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Ira Frederick Aldridge was born on 24 July 1807 in New York City to Reverend Daniel and Luranah (also spelled Lurona) Aldridge. At the age of 13, Aldridge went to the African Free School in New York City, established by the New York Manumission Society for the children of free enslaved African American and other Black heritage peoples. His first professional acting experience was in the early 1820s with the African Grove Theatre troupe. It was founded and managed by William Henry Brown and James Hewlett, and was the first resident African American theatre in the United States. After the troupe was forced to close by an intense racist campaign, Aldridge packed his bags in 1824 and made his way to England. He made his debut acting appearance at London’s East End Royalty Theatre in May 1825. As his career grew, his performances of Shakespeare's classics eventually met with critical acclaim and he subsequently became the manager of Coventry's Theatre Royal. In 1850, he published his autobiography Memoir and Theatrical Career of Ira Aldridge, the African Roscius. In it, he detailed aspects of both his personal and professional life, describing his voyages across the country: 'acting in succession at Brighton, Chichester, Leicester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Exeter, Belfast and so on, returning to London after a lapse of seven years...' Aldridge spent much of the 1850s on the Continent, touring the Austro-Hungarian empire, Germany, Prussia, Switzerland, Poland and eventually travelling to Russia in 1858 where he was well received. Upon returning to England in the 1860s, he applied for British citizenship. He married two times, first to Margaret Gill in 1825 and after her death to the self-styled Swedish countess Amanda von Brandt. Together they had four children, two of whom, Luranah and Amanda, became professional operatic singers. By the time of his death in 1867 in Lodz, Poland, Aldridge was an acclaimed and award-winning stage actor and the most visible Black figure in Europe. He had appeared on stage in more than 250 theatres across Britain and Ireland, and more than 225 theatres in Europe. In 2017, a blue plaque dedicated to Aldridge was unveiled in Coventry by actor Earl Cameron who had been trained by Aldridge's daughter, the opera singer Amanda Aldridge (1866–1956). Aldridge is also the only actor of African-American descendent honoured with a bronze plaque at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Lilian Bader was born in 1918 in the Toxteth Park area of Liverpool to the Barbadian-born Marcus Bailey, a merchant sailor who had fought for the British in the First World War, and her British-born mother, Lillian McGowan who was of Irish parentage. The Baileys married in 1913 and had three children. Liverpool is one of the oldest continuous Black communities in Europe. Black people have been in Liverpool as sailors, soldiers and slaves for over 300 years, long before the Windrush generation and post-war migration from the Caribbean. Around the age of seven, her parents separated and her father took custody of the children. The family moved to Hull, where her father Marcus had worked before the war and had friends there who could help him look after his children while he worked. In 1927, Bader and her older brothers, Frank and James, were orphaned and brought up in care. Lilian was separated from her older brothers and for many years had no contact with them. From the age of nine, she lived in the Roman Catholic Girl’s home in Middlesbrough. She lived there until she was 20 because no one would employ her. Bader explained that it was difficult to find employment ‘because of my father’s origins: “My casting out from the convent walls was delayed. I was half West Indian, and nobody, not even the priests, dare risk ridicule by employing me.” However, Bader was determined to overcome the racial prejudice she faced. Eventually finding work in domestic service. With the outbreak of the second world war in 1939, Lilian wanted to do her bit for the war effort and enlisted in the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire. She was given a role working in the NAAFI canteen, serving food and drink to servicemen but was dismissed after only seven weeks because of the ‘colour bar’. Her father’s West Indian heritage was discovered by an official in London and for weeks, her supervisor avoided informing her of this decision – but eventually, he had to tell her the truth and sack her. Lilian returned to domestic service. But she felt embarrassed when a group of soldiers expressed surprise that she was not doing war work. She asked: “How could I tell them that a coloured Briton was not acceptable, even in the humble NAAFI?” Yet Bader was determined to sign up. One day whilst listening to Una Marson’s BBC radio programme Hello! West Indies, she heard a group of Caribbean