Arthur Torrington

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Arthur Torrington

CBE
Born
British Guiana
Occupation(s)Community advocate and historian
Known forCo-founder of the Windrush Foundation and of the Equiano Society

Arthur Torrington CBE is a Guyanese-born community advocate and historian who is Director and co-founder of the London-based Windrush Foundation, a charity that since 1996 has been working to highlight the contributions to the UK of African and Caribbean peoples, "to keep alive the memories of the young men and women who were among the first wave of post-war settlers in Britain", and to promote good community relations. [1] [2] [3] The organization commemorates in its name the Empire Windrush , the ship that on 22 June 1948 docked at Tilbury bringing the first significant group of Caribbean migrants to Britain, including Sam King, who with Torrington established the Windrush Foundation. [4]

Contents

Also in 1996, Torrington set up the Equiano Society, with the main objective of celebrating the life and work of Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), as well as the literary and cultural legacy in Britain of Equiano's African contemporaries. [4]

Biography

Born in British Guiana (modern-day Guyana), Torrington attended St Ambrose Primary School and Tutorial High School, and went in Britain as a teenager in the 1960s. [5]

Torrington joined forces with Sam King to establish the Windrush Foundation, in 1996, to ensure that the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush would be appropriately marked and celebrated; as reported in the Guyana Chronicle : "Using their own resources, Arthur and Sam went around the country, gathering together as many people as possible, with stories of the Empire Windrush and what would come to be known as the 'Windrush Generation'. ... Their goal was to turn the 'Empire Windrush' into an iconic symbol, representing early Caribbean migrants and their contribution to the rebuilding of Britain after WWII. It worked and the 50th anniversary turned out to be a huge success, spawning books and TV and radio documentaries. Sam, who had sailed on the 'Empire Windrush', was among those who met Prince Charles at St James's Palace for an official ceremony to mark the occasion." [5] In 2018, the Windrush Foundation led the project "Windrush70" to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush. [4] [6]

Torrington also co-founded in London in 1996 a community organisation named the Equiano Society, to publicise the achievements of Olaudah Equiano and his 18th-century African contemporaries, including such figures as Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano, who made outstanding contributions to African and European literature. [5]

In 2014, Torrington curated the touring exhibition Making Freedom, which opened at the Black Cultural Archives, marking full Emancipation in the Caribbean that took place on 1 August 1868. [7] [8]

Awards

Torrington was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002 for services to Community Relations in London, [9] and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011, for services to Black British heritage. [10] [11] [12]

In 2018, Torrington received from the Guyana High Commission in London the "Windrush Lifetime Service" Award, for his "tireless work to raise awareness of the contribution of the Windrush generation ... a lasting gift to current and future generations". [13]

Related Research Articles

Torrington may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olaudah Equiano</span> Abolitionist and writer (c. 1745 – 1797)

Olaudah Equiano, known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa, was a writer and abolitionist. According to his biography, he was from the village of Essaka in modern southern Nigeria. Enslaved as a child in West Africa, he was shipped to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more before purchasing his freedom in 1766.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottobah Cugoano</span> African abolitionist in England (c.1757–after 1791)

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Arthur Raymond Chung, OE was a Guyanese politician who was the 1st President of Guyana from 1970 to 1980. He was the first ethnic Chinese to be head of state in a non-Asian country. A leader in Guyana's fight for independence during the British colonial era, he was honoured with Guyana's highest national honour, the Order of Excellence (O.E.).

David Dabydeen FRSL is a Guyanese-born broadcaster, novelist, poet and academic. He was formerly Guyana's Ambassador to UNESCO from 1997 to 2010, and was the youngest Member of the UNESCO Executive Board (1993–1997), elected by the General Council of all Member States of UNESCO. He was appointed Guyana's Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinaire to China, from 2010 to 2015. He is one of the longest serving diplomats in the history of Guyana, most of his work done in a voluntary unpaid capacity.

<i>The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano</i> 1789 autobiography of Olaudah Equiano

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, first published in 1789 in London, is the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, an African from what is now Nigeria who was enslaved in childhood and eventually earned his freedom and became an abolitionist in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British African-Caribbean people</span> Residents of the United Kingdom

British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose recent ancestors originate from the Caribbean, and further trace their ancestry back to Africa or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro-Caribbean people who are multi-racial. The most common and traditional use of the term African-Caribbean community is in reference to groups of residents continuing aspects of Caribbean culture, customs and traditions in the UK.

Peter "Lauchmonen" Kempadoo was a writer and broadcaster from Guyana. He also worked as a development worker in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia. He moved in 1953 to the UK, where he built a career in print journalism as well as radio and television broadcasting, and published two novels, Guiana Boy in 1960 — the first novel by a Guyanese of Indian descent — and Old Thom's Harvest in 1965, before returning to Guyana in 1970. He died in London, aged 92.

