Inside our collections: the letters and photographs of Amy Barbour-James
Fragment of a photograph of Amy Barbour-James. c1907. (GREEN/3/3/1)
Jeffrey Green is a historian with a special interest in the Black presence in the UK. Green became friends with Amy Barbour-James while conducting research on her father, John Barbour-James, for his book "Black Edwardians". When Amy died, Jeffrey acquired some of her personal papers. Green donated some of his his research papers to BCA along with some letters, photographs and musical scores that had belonged to Amy.
Who is Amy Barbour-James?
Amy Barbour-James was the daughter of John Barbour-James, author and civil servant. John was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1867 where he worked as a postmaster at Victoria Belfield. He transferred to the Gold Coast (now Ghana) Post Office in 1902, but lived in England for much time up to 191, settling in Acton with his wife and five children. They had three more children, one of which was Amy, but by 1919 five of the children, and their mother, were dead. In 1920 John married Edith Goring, a teacher born in Barbados. Barbour-James retired from the colonial postal service in 1917 and began working with the African Progress Union. He was the head of the 'Association of Coloured Peoples'. In 1938 he was vice-president of the League of Coloured Peoples having attended the founding Quaker meetings in 1931. Barbour-James died in Georgetown, Guyana, 1954.
Amy Barbour-James was born in London in 1906. When her father and step mother returned to Guyana, Amy and her sister, Muriel stayed in London. Amy was a keen musician and among her papers are some handwritten musical scores.
The home of Amy and Muriel Barbour-James, 57 Christchurch Avenue, Harrow. c1950. (GREEN/3/3/7)
She was involved in the 'League of Coloured Peoples' and worked as a Civil Servant for the Crown Agency from 1950.
Group of women in front of the Houses of Parliament, possibly Amy Barbour-James' colleagues from the Crown Agents. 1950. (GREEN/3/3/5)
In 1963, while visiting friends in Trinidad, Muriel became ill. The letters at BCA document the sad story of her illness through correspondence between Amy and family friends where Muriel was staying. Muriel never returned home to London, she died in hospital in 1964. Amy continued to live in the house she had once shared with Muriel till her death in 1988.
To find out more about the material we hold related to the Barbour-James family search our online catalogue.
The information on this page was compiled with the help of Jeffrey Green, also citing the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
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