men talk about how after being rejected by the British army they were accepted and enlisted to help with the war effort by the RAF. Consequently, the resilient, resourceful and patriotic Lilian tried again. She applied for and was enlisted with, the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) on 28 March 1941. She said she found herself "the only coloured person in this sea of white faces", but, "somebody told me I looked smart in my uniform, which cheered me no end." Although not widely reported or recognised in the UK, the Caribbean was impacted by 2WW warfare through the Battle of Atlantic campaigns from 1941 to 1945. Most notable is the Battle of the Caribbean in which German U-boats and Italian submarines attempted to disrupt the Allied supply of oil and other materials from the Americas and Caribbean by sinking ships carrying goods and attacking coastal targets in the Caribbean. With the 2WW on their doorstep, thousands of Caribbeans volunteered to join the war effort. Driven largely by a need to fight fascism. They had witnessed the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (then referred to as Abyssinia) in the 1930s which had imposed racial segregation and banned mixed marriage. While watching in horror the rise of Hitler in Germany. Fearing that if Hitler and his allies won the war, they would try to reintroduce slavery to the Caribbean. Approximately 10,000 Caribbeans volunteered for service alongside the British during the Second World War. Around 6,000 Caribbeans served with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force, in roles from fighter pilots to bomb aimers, air gunners to ground staff and administration. Of these, well over 100 were women who were posted overseas – 80 chose the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WWAF) for their contribution, while around 30 joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). Initially, Bader carried out domestic work for WAAF officers, before taking an exam and winning a place on a course for instrument repairers, one of the new trades open to women. Her joy at being enlisted was overshadowed by the tragic death of her older brother, Able Seaman James Bailey, who was killed in action on 14 March 1941 while serving in the Merchant Navy. She nevertheless passed her course ‘First Class’, becoming one of the first women in the air force to qualify in that trade. Bader was one of the first group of women to be allowed on planes to check for leaks in their vital pipes. She was also of the first group of women in the WWAF to be issued with overalls since the uniform skirts weren’t very practical when scrambling inside bomber plane engines! By the end of 1941, she was a Leading Aircraftwoman (LACW) at RAF Shawbury where she worked long hours checking for faults in the instruments of the aircraft. She soon gained the rank of Acting Corporal. During the war, she was introduced by an acquaintance to a young UK-born Black mixed-race soldier called Ramsay Bader. He was a tank driver who was serving with the 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. Lilian and Ramsay exchanged letters and photographs. Lilian immediately felt attracted to Ramsay: ‘Even in the ugly khaki battle dress, he looked like an officer.’ The couple met for the first time at York station and married later in Hull on 11 March 1943. Spending their first night of their honeymoon at the Station Hotel in Hull and as Lilian recorded, “Hitler celebrated with an air raid.” Lillian was discharged from the WAAF in February 1944 when she discovered she was pregnant with her first child. A few months later, on the 6 June, her husband Ramsay was one of the thousands of soldiers engaged in the D-Day landings. It was an anxious time for Lilian, and she prayed that her husband would survive, which Ramsay did. I didn’t know if Ramsay was alive or dead… I remember kneeling in the chapel and praying like blazes that Ramsay would be saved. It was a terrible time because you knew some people were going to be killed, and Ramsay couldn’t swim! He hated water. That’s what worried me more than anything, but he came through. Lillian Bader After the war, the couple moved to Northamptonshire to raise their family and went on to have two sons. When they had grown up, Lillian studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at London University and then became a teacher, a profession into her 80s. Her younger son flew helicopters in the Royal Navy and later became an airline pilot. By the end of the 20th century, three generations of her family had served in the British Armed Forces. In 1989, she released a memoir entitled ‘Together – Lillian Bader: Wartime Memoirs of a WAAF’ published by the Imperial War Museum. In it, she reflected on her family’s contribution to Britain: "Father served in the First World War, his three children in the Second World War. I married a coloured man who was in the Second