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This film is part of Free

Black Special Constable

In Gloucester in January 1964, Astley Lloyd Blair makes history by becoming the first black special constable in Britain.

News 1964 2 mins

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Reg Harcourt talks to new volunteer special constable Astley Lloyd Blair in the city of Gloucester. Blair, who had previously served with the police in Jamaica, had broken in to the police force which, like every other force in the UK at that point, was a whites only operation. His duties appear to be traffic related and the Chief Constable thinks that he'll only be working the summer months. So despite this minor victory there was still a long way to go.