Long-forgotten hero Black boxer honoured by UK Prime Minister gets a blue plaque

21 October 2023 , 07:07

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Charles Minto, on the right, will be honoured with a memorial (Image: North Tyneside Council)

A forgotten boxer who “fought for his people” as a Black rights pioneer is set to have a memorial unveiled.

Charles Udor Minto was a tireless campaigner who helped create safe spaces for North Tyneside's burgeoning Black community in the 1930s and 40s. He had been a champion middleweight boxer in Nigeria and came to the UK through his career as a sailor. Once settled in North Shields, he continued fighting, but dropped his gloves and chose the political stage instead.

Mr Minto worked with unions, port officers and employers to tackle what one official memo called "quite unbearable" prejudice at the time. He was commended by then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan as a “pioneer and leading spirit” and a display is being held at the North Shields Customer First Centre as part of Black History Month.

The blue plaque has been unveiled in North Tyneside (Imperial war museum)

The North Shields Heritology Project said of the pioneer: “A local hero and a fighter, Charles Minto gets a blue plaque in his honour in North Shields this Thursday, as part of Black History Month celebrations in North Tyneside.

“A Nigerian boxing champion, Charles settled in North Shields and raised his family here. He convinced the wartime government to open the hostel in 1942 to help house some of the hundreds of black sailors who were stranded in North Shields at the start of WW2.

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“He did so much more for the community and local charities, why not pop into North Shields Customer First Centre and look at the exhibition on display there throughout October, by , It's really interesting and inspiring.”

The Chronicle earlier reported how, as the Second World War brought more African seamen to the area, Minto campaigned for the founding of a hostel to house them, and in 1942 opened Colonial House, in Northumberland Place. As well as providing housing, the hostel became a social hub, hosting dances and parties, and becoming home to a band and a football team.

Its events were often designed to create unity throughout North Shields and tackle racism: at a children's Christmas Party, for example, every child of African descent was encouraged to invite a white friend. In 1949, Minto was awarded an MBE for his work for his community in North Shields, but despite this national recognition, Colonial House closed in 1950.

The former hostel at Northumberland Place (Newcastle Chronicle)

According to the North Shields Heritology project, this was a "bitter blow" for Minto, who said the house "belonged to my people who came here" and "represented a bridge which enabled white and coloured people to get together in friendship". He returned to Nigeria shortly afterwards, dying in 1960.

African Lives in Northern England author Dr Beverley Prevatt Goldstein said Minto's story felt close to home for many people today who carry on his legacy of building cultural, educational and political organisations for their communities.

She said: "When I think of somebody like Minto... who set who a community centre and an organisation, as somebody who has worked all most all of my life in community organisations [it's important] to recognise how much he achieved and the challenge it was, and in fact how little known he is outside North Shields."

Antony Clements-Thrower