World War, as was his brother who was decorated for his bravery in Burma. Their father also served in the First World War. Our son was a helicopter pilot, he served in Northern Ireland." On 7 August 1990, she appeared on the UK television show ‘Hear-Say’ with a group of ex-service men and women from African and Caribbean countries who had fought on behalf of the UK in the 2WW. They debated the pros and cons of supporting Britain in the two world wars with members of the younger generation. During the programme, Bader became frustrated with the lack of understanding from some of the younger members of the audience. They failed to understand why black people from across the British Empire joined the war effort. So, Bader explained why she had joined the WAAF: "We [black people] would have ended up in the ovens." Lilian understood that, if Hitler had invaded England, Britain’s Black citizens would have suffered the fate of Black people in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe: they would have been rounded up and interned in concentration camps. Nine years later, on Remembrance Sunday, 14 November 1999, Bader contributed to another television documentary, The Unknown Soldiers, which received awards from the Commission for Racial Equality and the Royal Television Society. In 2002, she was invited to meet the Queen at the inauguration of the Commonwealth Memorial Gates in Hyde Park which commemorates the armed forces of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indian subcontinent countries that fought in the First and Second World Wars for Britain. Lillian Bader died on 14 March 2015 but she will always be remembered as a resilient woman who stood in the face of adversity to give back to the country she called home. Unafraid to highlight the racial discrimination she and her family suffered whilst proudly serving their country throughout the wars. She said: “I think we've given back more to this country than we've received." Bader knew the contribution of Black and Asian Britons in the war should be recognised and remembered, a struggle that continues to this day. She dedicated her later years into making as much noise as she could for this. Following her death, she was recognised in 2018, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote. The Voice newspaper listed Lillian Bader – alongside Kathleen Wrasama, Olive Morris, Connie Mark, Diana Abbott, and Margaret Busby – among eight Black women who have contributed to the development of Britain. In October 2020, Bader was commemorated by the publication of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Sources: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/being-black-britains-oldest-black-21066287 http://www.caribbeanelections.com/knowledge/biography/bios/caribbean_soldiers.asp https://archive.voice-online.co.uk/article/obituary-war-hero-lilian-bader-1918-2015 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_Bader#cite_note-:0-5 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/leading-aircraftwoman-in-the-waaf-and-one-of-the-first-black-women-to-join-the-british-armed-forces-10158515.html https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/pilots-of-the-caribbean/heroes-and-sheroes/technician-leading-aircraftwoman-lilian-bader/ https://www.africansinyorkshireproject.com/lilian-bader.html https://www.neversuchinnocence.com/lilian-ramsay-bader-second-world-war

Arthur Wharton (28 October 1865 – 12 December 1930) is widely considered to be the first Black professional footballer in the world. He played as a goalkeeper for clubs as Darlington Football Club, Rotherham Town, Preston North End and Sheffield United. Though not the first Black player outright – the amateurs Robert Walker, of Queen's Park, and Scotland international player, Andrew Watson, predate him (possibly a professional before Arthur Wharton for Bootle F.C. in 1887) – Wharton may have been the first Black professional and the first to play in the Football League. Wharton was born in Jamestown, Gold Coast (now Accra, Ghana). His father Henry Wharton was a Grenadian missionary of Scottish and African-Caribbean descent, while his mother, Annie Florence Egyriba was a member of the Fante Ghanaian royalty. Wharton moved to England in 1882 at the age of 19, to train as a Methodist missionary, but soon abandoned this in favour of becoming a full-time athlete. He was an all-round sportsman – in 1886, he equalled the amateur world record of 10 seconds for the 100-yard sprint in the AAA championship. He was also a keen cyclist and cricketer, playing for local teams in Yorkshire and Lancashire. However, Wharton is best remembered for his exploits as a footballer; while he was not the first mixed-heritage footballer in the United Kingdom — leading amateurs Robert Walker and Scotland international Andrew Watson predate him, however Wharton was the first mixed-heritage footballer to turn professional.

