to make from a family recipe passed down through the generations. The project then grew into a business: Emelia’s mother Mary Fofia Arthur would help the two bake bread at night and also taught them how to bake cakes, pies, pastries, and donuts. In 2019, Morrisons started to
sell four of the bakery’s products: the original ‘sweet bread’, sponge cake, bofrot and savoury chin chin.

Dr Neville Roy Clare

1946–2015

Dr Neville Roy Clare was a pioneering sickle cell advocate who was dedicated to raising awareness of the condition
and its impact in the UK. In 1976, Clare, who had sickle cell anaemia himself, founded the Organisation for Sickle
Cell Anaemia Research (OSCAR) in Wood Green – one of the first ever sickle cell organisations in the country. Clare later co-founded the George Marsh Centre, the country’s first dedicated sickle cell centre, in St Ann’s,
Tottenham alongside haematologist consultant Dr George Marsh.

Althea McNish

1924–2020

Althea McNish was a Trinidian textile designer who relocated to the UK in 1951 and settled on West Green Road,
Tottenham in 1957. After achieving a postgraduate degree in textile design at The Royal College of Art, Althea went on to become an acclaimed and internationally recognised textile designer and artist. She designed for companies including Liberty’s and Hull Traders, with her work also being represented in the V&A collections. ‘Golden Harvest’, a screen print on cotton satin, was one of Althea’s first works to go into production in 1957 and she was closely associated with the Caribbean Artists’ Movement

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