Frank Gilbert Crichlow (13 July 1932 – 15 September 2010) was a British

community activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

and civil rights campaigner, who became known in 1960s London as a godfather of black radicalism. Jasper, Lee
"Obituary: Frank Crichlow, founder of Mangrove Community Association"
OBV, 17 September 2010. He was a central figure in the

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

. His restaurant,

The Mangrove The Mangrove was a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, London, England. It was founded in 1968 and run by civil rights activist Frank Crichlow, eventually closing in 1992. It is known for the trial of a group of British black activists dubbe ...

All Saints Road All Saints Road is a street in London's Notting Hill district, best known as being an important centre for the UK's Afro-Caribbean community. It runs north to south from Tavistock Crescent to Westbourne Park Road, and has junctions with Tavist ...

, served for many years as the base from which activists, musicians, and artists organised the event. Crichlow was one of the Black activists known as the

Mangrove Nine The Mangrove Nine were a group of British black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean cuisine, Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, West London. Their trial lasted 55 days ...

, who were charged in 1970 with inciting a riot following a protest against repeated police raids of The Mangrove restaurant. The defendants were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour (the repeated raids) motivated by racial hatred, rather than legitimate

crime control Crime control refers to methods taken to reduce crime in a society. Crime control standardizes police work. Crime prevention is also widely implemented in some countries, through government police and, in many cases, private policing methods such ...

, within the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

Early life and emigration to UK

Originally from Woodbrook,

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, Frank Crichlow arrived in England in June 1953 on the SS ''Colombie'', among the first wave of post-war immigrants from the Caribbean. He lived in

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

at first, working for

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

, then formed the Starlight Four band in 1956.

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...

writes in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that the band had a few television and radio appearances, which, by 1959, gave Crichlow enough money to open the El Rio cafe in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

at 127 Westbourne Park Road. The cafe became a fashionable meeting place — with people such as model

Christine Keeler Christine Margaret Keeler (22 February 1942 – 4 December 2017) was an English model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became s ...

and politician

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo a ...

as customers — and provided a safe place for black people to meet. Crichlow described it as a "school or university" for hustlers.Busby, Margaret
"Frank Crichlow obituary"
''The Guardian'', 26 September 2010.

The Mangrove and civil rights activism

In 1968, Crichlow opened

restaurant at 8 All Saints Road, Notting Hill, attracting both unwelcome police attention and celebrity visitors such as

Diana Ross and the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group and a premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s. Founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successf ...

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...

, and

Sammy Davis Jr Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

. The restaurant was raided six times in the first year, though nothing was found. Crichlow,

Darcus Howe Leighton Rhett Radford "Darcus" Howe (26 February 1943 – 1 April 2017)"Civil ...

, and several others marched on the police station in 1970 in protest against the constant police attention. The

, as they became known, faced charges of incitement to riot. Although the charges were initially dismissed, they were later reinstated, and all nine were arrested in morning police raids. The Nine defendants unsuccessfully argued for an all-black jury, on the grounds that the

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by the ...

afforded them a "jury of one's peers". After a 55-day trial that made national headlines in late 1971, all of the Nine were acquitted on Thursday, 16 December 1971. Crichlow called the trial "a turning point for black people". Crichlow went on to form the Mangrove Community Association to improve housing and services for ex-offenders, drug addicts, and alcoholics. He was also a central figure in the

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

; his restaurant served for many years as the base from which activists, musicians and artists organised the event. Despite being well known locally for his anti-drug stance — Heather Mills writes in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' that the local joke about him was that "his education is lacking: he's the only Trinidadian who doesn't know what a great draw of

ganja Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689. Etymology ''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: �aːɲd� ...

is" — Crichlow was charged with drug offences in 1979 but was subsequently cleared of the charges.Mills, Heather
"Restaurant that became a symbol for radicalism"
''The Independent'', 13 October 1992. In 1988, police used sledgehammers to break into The Mangrove, searching for drugs, after hiding in a freight container outside the restaurant, from where they launched the raid. Charged with possession of heroin and cannabis, which he said the police had planted, Crichlow was defended by

Gareth Peirce Gareth Peirce (born Jean Margaret Webb; March 1940) is a British solicitor and human rights activist. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases involving allegations of human rights injustices. Her work with Gerry Conlon and the Guildfo ...

Michael Mansfield Michael Mansfield (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers. He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights ( ...

, and

Courtenay Griffiths Courtenay Delsdue McVay Griffiths KC (born 10 October 1955) is a Jamaican-born British barrister, who has defended in some high-profile cases. He is a member of the London-based chambers 25 Bedford Row. Early life Born in Kingston, Jamaica, t ...

. Crichlow was again acquitted, receiving £50,000 damages from the

in 1992 for false imprisonment, battery and malicious prosecution. Abner Cohen, writing in 1993, stated that, although Crichlow was never a "leader" in any formal sense, never sought any important office, and was a "shy, diffident" person, he had nevertheless been "one of the most significant West Indian leaders in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s. His role in the Notting Hill Carnival was paramount. ..What was astonishing about Crichlow was that he did not give up. During twenty turbulent years, he made the Mangrove into a potent symbol of black unity, defiance and resistance." Continuing his activism beyond the closure of The Mangrove, until his death, Crichlow himself said: "As I see it I stood up for my rights and a lot of people identified with that."

Personal life and death

Crichlow and his partner, Lucy Addington, had a son, Knowlton, and three daughters, Lenora, Francesca, and Amandla; Lenora and Amandla both became actresses. Crichlow died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

in 2010, aged 78. His funeral took place on 27 September 2010 at

St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater St Mary of the Angels is a Roman Catholic church on Moorhouse Road in Bayswater, London, England, within the City of Westminster. The parish it serves is partly in the City of Westminster and partly in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelse ...

In popular media and legacy

Crichlow appeared in the 1973

Franco Rosso Franco Rosso (29 August 1941 – 9 December 2016)Bill Douglas Centre"Franco Rosso 1942-2016" ''Babylon'', 27 December 2016.Martin Stellman"Franco Rosso obituary" ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2017. was an Italian-born film producer and director b ...

and

John La Rose John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

documentary film ''The Mangrove Nine''. In 2011, a blue plaque for Crichlow organised by the

Nubian Jak Community Trust Nubian Jak Community Trust (NJCT) is a commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme founded by Jak Beula that highlights the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain. The first NJCT heritage plaque, honouring Bob Marley, ...

was unveiled at the former site of The Mangrove in All Saints Road. Actor

Shaun Parkes Shaun Parkes (born 9 February 1973) is an English actor. Biography At 16, Parkes enrolled at Seltec College to study drama. Two years later, he was accepted into RADA. Having acted in both theatre and television support roles, Parkes made his ...

portrays Crichlow in the ''

Mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

'' episode of

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

's 2020 film anthology/television miniseries '' Small Axe''.

Notes

External links

* Hassan Mahamdallie interview
"Frank Crichlow: Standing tall against racism"
''

Socialist Review The ''Socialist Review'' is a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online. Original publication: 1950–1962 The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication o ...

'', November 2010 (352). {{DEFAULTSORT:Crichlow, Frank 1932 births 2010 deaths Black British activists British civil rights activists British community activists Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from prostate cancer English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent People from Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago activists Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United Kingdom British restaurateurs