To mark the winter FIFA World Cup 2023, we'll be exploring some UK Black firsts in football throughout December. Do you know who was... The first Black Briton to play association football at international level The first known Black women's footballer in Britain The first Black Briton to play for the senior men's England national team The first player of African-Caribbean descent to be signed to Rangers in 1917 Check out out any of our Bio Shorts articles on the individuals below to find out the answers and why not play our football themed quiz with your friends too! Check out our social media accounts or subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter for regular updates!

Vivian Alexander Anderson, MBE (born 29 July 1956) is an English former professional footballer and coach. He won five senior trophies including the 1977–78 Football League title, and both the 1978–79 European Cup and the 1979–80 European Cup playing for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. He was later part of the squads to win a domestic cup with each of Arsenal and Manchester United. He also played for Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and Middlesbrough. He was the first Black Briton to play for the senior men's England national football team.

Laurence Paul Cunningham (8 March 1956 – 15 July 1989) was an English professional footballer. A left winger, who started his football career as a schoolboy at Arsenal in 1970 but whose career didn’t take off until he joined West Bromwich Albion in 1977. Two years later, he became the first British footballer signed by Real Madrid. He was there for five years, winning La Liga once and the Copa del Rey twice. After a spell in France with Marseille, he returned to England with Leicester City in 1985, followed by a return to Spain with Rayo Vallecano. Cunningham signed with Wimbledon in 1988, helping them win the FA Cup in 1988 for the final trophy of his career. Cunningham received his first international call-up to the England U21 side in 1977 while playing for West Bromwich Albion, becoming the first Black footballer to represent an England international team organised by the Football Association. He later earned six caps for the full national team between 1979 and 1980, becoming one of the first ever black England internationals. While playing for Rayo Vallecano, Cunningham was killed in a car crash in Madrid on the morning of 15 July 1989, at the age of 33. His football achievements have been commemorated with a blue plaque at his former home at 73 Lancaster Road in Stroud Green, London.

Lieutenant Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professional footballer and British Army officer of African-Caribbean descent. He played as an inside forward and half back for Clapton, Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town and was the third person of African-Caribbean heritage to play in the top division of the Football League after Arthur Wharton and Willie Clarke. He was also the first player of African-Caribbean descent to be signed for Rangers in 1917 while stationed in Scotland. During the First World War, Tull served in the Middlesex Regiment, including in the two Footballers' Battalions. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 30 May 1917 and killed in action on 25 March 1918.

Ulric Cross is recognised as one of the most decorated Caribbean airman of WWII. He was born in Trinidad in 1917, Cross joined the RAF aged 24. He trained as a navigator and joined 139 Squadron, gaining the nickname ‘The Black Hornet’. Cross became an expert in precision bombing and joined the ranks of the elite Pathfinder Force, often flying missions at just 50 feet instead of the normal 25,000 feet. After 50 missions, Cross was given the option to rest. He refused and volunteered for a further 30 missions. By the war’s end, Cross had flown 80 missions over enemy territory and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. After the war, Cross qualified as a lawyer, and he briefly worked as a talks producer at the BBC’s Caribbean Service. Before being recruited by fellow Trinidadian George Padmore, one of the architects of Pan-Africanism, to travel to Ghana to help Kwame Nkrumah in his work seeking to unite Africa’s emerging nations. During Cross’s 15 years in Africa, he served on Ghana’s Crown Council. He was also Attorney General in Cameroon, a High Court Judge in Tanzania and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Dar Es Salaam. Cross then returned to Trinidad where he served as a High Court judge and on the Court of Appeal, later becoming Chair of the country’s Law Reform Commission. He was posted to London as Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to the UK from 1990 to 1993.

