Gertrude Maretta Paul (6 September 1934 – 7 January 1992) was a teacher and advocate for the British Caribbean community in Yorkshire.

Biography

Paul was born in 1934 in Parson's Ground Village on the Caribbean island Saint Kitt's, and moved to

Leeds, England Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1956. She was one of eleven children. Despite having been awarded a teaching training qualification in Antigua, when she arrived in England she was required to complete a British training course, which she did at the James Graham College of Education (now part of

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

) and graduated in the early 1960s. Paul was the first black teacher in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. In 1976 she became the first black headteacher in the city, running Elmhurst Middle School (later known as Bracken Edge Primary School). A community builder, she was one of the founders of the

Leeds West Indian Carnival The Leeds Carnival, also called the Leeds West Indian Carnival or the Chapeltown Carnival, is one of the longest running British African-Caribbean community, West Indian carnivals in Europe, having been going since 1967. The carnival is held in ...

, which is one of the longest running

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

carnivals in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the longest running in the UK. She was a co-founder and President of the United Caribbean Association in Leeds, and also served on the UK government's

Commission for Racial Equality The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to address racial discrimination and promote racial equality. The commission was established in 1976, and disbanded in 2007 when its ...

. She died in January 1992, of a heart attack, in Saint Kitts.

Legacy

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

commemorates her at the school she worked at, Elmhurst Middle School, now Bracken Edge Primary, unveiled in 2011 by Leeds Civic Trust. Paul was nominated for the plaque by members of Chapeltown Heritage Trust. In May 2020 Leeds Beckett University launched the Gertrude Paul Doctoral Studentship, which will enable research into how numeracy and literacy can be improved for primary school children from African and Caribbean backgrounds.

References

External links

Women Of Leeds: Gertrude Paul The Inspirational Head Teacher – Welcome to Leeds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Gertrude 1992 deaths Heads of schools in Yorkshire 1934 births Saint Kitts and Nevis emigrants to the United Kingdom Leeds Blue Plaques