Back to Life

Curated by Susan Pitter, Back To Life is a legacy of our 2019 Eulogy Project commemorating first generation Jamaicans of Leeds who arrived in the 1940s – 60s.

Scores of black and white photos of the pioneering generation were collected for the project – photos taken before their arrival or in their new home city and sent to family in Jamaica.

Adding colour to decades-old black, white and grey photos illuminates their lives as young people; hints at the personalities behind outfit choices, allows us to see Leeds and Jamaica as they were in days gone by.

Colour brings a remembered generation back to life.

ALFORD GARDNER b1926

CEBERT MCKENZIE (c. 1918 – 2007)

CECIL ADONIJAH FRATER (1912 – 1988) AND GERZITA FRATER nee MCKENZIE (1922 – 2010)

CHARLES ‘CHARLIE’ DAWKINS (1920 – 1986)

CLARISSA LOUISA SEWELL nee BONNER (1933 – 2013)

CLOVIS ALEXANDER LEWIS (1918 – 1985)

DANIEL ‘SUNNYMAN’ WARRENTON BLOOMFIELD (1930 – 2018)

DELORES ‘VI’ FRANCIS nee EBANKS (1923 – 1998)

DONALD LEOPOLD ELLISON (1916 – 1996) AND VIRIS MAUDE ELLISON nee SIMPSON (1929 – 2019)

ERROL EDWARD JAMES MBE, JP (1926 – 1994)

FLORENCE MAY MCCAULSKY (1943 – 2013)

FUN TIMES

GEORGE SOLOMON HARRIOTT (1926 – 1999) AND VERYL ALLETTA HARRIOTT nee CRUISE (1934 – 2018)

GIRVAN ‘GIBBS’ IVANHOE FISHLEY (1934 – 2007)

GLORIA HESLOP nee THANE (1940 – 2015)

HERMERDE OLIVIER PITTER (1931 – 2017) AND ENID LENORA PITTER nee NEIL (1939 – 1995)

HUBERT ‘GLEN’ GLENDORE ENGLISH MBE (1926 – 2018)

JAMES ‘JIM’ ROBERT WHITE (1915 – 2009)

KERMIT ALLEN EBANKS (1934 – 2016)

LESBOURNE BRODERICK (1933 – 1995) AND DEBORAH BRODERICK nee HIGGINS (1930 – 1998)

LINNETT MARIA MORGAN (1925 – 2018)

LIONEL ‘TEDDY’ EUBANKS (1931 – 2008) AND SADIE ‘DOREEN’ EUBANKS nee CAINE (1936 – 2011)

LUCILDA WYNTER nee LEWIS (1923 – 1999)

LYDIA MAY POWELL nee MORRISON (1935 – 2016)

MARTHA AGATHA ARMSTRONG nee STEPHENS (1897 – 1979)

MERLYN ‘GRACE’ EMELDA WILLIAMS nee FRANCIS (1936 – 2015)

NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH OF GOD, LADIES’ WILLING WORKERS BAND

ON THE WAY TO CRICKET 1

ON THE WAY TO CRICKET 2

PHYLLIS DERLORIS HINES nee HIBBERT (1934 – 2017)

ROY BARRINGTON MCDONALD (1933 – 2000) AND RHETA DOLORES MCDONALD nee DALEY (1937 – 2014)

RUBY ‘BIDDY’ ROSE WILLIAMS nee WALSH (1918 – 2016)

SAMUEL ‘SAMPIE’ AUGUSTUS BARRETT (1923 – 2018)

STERLING NATHANIEL LYNCH (1936 – 2012) AND LILLIAN ‘JENNY’ LYNCH nee BROWN (1945 – 2004)

THE MCKAY FAMILY

THE WEDDING OF EASTON ‘DAN’ BERESFORD POWELL (1925 – 2007) AND ELSIE POWELL nee SINCLAIR (1924 – 2018)

TRAVIS JOHNSON OBE, BH(M), JP (1944 – 2008)

WALTER BERESFORD STEWART (1919 – 1993)

WILLIAM ‘BILL’ CAMPBELL

WW2 WEST INDIAN RAF SERVICEMEN c. 1945