Andrew Watson was a Scottish footballer who is widely considered to be the world's first black person to play association football at international level. On the 18th October, Doodle celebrated Scottish footballer Andrew Watson as he looks into the future at Black football legends to come and was illustrated by London-based guest artist Selom Sunu. Watson is considered to be the first Black international footballer, the first Black footballer to captain his country, and the first Black football administrator in history. On this day in 1884, Watson took the field for Scottish football team Queen’s Park in the first game played at the new Hampden Park stadium. Watson was born in 1856 in Georgetown, Guyana to a wealthy Scottish former plantation manager and slave owner and Guyanese woman. At age 5, Watson and his father moved to Britain where football was becoming increasingly popular. He fell in love with the sport while attending English public schools in Yorkshire and Wimbledon. After his father’s death, Watson inherited his wealth and became financially independent. This allowed him to enroll at the University of Glasgow where he studied engineering, natural philosophy and mathematics. Instead of graduating, 21-year-old Watson started a wholesale warehouse business and played football on the side. Watson gained a reputation for his fast and skillful style of play as a full-back for Queen's Park FC, one of the best football clubs in Scotland. Thanks to his experience as a businessman, he was also match secretary. After Queen’s Park FC won a Scottish football title, Watson earned a chance to play for Scotland’s international team. He became the first Black man to captain his country and led Scotland to multiple wins over their rival, England, including a 6-1 victory—which remains the biggest home loss for England, ever! His success on the international stage spurred offers from the best clubs in Scotland and England. In 1887, Watson signed with Bootle FC in northern England. At this time, amateur clubs didn’t pay their players, but Bootle FC was known to pay high-profile names. If Watson had received money to play for the Liverpool club, he would technically be the first Black professional footballer. Over the course of his 14-year career, Watson won the Scottish Cup three times and won all three matches he played in against England. The Hampden Bowling club in Glasgow, the site of Scotland's third victory over England, features a mural of Watson. Over a century has passed since Watson’s playing days, but his impact can still be felt across the sport today, as a shining example of lighting the way for past, current and future generations of Black footballers.

Jamacian born Fanny Eaton was one of the most influential muses in the Pre-Raphaelite movement and helped challenge the idealised standards of beauty in Victorian society. On the 18th November Google Doodle celebrated Jamaican-British artist muse Fanny Eaton. Eaton modelled throughout the 1860s for a variety of notable English painters in work that helped redefine Victorian standards of beauty and diversity. On this day in 1874, it is recorded that Eaton sat for life classes at the Royal Academy of London, sessions which were integral to the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Fanny Eaton was born Fanny Matilda Antwistle in Surrey, Jamaica on July 13, 1835. She moved with her mother to Britain during the 1840s, towards the beginning of the Victorian Era. In her 20s, she began modelling for portrait painters at the Royal Academy of London, and she soon captured the attention of a secret society of rising young artists called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Eaton made her public debut in Simeon Soloman’s painting The Mother of Moses, which was exhibited in 1860 at the Royal Academy. Over the following decade, she was featured by a variety of prominent Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, and Rebecca Soloman. The group held Eaton up as a model of ideal beauty and featured her centrally at a time when Black individuals were significantly underrepresented, and often negatively represented, in Victorian art. Eaton’s modeling career lasted through much of the decade, and Millais’ 1867 work Jephthah is believed to feature her last known appearance in a painting. Thank you Fanny Eaton, for helping move artistic inclusion forward.

