Fay Allen
Sislin Fay Allen (born c. 1939), known as Fay Allen,[1] was the first black woman police constable in the United Kingdom, serving in the Metropolitan Police in London from 1968 to 1972.
Early life and family
Allen was born in Jamaica.[1][2] She qualified as a state registered nurse[3] and worked at the Queen's Hospital, Croydon, a geriatric hospital in South London.[4] She was married to a fellow Jamaican immigrant and had two children,[4] although one was probably born after her service.[3]
Career
Allen had always been interested in the police and in 1968 saw a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, applied, and was selected.[4] The first black officer in the British police since the 19th century, Norwell Roberts, had only joined the Metropolitan Police the previous year.
"On the day I joined I nearly broke a leg trying to run away from reporters," she told an interviewer later. "I realised then that I was a history maker. But I didn't set out to make history; I just wanted a change of direction."[5]
After training at Peel House[6][7] she was posted to Fell Road police station in Croydon, where she lived, on 29 April 1968, aged 29.[3] She experienced more prejudice from the black community than from her colleagues or from white people in Croydon,[4] and was met largely with curiosity and considerable interest from the media, although the Metropolitan Police did receive some racist mail about her appointment.[1][4] The threatening and abusive letters she received when she started working at Fell Road made her consider whether she wanted to remain in the force.[8][9] After a year in Croydon, she was posted to the Missing Persons Bureau at Scotland Yard for a while before being transferred back to the beat at Norbury police station.[4]
Later years
In 1972, she resigned from the Metropolitan Police to return to Jamaica with her family. There she joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force.[4] Eventually she returned to England; as of 2015, she lived in South London.[4]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen, BBC, 2015
- ^ "Sislin Fay Allen", Getty Images
- ^ a b c "Coloured woman P-c for Croydon", The Times, 27 April 1968
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Sislin Fay Allen Britain’s First Black Policewoman", Black History Month 2015
- ^ "100 years of women in the Met Police". BBC Newsround. 15 February 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
- ^ "Jamaican Policewoman Joins Force", British Pathé
- ^ "Sislin Fay Allen", Getty Images
- ^ The Times, 30 April 1968
- ^ Ali, Tariq. (1998). 1968, marching in the streets. Watkins, Susan. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-85360-4. OCLC 38732030.