Tribute to Princess Campbell by Shelagh Hetreed, 29 June 2020
All materials and photos copyright to Shelagh Hetreed.
I had got to know Princess over four years of working with the BAME Elders social clubs across the City which included Malcolm X, The Evergreens, The Golden Agers, Dhek Bhal and the Bristol Chinese Womens Association. My role was to support the sustainability of these amazing groups, all of which had existed for over 25 years and the eldest, The Evergreens had been going for around 30 or more years.
Most of these groups were peer led. There were no paid staff and so they were run by volunteers from the community, some of whom were already in their 80s. They received no funding and so relied on small grants for which they applied themselves. Princess Campbell had been the former chair of The Golden Agers, was a relentless fund raiser and was now a regular attendee at the Malcolm X Elders club.
Princess Campbell MBE was born on 9th July 1939 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her family always listened to the radio and heard the invitation ‘Your mother country needs you’. Princess told us that she had no idea what the Mother Country’ was but it sounded like a good place and many of her youg relatives and neighbours were leaving home for other countries, to find a better life. So Princess, aged 23, encouraged by her mother, took a ship (just like the now famous Windrush) to England. In 1962 she arrived in Bristol. Her first job was at Wills tobacco factory in Bedminster. She was the first black person to apply. She already had a great confidence and impressed the interviewer with her positive responses. This must have been an interesting beginning, being among a sea of non black faces. A rumour went around that a princess from overseas working amongst them. This amused Princess and probably helped her to have status in her early days. She worked there for 2 years but then was able to fulfil her ambition to train as a nurse, which she did at Frenchay Hospital. After a very short training, she was on a ward at the Mental Hospital, then called Glenside Hospital in Fishponds. Princess described the extra and more difficult work given to the black staff and the amount of night and weekend work. A lot of the black nursing staff left but not Princess. She stuck it out, went above and beyond her duty to try to make a difference to people that were hospitalised because of their poor mental health. She realised that they needed to feel good about themselves and would bring in nice jackets for the men, take them to the cinema and tried to bring some humanity into the harsh clinical treatment for mental health at that time.
Princess had ambition, she wanted to become a ward sister. To this end, she did more training but then, when a post was advertised, she applied, was shortlisted with one other person but was passed over for a younger, less qualified and less experienced white person. Princess was popular and so this decision brought anger and protest across Glenside until Princess was called back in, offered the job and received an apology!
Perhaps this was the first ‘Black Lives Matter’protest? So Princess, still in her 20s became the first black ward sister in Bristol. This has been celebrated for many years at the M Shed Bristol exhibition where her uniform and early photographs are on display.
Princess was always a fighter for justice. Her awareness of the discrimination against her fellow country men and women, who had arrived in the UK with such joy, hope and ambition, only to find that housing and jobs were not open to them because of their skin colour moved her to take action. She began campaigning about poor housing and so was involved in setting up both a housing association with affordable housing and a also sheltered accommodation for BAME elderly people called Mary Seacole (named after the pioneering Jamaican nurse who went to care for British troops during the Crimean War) Court, on Mina Road, St. Werburghs.
Princess had an authority and confidence that meant that she would knock on the doors of the influential and famous and request their support. Every photo opportunity she would create or take to be seen next to the mayor, head of a service or influential person. So her reputation was built on both her own action and notoriety across the community and her strategy of making herself known to people of influence who would then hear her and respond. Since retiring and despite continuing ill health, she has been active in a great number of ways. She was an active member of the Bristol Older Peoples Forum, the chair of The Golden Agers Elders club and was a weekly member of the Malcolm X Elders club, continuing to sing at the weekly song sessions and dance, even with the aid of a zimmer in her later years!
In 2011, Princess was awarded an MBE for recognition of her tirelss work for the community.
When I met Princess, she was already walking with the aid of a zimmer frame. My fond memories of Princess include singing along at the Malcolm X Elders singing group where she would manage to rise to her feet on her zimmer frame to dance along to ‘Diana’ the 1957 pop hit tune by Paul Anka. This became her signature tune.
Princess had her portrait taken by Luke Mitchell for the ‘Living Legacies’ exhibition which I created in 2014 for the Black History month. She adopted her usual pose of nuckle touching chin which also became her pose! There is a photo of Princess standing in front of the photograph at City Hall which demonstrates this well.
