Amelia King: The woman barred from aiding Britain’s WW2 efforts because she was Black
‘Calling all women, volunteers are urgently needed for services with the Women’s Land Army (WLA). Will you help?’
As the Second World War gripped the world, posters across Britain urged women to mobilise as the country’s food supply dwindled dramatically.
Thousands signed up for what was termed the ‘victory harvest’.
Some tended fields, others were trained to catch rats, while others wielded chainsaws and specialised in timber production. Even Queen Elizabeth did her bit, volunteering as a mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service during the war.
Women who signed up for the WLA swapped busy cities for the countryside and lived together in hostel-style farmhouses.
Adverts had urged anyone to apply and play their crucial part in supporting the war effort.
However, when Amelia King offered her services, she was turned away.
The 26-year-old was a third generation Afro-Caribbean woman born in Limehouse, in London’s East End, in 1917.
Amelia had been working as a box maker in London prior to the war.
Being from a military family, she had a strong sense of patriotism. Her father, Henry, was a firefighter in the British Merchant Navy and her brother, Fitzherbert, served in the Royal Navy.
When the call to Britain’s women was made by the WLA, Amelia diligently applied to join its Essex County branch.
But she was rejected in 1943 – twice – on the grounds of her ethnicity. It was suggested she would be better suited for work in a munitions factory.
Amelia was told farmers could ‘object’ to her presence on their land due to her race.
In an interview with The Chicago Defender, she fumed: ‘I said to them, if I’m not good enough to work on the land, then I am not good enough to make munitions. No one has ever suggested that my father and brother were not good enough to fight for the freedom of England.’
Furious about the situation, Amelia contacted her MP Walter Edwards.
Her experience soon garnered national attention in the press and in Parliament.
‘She not only fought back against the WLA’s ruling, but she went public with the injustice’, researcher Tamisan Latherow told Metro.
Amelia’s story has always been a fascinating one for Tamisan, who is an expert in the history of agriculture and the impact of women on the industry.
‘You have to put yourself in her shoes,’ she says. ‘A 22-year-old Black woman in England, whose father and brother were serving, just wanting to do her part, and being dismissed out of pocket.
‘Now, she could have kept her mouth shut, hung her head and walked away like the general public thought many women should. Maybe she would have found work in a munitions factory and never been heard from again. But she didn’t.
‘She did what few women, let alone a minority in the 1940s, would have done, and took her issue to the press. Racial discrimination meetings were held on her behalf. Newspapers as far away as Chicago in the US, and South Africa as part of the anti-Apartheid movement even years later picked up the story.
‘That is a vibrant legacy for a woman who just wanted to help put food on England’s tables and one that reminds me that it is sometimes the little acts of bravery that have the biggest changes to society.’
After a wave of outrage following press coverage, WLA superiors finally caved and allowed Amelia to join their ranks.
Next came the matter of finding a farm for Britain’s most talked about Land Girl.
Alfred Roberts of Frith Farm, of Wickham in Hampshire, had read about Amelia’s ordeal in the press.
He was a man of kind character, who hired anyone as long as they were ‘straightforward and hardworking.’
The WLA’s refusal to let a Black woman join their ranks came shortly after cricketer Learie Constantine was denied accommodation at a London hotel.
Both incidents brought the Colour Bar – which saw ethnic minorities separated from their white counterparts in restaurants and pubs – into public debate.
Society’s views towards Black people were transforming in the wake of Amelia and Learie’s mistreatment.
After the Second World War came to an end, racism was soon a frequently discussed topic in public and in Parliament.
For Amelia, much of her story is unknown after 1945.
It’s understood she enjoyed her time on Albert’s farm and became ingrained in the local community, drinking at pubs with other Land Girls.
Tamisan says she transferred to the London and Middlesex WLA branches, before eventually being dismissed due to medical grounds.
Amelia had been employed as a fancy box maker pre-war and may have returned to a similar profession. Or, perhaps, she was inspired by her time in the Land Army to try something different. But we may never know.
What we do know is that Amelia King died at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel in 1995, aged 78 – with no known children or partner.
Her story has since reached further prominence as the fight for equal rights continues, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tamisan continued: ‘For myself, Amelia’s story is more about not letting society tell you what you can and cannot do. It’s about standing up for your rights and making sure that you are heard.
‘She did not go to the press to seek fame, she was seeking justice so that she could take her rightful place along other women in support of her country.
‘In essence, she was attempting to bring an unspoken prejudice into the public discourse and make people realize that such preconceived notions were faulty.
‘This was the period of unspoken racial bias in the UK and very public racial segregation in the US. Her story highlighted one of the glaring discrepancies between how Black Service personnel were treated, both at home and abroad, and reminded the British public that service shouldn’t have a colour, something we are still trying to come to grips with 80 years later.’
Recognising the stories of the past are integral to forging the progress of the future.
Black History Month seeks to recognise and celebrate the trailblazers and campaigners who made a difference to lives today.
‘Writer and philosopher George Santayana tells us, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” and he’s right,’ Tamisan adds.
‘It lets us look at our past with 20/20 hindsight and acts as a litmus test, so we do not make the same mistakes, or waste time trying to reinvent the wheel. At the same time, looking backwards allows us to see how far we’ve come. It reminds us that in the past hundred years we have gone from inventing refrigerators, cars, and television, to sending people into space and drones to other planets.
‘That is an impressive amount of ingenuity for the human race to show. Now we have to bring society up to the same standards.
‘It’s my hope that in another 100 years society will look back at both Amelia’s story and history in general and think how strange it was that a person’s ethnicity, orientation, nationality, or religion was believed to affect their capabilities.
‘I sincerely hope they dismiss such bigotry as some form of fake news.’
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Kirsten.Robertson@metro.co.uk
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