IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 LMA/4462/P
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: JEFFREY, LIONEL AND PANSY (DONATED PAPERS)
Date(s): 1958-1995
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 2.33 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Jeffrey | Lionel | 1926-1993 | political activist and race equality campaigner
Jeffrey | Pansy | fl 1951-1993 | political activist and race equality campaigner
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Lionel and Pansy were close friends of Eric and Jessica Huntley of Bogle-L'Ouverture. Lionel Aloric Jeffrey born in Guyana 9 January 1926, died 31 October 1993. Parents were Marie and Charles Jeffrey; wife, Pansy Jeffrey.
He came to England in 1947 to study Economics and Law at Oxford University. He was elected Vice-President of the West Indies Students Union and later President of the overseas federation of students unions in England.
On 29 December 1951, in London, he married Pansy Cummings, daughter of a school teacher from Berbice, Guyana. They had a daughter, Chinyere and two sons, Andreas and Howard.
He was active in the Anti-Colonial struggle in the Caribbean and during this period he worked closely with Cheddi Jagan, Eusi Kawana and Martin Carter.
He returned to Guyana in 1953 when British troops invaded and deposed the elected Peoples Progressive Party. He became Acting Secretary of the Party after Janet Jagan was imprisoned, and was a regular contributor to the publications the Mirror and Thunder.
In 1956 he returned to England to continue his studies. Lionel continued his work in the Labour Movement and was General Secretary and President of the Caribbean Labour Solidarity group. His Socialism was strengthened with the arrival of Guyanese John and Irma LaRose, Eric and Jessica Huntley, Cleston Taylor and Peter Blackman. They formed the nucleus of the West Indian Communist Party. He allied himself to all the progressive groups concerned with Caribbean politics and was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. He worked to increase education and other opportunities available to minorities living in the London Borough of Islington and was a member of Islington Council's Race Equality Committee for many years.
He was involved in the following organisations:
Caribbean Labour Solidarity
Caribbean Labour Congress
The Community Education Trust
Islington 18
The West Indian Citizens Association, (WICA)
The Islington Multi-Cultural Education Project
Islington Race Equality Unit
Islington Multi-Cultural Education Project
Greater London Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee
North Islington Law Centre
In 1974 he was President of the Caribbean Labour Solidarity group and a member of the Caribbean Labour Congress.
The Community Education Trust:
In 1974 Lionel, Pansy Jeffrey and colleagues founded the Community Education Trust (CET), based in Manor Gardens, Holloway, Islington LB. It began with evening classes and lectures for people to learn about Caribbean politics and was sponsored initially by Lord Pitt and Bishop Wood of Croydon. In the 1970s and 1980s the Trust developed multi-cultural education courses. The Trustees were Sir Hugh Springer, KCMG, CBE, the Right Reverend Wilfred Wood, the Chairman was George Lamming and Lionel the Executive Secretary.
In 1980 he formed the "Islington 18" in order to help the eighteen black youths arrested after riots at Notting Hill Carnival.
In 1981 the West Indian Citizens Association (WICA) was set up by members of the Community Education Trust in whose premises it was housed. The intention of this group was to lend their facilities and structure to people of West Indian origin in Islington, to create and develop a community organisation to serve the interests of Afro-Caribbean people in the borough.
The Association grew and in June 1981 they started a Senior Citizens Lunch Club which became the forerunner for providing a variety of services for black senior citizens.
In 1985 Lionel became overall director of the Multi-Cultural Education Project in Islington. They developed multi-cultural and anti-racist teaching packs for schools. The project also designed a Caribbean exchange programme whereby 26 third year pupils from Islington secondary schools participated in special workshops and activities and visited and lived with families in Barbados. In 1986 exchange students from Barbados visited London and attended local secondary schools in Islington.
1992 he became a Consultant for the Islington Race Equality Unit. He worked with Islington Council and the Inner London Education Authority to develop their race relations policy and helped establish a race relations unit in Islington with Richard Crowson. He was Chairman of Islington Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee and a member of the Greater London Council's Ethnic Minorities Committee. He worked at the City Literary Institute ('City Lit') in Holborn, Camden LB with George Lamming and Richard Hart and he was a committee member of the North Islington Law Centre with Bil Nash.
The Lionel Jeffrey Nubian Centre
In 1995 the Islington Council Race Equality and Community Affairs Committee named a community centre after him. The Centre was based at 48 Seven Sisters Road, Islington LB. The aims of the centre include the advancement of education and training that would allow users to continue to play a constructive role in society and the promotion of the rights of women. Lionel died 31 October, 1993.
Pansy Jeffrey joined the Family Welfare Association Department of the Kensington and Chelsea Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) and was appointed to the post of the West Indian Social Worker in 1959. She was a Justice of the Peace and served at Horseferry Magistrates Court. In her capacity at the Bureau she helped create organisations for the improvement of housing, education and social conditions for West Indians and other immigrant groups in North Kensington. She was a member of groups which shared her concerns. These included
1960 West Indian Mother Club
1968 College Park School Managing Body
1970 House of Commons Working Group on Education
1970 West London Fair Housing Group Limited
1973 Berbice Co-ownership Housing Association Limited
1974 Community Education Trust
1979 North Kensington Family Centre Committee
1981 Pepper Pot Club.
She was on the management committee of North Kensington Neighbourhood Law Centre. She gave talks about the West Indian community in Notting Hill, London and in the Caribbean.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Personal papers of Lionel and Pansy Jeffrey, political activists and race equality campaigners, including material from various organisations and committees including minutes, correspondence, brochures, newsletters, academic papers, draft speeches and reports.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
These records are arranged into four series:
LMA/4462/P/01 CORRESPONDENCE - Organisations;
LMA/4462/P/02 CORRESPONDENCE - Personal;
LMA/4462/P/03 PHOTOGRAPHS;
LMA/4462/P/04 COLLECTED MATERIALS.
Conditions governing access:
These records are available for public inspection, except records containing personal information may be subject to access restrictions.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the depositors.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
These records were gifted to Eric and Jessica Huntley by Pansy Jeffrey. The Huntleys aimed to use the papers to write and publish a book on the Jeffreys' contribution to the community, but this intention was not put into practice.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Their archive collections were the first deposit from the African-Caribbean community to be made to the London Metropolitan Archives, in 2005, with additional deposits since that time.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
In 1990s the Huntleys were given the papers of their friends Lionel and Pansy Jeffrey in order to publish their achievements in the wider community. This did not come to fruition.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: November 2009 to February 2010