Guyanese-British firefighter and social worker Frank Bailey, who is widely considered to be the first Black firefighter of post-war London, paved the way for diversity and inclusion within the fire service. On 26th November, Google Doodle illustrated by West Yorkshire-based guest artist Nicole Miles, celebrated Guyanese-British firefighter and social worker Frank Bailey, who is widely considered the first Black firefighter of post-war London. Among his pioneering accomplishments in the name of diversity and inclusion, Bailey is also credited as one of the first Black social workers specializing in mental health in London’s Kensington and Chelsea borough. Frank Arthur Bailey was born on this day in 1925 in British Guiana (now Guyana), South America. He attended local schools and then took a job on a German trade ship, which brought him to New York. There he found work in a hospital where he staged a walkout in protest of the institution’s separate dining rooms for different types of employees. The subsequent integration of the dining facilities proved just one of Bailey’s many successful challenges to an unequal status quo. Bailey moved to London in 1953 and caught wind that Black people were not being hired by the city’s fire service. Not one to stand idly by in the face of injustice, Bailey applied to join the West Ham Fire Brigade and made history when he was accepted into service. A lifelong advocate for workers’ rights, Bailey became a union branch representative before the repeated denial of promotions pushed him to leave his post in 1965. Bailey then transitioned into social work and became the first Black legal advisor for Black youths at Marylebone Magistrates Court. His daughter Alexis Bailey said: "I’m very proud of my dad. He spent his whole life fighting against injustice and he never gave up. He taught me to challenge things I believe are wrong and stand up for myself and others, even when it scares me." What the artist Nicole Miles had to say? As a Caribbean person living in the UK, it's inspiring and relatable to see how immigrants (especially from my tiny corner of the world) have given so much of themselves to their various adopted homes. With this project, not only was Frank Bailey a Black person living in Britain, he was from Guyana (which is considered culturally Caribbean), and that link was interesting to me among other little connections I discovered when researching him. Happy Birthday, Frank Bailey. Your actions continue to encourage others to never give up in the fight for equality for all.

Black History Month UK 2021 'Black to the Past' campaign - Victorians of African and Caribbean descent in Britain Sarah Bonetta was born Omoba Aina in 1843, in the newly independent city-state of Oke-Odan following the collapse of the Oye Empire (present-day southwestern Nigeria). The empire had been engaged in a war with the Dahomey Kingdom since 1823 after Ghezo, the King of Dahomey, refused to pay annual tributes to the Oye Empire. During the war, the Oyo Kingdom was weakened and destablised by the Islamic jihads launched by its fast growing neighbour - the Sokoto Caliphate (modern day Northern Nigeria) - and by the 1830s it had fragmented into several smaller city states including Oke-Odan. In 1848, the Oke-Odan state was invaded and captured by the army of the Dahomey Kingdom (present day Benin). Aina's parents, Oke-Odan royals, died during the attack and other residents were either killed or sold into the Atlantic slave trade. Aina ended up in the court of King Ghezo in the Dahomey Kingdom as a state prisoner. Two years later in June 1850, she was 'gifted' to Captain Forbes as a present to Queen Victoria. Forbes was a British royal navel captain in the West Africa Squadron (WAS) and was on a diplomatic mission to negotiate with King Ghezo to end Dahomey's participation in the Atlantic slave trade. On her way to England, she was baptised "Sarah" and given the names of Captain Forbes and his ship "The Bonetta," stripping her of her original name Omoba Aina, Yoruba heritage and her Egbado identity. Forbes described her as a "perfect genius" and expressed admiration for her quick learning and talent for music. A few months later, she was taken to Windsor Castle and received by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The queen described Sarah in her journal entry of the 9th November 1850 and day of their first meeting: 'She is 7 years old, sharp & intelligent & speaks English.' The queen paid for Sarah to be educated and raised as her goddaughter in the British middle classes. Captain Forbes and his wife became her guardians and she visited the queen regularly. Later, in 1851, after developing a chronic cough, which at the time was attributed to the cold climate, her guardians sent her to the Church Missionary Society school in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The intention was that Sarah would become a missionary but she returned to England after four years. Despite being deeply unhappy at the missionary school she excelled academically. Upon