Allan Glaisyer Minns (1858 – 16 September 1930) was a medical doctor, and the first black man to become a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

in Britain.

Life

Born in the

Inagua Inagua is the southernmost district of the Bahamas, comprising the islands of Great Inagua and Little Inagua. The headquarters for the district council are in Matthew Town. History The original settlers were the Lucayan people, who arrived som ...

district of the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, Minns was one of the nine children of John Minns (1811–1863) and Ophelia ( Bunch, 1817 – 1902) and their youngest son. His grandfather, also called John Minns, had emigrated about 1801 from England to the Bahamas, where he married Rosette, a former African slave. Minns was educated at Nassau Grammar School and

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

in London. He was registered with the British Medical Association on 14 February 1884; his qualifications were MRCS (1881), and LRCP (1884). He was based in Thetford from 1885 until 1923, when he moved to Dorking where he died. His eldest brother, Pembroke Minns (1840–1912), was already in medical practice in Thetford when he moved there. In 1903 Minns was elected to the

town council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second t ...

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, and the next year was elected as mayor, serving two one-year terms as mayor. He was twice married; first to Emily Pearson (1859–1892) in 1888 and secondly to Gertrude Ann Morton in 1896. He had children by both wives. His son

Allan Noel Minns Allan Noel Minns, DSO, MC, (23 March 1891 – 6 April 1921) was an English medical doctor of African-Caribbean descent who served as an officer in the British Army during the First World War. He was born in Thetford, Norfolk in 1891, the son of ...

(1891 – 1921), also a doctor, was one of the few black officers to serve in the British Army during the First World War. John Archer, elected mayor of Battersea in 1913, had been thought to be the first black British mayor. However, in reporting Archer's election, the American ''Negro Year Book 1914'' (founded by

Monroe Work Monroe Nathan Work (August 15, 1866 – May 2, 1945) was an African-American sociologist who founded the Department of Records and Research at the Tuskegee Institute in 1908. His published works include the ''Negro Year Book'' and '' A Bibliograph ...

) recorded that:

In 1904, Mr. , a
colored ''Colored'' (or ''coloured'') is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow Era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur, though it has taken on a special meaning in Sout ...
man from the West Indies, was elected mayor of the borough of Thetford, Norfolk.

References

External links

*
Allan Glaisyer Minns: The First Black Mayor of a British Town
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minns, Allan Glaisyer 1858 births 1930 deaths 19th-century English medical doctors 20th-century English medical doctors Bahamian people of English descent Bahamian emigrants to England Black British politicians Black British people in health professions Mayors of places in Norfolk People from Inagua People from Thetford