Sislin Fay Allen (''née'' Patterson; 20 March 1938 – 5 July 2021), known as Fay Allen, was a British and Jamaican police officer who was the first black woman police constable in the United Kingdom, serving in the Metropolitan Police in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

from 1968 to 1972. She also worked for the

Jamaica Constabulary Force The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is the national Police, police force of Jamaica. Founded in 1867, during the period of Colony of Jamaica, British colonialism, the JCF was intended as a civil body with a military structure. Since the late ...

Early life and family

Allen was born in Jamaica,''Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen''
BBC, 2015. and moved to the United Kingdom in 1961 or 1962. She lived in

Thornton Heath Thornton Heath is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is around north of the town of Croydon, and south of Charing Cross. Prior to the creation of Greater London in 1965, Thornton Heath was in the Coun ...

, Croydon. She qualified as a

State enrolled nurse A licensed practical nurse (LPN), in much of the United States and Canada, is a nurse who provides direct nursing care for people who are sick, injured, convalescent, or disabled. In the United States, LPNs work under the direction of physician ...

in October 1963, having trained at Queen's Hospital, Croydon with placements at the Purley War Memorial Hospital and Waddon Hospital, Croydon. She then worked at Queen's Hospital, Croydon, a geriatric facility in south London."Sislin Fay Allen Britain’s First Black Policewoman"
''Black History Month'', 25 August 2015. She was married to a fellow Jamaican immigrant and had two children.

Career

Allen had always been interested in the police and in 1968 saw a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, applied, and was selected. The first black officer in the British police since the 19th century, Norwell Roberts, had only joined the Metropolitan Police the previous year. "On the day I joined I nearly broke a leg trying to run away from reporters," she told an interviewer later. "I realised then that I was a history maker. But I didn't set out to make history; I just wanted a change of direction." After training at

Peel House Peel House is a former Metropolitan Police training school in Regency Street, Pimlico, London SW1. It was built in the year 1907, and is in a conservation area, but not a listed building, and Westminster City Council has identified it as bei ...

for 13 weeks, she was posted to Fell Road police station in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, where she lived, on 29 April 1968, aged 29."Coloured woman P-c for Croydon", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 27 April 1968. She experienced more prejudice from the black community than from her colleagues or from white people in Croydon, and was met largely with curiosity and considerable interest from the media, although the Metropolitan Police did receive some racist mail about her appointment. The threatening and abusive letters she received when she started working at Fell Road made her consider whether she wanted to remain in the force. After a year in Croydon, she was posted to the Missing Persons Bureau at

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

for a while before being transferred back to the beat at

Norbury Norbury is an List of areas of London, town and suburb in south London. It shares the postcode London SW16 with neighbouring Streatham. The area is mainly in the borough of Croydon London Borough Council, Croydon, with some parts extending int ...

police station.

Later years

In 1972, she resigned from the Metropolitan Police to return to Jamaica with her family. There she joined the

. Eventually, she returned to England; as of 2015, she lived in South London. In 2020, she was given a lifetime achievement award by the National Black Police Association. She died in

Ocho Rios Ocho Rios (Spanish for "Eight Rivers") () is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as ''Ochi'' by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth ...

, Jamaica, in July 2021, aged 83. Her death was announced on 5 July.

Legacy

Allen has been an inspiration to women wanting to join the police and especially for black women police officers such as Commander

Alison Heydari Alison Heydari is a Temporary Deputy Assistant Commissioner within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in London and currently the most senior Black female police officer in the UK. She previously led the MPS on neighbourhood policing and, n ...

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Fay 1938 births 2021 deaths Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom Women Metropolitan Police officers Jamaican police officers Black British police officers Jamaican nurses British women nurses British nurses 20th-century Metropolitan Police officers 20th-century Jamaican women