Beryl Agatha Gilroy was a Guyanese educator, novelist, ethno-psychotherapist, and poet. The Guardian described her as "one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants." She emigrated to London in 1951 as part of the Windrush generation to attend the University of London, then spend decades teaching, writing, and improving education. She worked primarily with Black women and children as a psychotherapist and her children's books are lauded as some of the first representations of Black London. She is perhaps best known as the first Black head teacher in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joanna Vassa</span>

Joanna Vassa was the only surviving child of the former slave and anti-slavery campaigner Olaudah Equiano. Her grave in Abney Park Cemetery, London, was given listed status in 2008 but little is known of her life.

Michael Angus Phillips, is a British writer and broadcast journalist of Guyanese descent. He is best known for his crime fiction, including four novels featuring black journalist Sam Dean.

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For a history of Afro-Caribbean people in the UK, see British African Caribbean community.

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Augustine John, known as Gus John, is a Grenadian-born writer, education campaigner, consultant, lecturer and researcher, who moved to the UK in 1964. He has worked in the fields of education policy, management and international development. As a social analyst he specialises in social audits, change management, policy formulation and review, and programme evaluation and development. Since the 1960s he has been active in issues of education and schooling in Britain's inner cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and London, and was the first black Director of Education and Leisure Services in Britain.

Sam Beaver King MBE was a Jamaican-British campaigner and community activist. He first came to England as an engineer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War but returned to Jamaica in 1947. Failing to settle there, King took passage to London in 1948, sailing on the Empire Windrush. He later became the first black mayor of Southwark and a campaigner in support of West Indian immigrants to the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African and Caribbean War Memorial</span> War memorial in Brixton, London

The African and Caribbean War Memorial in Brixton, London, is the United Kingdom's national memorial to African and Caribbean service personnel who fought in the First and Second World Wars. It originated with a project for a memorial to Caribbean Royal Air Force veterans of World War II who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the MV Empire Windrush; this was an extension of the commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme run by the Nubian Jak Community Trust to highlight the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain. The memorial was originally to have been placed at Tilbury Docks, as part of the commemoration for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. However, as the project began to evolve into a larger tribute that included both World Wars and commemorated servicemen and women from both Africa and the Caribbean, it was agreed by the memorial recipient – the Port of Tilbury – and the project organisers that a new, more accessible location needed to found. The memorial was ultimately permanently installed and unveiled on 22 June 2017 in Windrush Square, Brixton.

Patrick Philip Vernon is a British social commentator and political activist of Jamaican heritage, who works in the voluntary and public sector. He is a former Labour councillor in the London Borough of Hackney. His career has been involved with developing and managing health and social care services, including mental health, public health, regeneration and employment projects. Also a film maker and amateur cultural historian, he runs his own social enterprise promoting the history of diverse communities, as founder of Every Generation and the "100 Great Black Britons" campaign. He is also an expert on African and Caribbean genealogy in the UK. He was appointed a Clore Fellow in 2007, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for "services to the Reduction of Health Inequalities for Ethnic Minorities", and in 2018 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Wolverhampton.

Ansel Keith David Wong is a Trinidadian-British cultural and political activist, who has been influential in many organisations particularly in the black community in the United Kingdom, where he has been based since the 1960s. He is the former Chair of the Notting Hill Carnival Board and founder of Elimu Mas Band. He is also an educationist and academic, and in a wide-ranging career has worked at senior levels in various organisations in the public and charitable sectors, including with the Windrush Foundation established in 1996 by Arthur Torrington.

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References

  1. ↑ Torrington, Arthur (29 June 2019). "Monument At Waterloo!". Black History 365. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  2. ↑ "About Us", The Windrush Foundation.
  3. ↑ Sigaud, Joy (20 June 2019). "Windrush Pioneers and Champions – Book Review and Resource Pack for Schools". Windrush Day Magazine.
  4. 1 2 3 Torrington, Arthur. "Windrush Stories – The arrivants". British Library . Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  5. 1 2 3 Thomas, Shirley (10 February 2019). "Iconic Guyanese working to promote Caribbean heritage in Britain". Guyana Chronicle . Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  6. ↑ "Celebrating Windrush, 70 years on: Church & Music – Part 1 by Juliet Fletcher". Keep the Faith. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  7. ↑ Waters, Ruth (6 December 2014). "December at the BCA". Brixton Blog. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  8. ↑ "Early Day Motions – MAKING FREEDOM EXHIBITION". House of Commons. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  9. ↑ "Honours for England: London and the South". BBC News. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  10. ↑ "New Year honours list: GBEs, DBEs and CBEs". The Guardian . 31 December 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "Honours List: Order of the British Empire, CBE". The Independent . 31 December 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  12. ↑ Chandler, Mark (4 January 2011). "New Year's honours for a host of people in South East London". News Shopper. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  13. ↑ "Guyana High Commission UK Awards 2018 Ceremony". Guyana High Commission London. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
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