her return, Queen Victoria arranged for her to be live with the middle-class Schoen family and former missionaries, in Gillingham, Kent. Sarah lived with them for six years before moving to Brighton, against the wishes of the queen, where Victoria arranged for a Miss Welsh to oversee her introduction into British society. Sarah remained in contact with the queen and in January 1862, was invited and attended the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Alice. At the age of 19, James Pinson Labulo Davies, a Yorubian merchant prominent in missionary circles, expressed an interest in marrying her. Sarah and James were first introduced when Sarah was at the missionary school in Sierra Leone, but hardly knew each other. Sarah described her feelings in a letter to Mrs Schoen: Others would say ‘He is a good man & though you don’t care about him now, will soon learn to love him.’ That, I believe, I never could do. I know that the generality of people would say he is rich & your marrying him would at once make you independent, and I say ‘Am I to barter my peace of mind for money?’ No – never! But the match was considered a suitable one and Sarah was encouraged to accept. Davies was more than a decade older than her and a widower. She initially turned him down, but the Queen approved the match. Sarah would lose her financial independence if she refused, so the marriage went ahead. The couple married on 14th August 1862 in a lavish ceremony at St Nicholls Church in Brighton that was officiated by the Bishop of Sierra Leone. Large crowds gathered to witness the event and it was reported in the newspapers of the day. On her marriage certificate, Sarah gave her first name as ina - perhaps a variant of her African name. Shortly afterwards Sarah and James had a series of photographs taken by Camille Silvy, the celebrity photographer of the day, underlining their status in society. The queen herself may have commissioned them and a few of the images can be found in the National Portriat Gallery. After the wedding, the newlyweds moved to West Africa and Sarah was baptised at a chruch in the town of Badagry, a former slave port. They settled in colonial Lagos where her husband became a member of the Legislative Council from 1872-74 and ran a cocoa business. The couple had three children: Victoria Davies (1863), Arthur Davies (1871) and Stella Davis (1873). Sarah Forbes Bonetta continued to enjoy such a close relationship with Queen Victoria that she and Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther were the only Lagos indigènes the Royal Navy had standing orders to evacuate in the event of an uprising in Lagos Their first daughter Victoria was named after the queen with her blessing. When she was christened the queen sent her a gold cup, salver, knife, fork and spoon. Together with her daughter Victoria, Sarah made a trip back to England in 1867 and the queen fell in love with the five-year-old girl, becoming a godmother to little Victoria as well and paying for her education. Unfortunately, that was the last time Sarah saw the Queen Victoria. She had been sick for several years and in 1880 she died of tuberculosis on the island of Madeira at the age of 37. Sarah’s daughter Victoria, then 17, heard the news of her mother’s death just as she was travelling to Osborne to visit the queen, who reported that ‘my black godchild … was dreadfully upset & distressed.’ The queen paid for Victoria to be educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College, and stayed in touch throughout her life. Sarah's remarkable but rarely told story is just one of the many Black Victorians who lived in Britain. In recent years, creatives have sought to breath life into British history by giving a voice to those forgotten Black Britons. Playwright Janice Okoh explores Sarah's story in her play The Gift and actress-singer Cynthia Erivo is set to produce and star in a film about the African princess. Several books have also written about her including the children's book 'Princess Aina: Queen Victoria's Yoruba Godchild' and the historical novel 'Her name was Aina' by Sierra Leonan writer Yemi Lucilda Hunter. In October 2020, artist Hannah Uzor created a portrait of Sarah in her wedding dress. The artwork is on permanent display at Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight and was commissioned by English Heritage as part of their effort to recognise UK Black History. A plaque commemorating Sarah Forbes Bonetta was placed on Palm Cottage in 2016, as part of the television series Black and British: A Forgotten History. Sources https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/painting-our-past/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-54445289 Elebute, Adeyemo (2013). The Life of James Pinson Labulo Davies: A Colossus of Victorian Lagos. https://web.archive.org/web/20030508111257/http://www.black-history.org.uk/bonetta.asp https://www.booksthatmatter.co.uk/post/pioneering-black-women-in-history-sarah-forbes-bonetta-national-portrait-gallery-collaboration/