Valda James

Last updated

Valda James (born 1928) is the former mayor of Islington. [1] She was the first black woman elected to Islington Council and the borough's first black mayor. [2]

Contents

Life

James was born in Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica, and moved to England in 1961, [3] as part of the Windrush generation. [4] Following the end of her marriage, [5] James raised her children as a single parent, 'an experience that later informed her work on the Social Services committee.' [3] James worked first in catering and dressmaking, in order to support herself and her family, [1] before becoming a nurse with the British Red Cross for eight years. [5]

James was elected to Islington Council in 1986, and became mayor two years later. [3] In order to take up the post, James took early retirement from her existing job, affecting her pension, and was additionally unable to claim councillors' attendance allowances because mayoral duties did not leave enough time to carry out the functions required of a councillor. [6] In order to support herself financially, James worked from 5.30am as a cleaning supervisor, before the start of her working day as Mayor. [6]

While Mayor, in 1989, James founded a Sickle Cell Support Group in Camden, which was 'primarily set up to be a forum for people with sickle cell and thalassaemia diseases to meet and get to know and support each other.' [7]

In 2018, as part of the LDN WMN initiative celebrating 100 years since the first women gained the vote in Britain, [3] a photograph of James by her granddaughter, the artist Phoebe Collings-James, was displayed on the outside of The Peel Institute, Islington. [8] The artwork 'celebrates the cultural impact left by James on the Borough and is located close to the estate where she lived all her life'. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Islington</span> London borough in United Kingdom

The London Borough of Islington is a London borough which forms part of Inner London, England. Islington has an estimated population of 215,667. It was formed in 1965, under the London Government Act 1963, by the amalgamation of the metropolitan boroughs of Islington and Finsbury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Borough of Islington</span> Former local authority of London, England

Islington was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish within the county of Middlesex, and formed part of The Metropolis from 1855. The parish was transferred to the County of London in 1889 and became a metropolitan borough in 1900. It was amalgamated with the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury to form the London Borough of Islington in Greater London in 1965.

Kathryn "Kat" Jane Fletcher is a British Labour Party politician. In May 2016, she was sworn in as the Mayor of Islington, having served as a councillor of the borough's St George's Ward since 2013. She was previously president of the National Union of Students, between 2004 and 2006, the first to be elected from a political slate to the left of Labour Students.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Thornberry</span> British Labour politician (born 1960)

Emily Anne Thornberry is a British Labour politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington South and Finsbury since 2005. She has served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales since 2021, and previously from 2011 to 2014. Thornberry has also served in a number of other senior positions on Labour's front bench, namely as Shadow Foreign Secretary from 2016 to 2020, Shadow First Secretary of State from 2017 to 2020 and Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade from 2020 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Anionwu</span> British nurse, professor and activist (born 1947)

Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu is a British nurse, health care administrator, lecturer, and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London.

<i>Camden New Journal</i> British newspaper in London

The Camden New Journal is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the Camden Journal. The newspaper was supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot and former Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson. It carries significant influence locally, due to its high news content, investigations and large circulation.

Lurline Champagnie OBE,, is a British politician who became the first black woman to stand as a parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party in the 1992 general election, losing to future Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. She was a Mayor in the London Borough of Harrow, and a councillor for the Pinner ward, being the first black person to hold these positions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plus Bus route 812</span>

Plus Bus route 812 was a circuit bus route in Greater London, serving Finsbury and Islington. Unusually for a bus route entirely in London, it was tendered and subsidised by Islington London Borough Council rather than Transport for London, and operated under a London Service permit. For this reason, buses used on this route were in a yellow livery, rather than the usual red, and it did not charge standard London fares. Oyster Cards were not accepted anywhere on the route, but Freedom Passes and walk up cash fares where accepted. It was operated by HCT Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meral Hussein-Ece, Baroness Hussein-Ece</span> British politician (born 1955)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 London local elections</span>

Local government elections took place in London, and some other parts of the United Kingdom on Thursday 6 May 2010. Polling stations were open between 7am and 10pm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 London local elections</span>

The 2018 London local elections took place in London on 3 May 2018 as part of wider local elections in England. All London borough councillor seats were up for election. Elections to the Corporation of London were held in 2017. Mayoral contests were also held in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets. The previous London borough elections were in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoebe Cusden</span> English socialist, trade unionist, and educator

Phoebe Cusden (1887–1981) was a socialist, trade unionist, educator, peace campaigner and politician from the English town of Reading. She was continuously active between the 1910s and the 1970s, and was a leading citizen of Reading over the middle part of the twentieth century. Particularly notable was that her local campaigning developed into an effort to broaden her own and her fellow citizens' awareness of issues of international peace and progress. She was a pioneer of local authority nursery education, and a founder of the post-war twin towns movement. Most significantly she developed a twin-town link enabling aid and practical assistance to the German city of Düsseldorf while it was still recovering from the devastation of World War II bombing. The link survives to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lolita Roy</span> Indian social reformer and suffragist

Lolita Roy, also known as Mrs. P. L. Roy, was an Indian social reformer and suffragist who played an active role in the social life of Indians in London, as well as in campaigns for women's suffrage in Britain and India. She was described in The Vote in 1911 as 'one of the most emancipated of Indian women'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 London local elections</span>

The 2022 London local elections took place on 5 May 2022, as part of the 2022 United Kingdom local elections. All London borough councillor seats were up for election. Mayoral elections took place in Hackney, Lewisham, Newham and Tower Hamlets, with Croydon electing a mayor for the first time following a local referendum in October 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Islington London Borough Council election</span> 2022 local election in Islington

The 2022 Islington London Borough Council election took place on 5 May 2022. All 51 members of Islington London Borough Council were to be elected. The elections took place alongside local elections in the other London boroughs and elections to local authorities across the United Kingdom.

Felicity Marion Peel Rea, known as Flick Rea, is an English Liberal Democrat politician in Camden, north west London, who for 35 years represented the Fortune Green ward on Camden Council, before her retirement in 2021.

Kaya Comer-Schwartz is a British politician who currently serves as the Leader of Islington Council. She is the first black leader of Islington.

Maryam Eslamdoust is a British-Iranian politician and trade union official. She was mayor of the London Borough of Camden from 2019 to 2021, and in 2023 was elected General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association. Eslamdoust was the first Iranian-born woman to be elected to public office in Great Britain.

References

  1. 1 2 "Valda James | Black British Mayors | Black Politicians". The Black Presence in Britain. 13 August 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Morris, James. "This week 30 years ago: £20m to turn Angel into 'super station'". Islington Gazette. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Visit LDN WMN: a series of free public artworks". London City Hall. 3 October 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  4. ↑ "Celebrating Women's History Month in Islington". Islington Giving. March 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  5. 1 2 Independent Age (7 March 2019). International Women's Day: Valda James (Video).
  6. 1 2 "Cast your vote for me, and I'll cross out my private life". The Independent. 5 May 1994. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  7. ↑ "Camden Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Service". www.whittington.nhs.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  8. ↑ "LDN WMN artwork of Valda James - Phoebe Collings-James". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 11 November 2020.[ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.