Basil Lewis | |
---|---|
Councillor for Haringey Borough Council (Stroud Green Ward) | |
In office 9 May 1968 –4 May 1978 ServingwithJ. Lotery and G. H. Stansall | |
Preceded by | C. Hannington |
Succeeded by | ward abolished |
Councillor for Haringey Borough Council (Crouch End Ward) | |
In office 4 May 1978 –6 May 1982 ServingwithBrian Smith and Stephen Ayres | |
Preceded by | W. A. Blackburne |
Succeeded by | Heather Thorpe |
Personal details | |
Born | Basil Lewis 24 December 1927 Clarendon,Jamaica |
Died | 26 April 2020 [1] |
Political party | Conservative |
Basil Lewis OBE (1927-2020) was a British community leader,politician and businessman. He was the first black councillor elected in the London Borough of Haringey and one of the first black councillors elected anywhere in the United Kingdom. [2] [3]
Basil Lewis was an active community organiser who helped establish a series of local associations in north London,including the Hornsey Co-operative Credit Union (which became one of the longest-running credit unions in Britain), [4] the North London West Indian Association,and the Anglo-West Indian Conservative Society. During his time as a councillor,he helped found Haringey Council's Community Relations Council.
He was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II for services to politics and the community,recognising his efforts to raise political participation and build community relations. [5]
Basil Lewis was born in Clarendon,Jamaica in 1927. In 1954,Basil left Jamaica for Britain,settling in Hornsey in North London. He started working as a telephone engineer for Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later Nortel),before going on to set up his own record shop and then a travel agency Sunshine Travel,which arranged holidays to the Caribbean.
He joined the Union Church,close to where he lived on Drylands Road in Hornsey. Alongside around a dozen church members he helped set up a savings-and-loans club for the local community,designed to help those who could not get a bank loan to borrow money to start businesses or buy a home. Caribbean migrants at the time often found that the interest rates offered and deposits required by banks were unaffordable. [6] On 7 April 1964 the club was formally established as the Hornsey Cooperative Credit Union. Less than a year later it had more than one hundred members. [7]
Basil Lewis was first elected in 1968 as a Conservative councillor for Stroud Green. He served the ward for ten years. Following boundary changes in 1978, [8] he stood in the newly expanded Crouch End ward,serving until 1982.[ citation needed ]
On his election in 1968,Councillor Basil Lewis told local newspaper The Hornsey Journal "I am convinced that the electors in Stroud Green have proved a great example,which may go down in history. Your decision to elect me as one of your ward representatives I accept as a vote of confidence. I pledge myself to serve you to the best of my ability and I will always be ready to assist you and befriend you." [9] [10]
As a councillor,he helped form Haringey's Community Relations Council,Race Equalities Committee and the Ferne Park Housing Association. [6]
Hornsey is a district of north London,England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban,for the most part residential,area centred 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the north. Known locally as Hornsey Village it is London's oldest recorded village,first recorded in 1202,according to the Place Names of Middlesex.
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough in North London,classified by some definitions as part of Inner London,and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs. Clockwise from the north,they are:Enfield,Waltham Forest,Hackney,Islington,Camden,and Barnet.
Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey,succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks laid out in the Victorian era. The park borders the neighbourhoods of Harringay,Finsbury Park,Stroud Green,and Manor House.
Crouch End is an area of North London,approximately five miles (8 km) from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villages" in London.
Harringay is a district of north London,England,within the London Borough of Haringey. It is centred on the section of Green Lanes running between the New River,where it crosses Green Lanes by Finsbury Park,and Duckett's Common,near Turnpike Lane.
Hornsey Town Hall is a public building in Hatherley Gardens in the Crouch End area of Hornsey,London. The building was used by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey as its headquarters until 1966. It is a Grade II* listed building.
Hornsey and Wood Green is a constituency created in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since May 2015 by Catherine West,of the Labour Party. To date it has drawn together for general elections parts of the London Borough of Haringey.
Tottenham is a constituency created in 1950 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2000 by Rt Hon David Lammy of the Labour Party. He currently serves as Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Affairs and has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Lord Chancellor from 2020 to 2021. It previously existed from 1885 to 1918.
Sir Hugh Alexis Louis Rossi,KCSG,KHS,FKC was a British Conservative Party politician. He was educated at Finchley Catholic Grammar School and King's College London (LLB).
Hornsey was a constituency that returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament,1885 —1983. It was then largely replaced by Hornsey &Wood Green. Its voters using the first-past-the-post system elected the Conservative Party candidate at each election. Its closest result was a 1.29% majority at the 1966 election which saw the start of the Second Wilson Ministry. From 1945 onwards the runners-up in the seat were the Labour Party candidates.
Margaret Omolola Young,Baroness Young of Hornsey is a British actress,author,crossbench peer,and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.
Meral Hussein Ece,Baroness Hussein-Ece,is a British Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is the first woman of Turkish Cypriot origin to be a member of either house of Parliament after she was appointed a Liberal Democrat working peer on 28 May 2010. She was the Liberal Democrat Spokeswoman for Equalities from 2015 until 2016,under leader Tim Farron.
Paul Stephenson OBE is a community worker,activist and long-time campaigner for civil rights for the British African-Caribbean community in Bristol,England.
Elections to Haringey Council were held on 4 May 2006. The whole council was up for election for the first time since the 2002 election.
Haringey London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Haringey in Greater London,England. It is a London borough council,one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. As of 2022,Haringey is divided into 21 wards,6 electing two councillors and the remaining 15 electing three. Haringey London Borough Council currently comprises 50 Labour Party councillors and 7 Liberal Democrats after the 2022 election.
Hornsey (FIA) Co-operative Credit Union Limited was a savings and loans co-operative,established in the Municipal Borough of Hornsey,now part of the London Borough of Haringey,in 1964. One of the earliest credit unions in the United Kingdom,it merged with London Capital Credit Union in 2013.
The 1964 Haringey Council election took place on 7 May 1964 to elect members of Haringey London Borough Council in London,England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party gained control of the council.
The 1998 Haringey Council election took place on 7 May 1998 to elect members of Haringey London Borough Council in London,England. The whole council was up for election and the Labour party stayed in overall control of the council.
Catherine Elizabeth West is a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hornsey and Wood Green in May 2015.
The 2022 Haringey London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 57 members of Haringey London Borough Council were elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.