There were so many funny memories of working with Princess. One was when I went with her in a taxi to the premiere of a film made by Tom Stubbs ‘Our Century’, which features Princess Campbell.
The taxi driver confused Watershed with sea world and went to drop us off at the wrong venue. Eventually, we were dropped at the wrong end of the Watershed block. Princess relied heavily on her zimmer with a built in seat to walk. We glanced at the long cobbled path that led to the entrance to Watershed. There was no way! So, she sat herself down backwards on the zimmer and I pushed her as fast as I could over the very bumpy cobbles. That was a long journey but we both just laughed and laughed.
Another occasion, I was driving Princess to a meeting. We stopped at a Caribbean take away in St Pauls she hadn’t had any lunch. Immediately, the owner came up to the car and asked what Princess wanted. The conversation went into a strong patois that I did not understand at all. When we continued I said to her that I was unable to understand a single word that had been said. Princess had had no idea that she had spoken any differently to one of her countryman. I so love that strong sense of community and shared history.
When Princess got out of the car, her skirt revealed her calf. ‘That is slavery for you’ she said. I was puzzled. ‘I am neither one thing nor the other’ she continued. How deep that history goes.
Princess Campbell was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Bristol University on 14th July 2014. These degrees are awarded to citizens from the community who have outstanding life long achievements. I had the privilege of helping arrange the amazing accolade given to Princess in July 2014 when she received an honorary degree. I accompanied her in the taxi there and back and was honoured to join her at the vice chancellors lunch with 3 other friends. Professor Alex Marsh was immediately taken by her character and personality and they got on like a house on fire!
It was a hot day and the great hall in the Wills building (the irony was not lost on any of us) was packed with students getting their first degree and their families. We had front row seats and waited while all those awards were given out.
The vice chancellor had said that there was to be no applause until he gave permission at the end of the ceremony. At last it was time for Princess to have her award. The chancellor started to tell Princess’ life story. It was a perfect personal history and he read it with such warmth and respect. As soon as he finished speaking, spontaneous applause and cheers rose from the auditorium! Everyone was celebrating Princess’s life! As the vice chancellor, smiling from ear to ear tried to suppress the applause, it happened 2 more times! Finally, he told the audience that in all his years of doing these awards, he had never known there to be 3 spontaneous rounds of applause.
At the end of the ceremony, I accompanied Princess home to her empty house, where there was bread and peanut butter for her tea. The contrast could not have been more stark to the day we had just witnessed.
The photos below are a close up of Princess before we left for the ceremony, Princess with the vice chancellor with whom we had lunch, a group photo, Princess on the left of the stage at the great hall of Wills building and a few pics of her when she had been dressed in her gown.
Princess died in Souhmead hospital on 3rd September 2015. I visited her the night before. I took a framed photo of her from her degree ceremony to place on the bedside table. I had this great need to make sure that everyone that tended to her knew that she was Princess Campbell, Doctor of Laws. On her bedside, was the application form that she completed every single year to get funding for a grand Christmas dinner for the 100 or so elders that are members of the Malcolm X Elders club. This was probably her last act of community work before she put down the pen for the last time.
The MX Elders had their Christmas lunch and a place was laid with a candle on it for Princess, as it had been each Monday after her passing.
The funeral was a wonderful show of hundreds of family friends, acquaintances who were outside the Church Of God Prophecy in Easton, watching the ceremony inside on a big screen.
I was asked to do one of two speeches at the service by Princess’ son Dennis. I was not sure that I could or should, being non black and only having known Princess for about 4 years. I stayed up all night to try to get it right. I HAD to get it right! I genuinely loved Princess, I admired her tenacity, her stubborness, her endless confidence and the glimpses of her history, a generation that I cannot begin to appreciate what they went through and survived. There are many other testimonies from her friends, from the South Asian Communities who went through Partition and the Hong Kong Chinese who also arrived on these shores with hopes and dreams , many of which were shattered by the attitudes of the indigenous population.
It is way past the time when we all need to reflect, change and embrace our future as one of inclusion, respect, curiosity, gratitude and appreciation.
May Princesses memory live on and influence new generations of all communities.
Shelagh Hetreed 29.6.2020