18/10/2026
History of West Indians in Bexley
The first West Indian known to have settled in Bexley was Peter Probee, who was baptised at Foots Cray in 1666. This young man was probably a servant of the Buggins family, owners of North Cray Place. The family had no particular connection with the West Indies, but it was fashionable to have 'exotic' servants at the time. Nothing else is known about him. More than a century later in 1775 another servant, called Scipio was recorded working as a coachman for Lieutenant General Sir Adam Williamson at East Wickham House. He was named after Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who defeated Hanibal. Sir Adam would later serve as Governor of Jamaica and Haiti, where he attempted unsuccessfully to suppress the Slave Revolt.
Many local families had connections with the West Indies, most notably Sir John Boyd of Danson, who owned sugar plantations in St Kitts and Dominica. Many ordinary people were connected in one way or another. The census of 1851 shows William Miller born in Montserrat was recorded as a pupil at the Hall Place Academy. The same census records Phoebe Ann Hall born in Jamaica working as governess to the children of the Malcolm family at Lamorbey. Mary Ann Orme who had married Neil Malcolm inherited from her father sugar plantations in Jamaica and some 207 enslaved people. It is possible that Phoebe was one of them.
In 1901 the census shows Frederick Hood, a gentleman of independent means born in Wilmington, Kent, living at 3 The Broadway, Bexleyheath with his daughter-in-law Isabella and her six daughters. All of them had been born in Jamaica. Isabella's husband George Hilder Hood, born in Bexleyheath, had spent much of his life in Jamaica as a businessman and commercial traveller. Their son Frederick George Miles Hood served in the King's Royal R***e Corps and was killed in action on 8 March 1918.
In the years after the Second World War there was an acute shortage of labour in Great Britain. Starting in 1948 the Empire Windrush carried numerous West Indians to London where they helped meet the demands of post-war reconstruction. One such was Randolph Lynch who settled in Sidcup where he joined the Baptist Church and married a local girl in 1958. Immigrants did not always receive a warm welcome and were often rejected for work despite having suitable qualifications.
In 1967 Augustus Lewis from Trinidad set up morning classes in Thamesmead to teach mathematics and literacy to recent arrivals. Some immigrants became high achievers, such as Valarie Amos from Guyana, who became the first Black Head Girl of Bexley Technical High School for Girls (now Townley Grammar School) and rose to become a Baroness, Secretary of State for International Development and Lord President of the Council.
Today the West Indian Community continues to be active in local churches, trade unions and political parties reflecting their traditions of social activism. West Indian influence is also seen in the fields of sport and music.
