Black post box to mark home of UK's first black school teacher

Britain's first black school teacher is to finally be honoured with his own post box.

Requests were turned down for Tom Jenkins to be included in Royal Mail's black history tribute in 2020 - where commemorative pillar boxes were installed in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow and London to honour prominent black Britons

Undeterred, anti-racism campaigners in Hawick commissioned their own tribute and later this year it will be installed outside the town's Heritage Hub.

Lawyer Rory Bannerman, who is a member of the Hawick anti-racism group, said: "This will act as a permanent reminder of what an important person Tom Jenkins was - not just in Hawick but in Britain as a whole."

Tom Jenkins arrived in Hawick as a six-year-old boy in 1803 with a local naval surgeon, James Swanson, who died just a few days later.

Swanson had been entrusted with the boy by his slave-trading chieftain father in the Upper Guinea Coast (modern day Guinea/Liberia and Sierra Leone) with a view to him being educated in English and then returning to Africa to work in commerce.

It is said that attempts by the young Guinean to say his name sounded like Tom Jenkins to sailors aboard the Prudence.

Young Jenkins was initially looked after by Billy Broon and his wife, who ran the Tower Hotel in Hawick, where Swanson's father worked as a waiter.

It was after moving to Swanson's in-laws at rural Teviothead, about 10 miles (16kms) from the town, that his academic abilities began to surface - teaching himself the classics by candlelight while schooling and cattle-herding by day.

Historian Alistair Redpath said: "His story was remarkable enough before finally settling with the Lunn family at Teviothead and you would have thought he would have faded into obscurity at that point.

"However while working as a cowherd he was also learning and went from being a pupil at the local school to becoming a pupil teacher.

"Even while teaching he continued his learning, attending night classes in Hawick and eventually the University of Edinburgh to learn Greek and Latin."

In 2020, to celebrate black history month, the Royal Mail unveiled four pillar boxes in tribute to Crimean war nurse Mary Seacole, soldier and footballer Walter Tull, comedian Sir Lenny Henry, and artist Yinka Shonibare.

The Tom Jenkins box in Hawick is of a similar design with the same black colouring and gold trim, and containing a brief biography.

Bannerman said: "We had contacted the Royal Mail about the post boxes they were using to celebrate black history - we thought Tom Jenkins deserved one of his own in Hawick.

"Unfortunately they declined our request, so we went about creating one ourselves with local metal worker and designer, Bernie Armstrong, donating his time for free.

"To come from one continent as a child to another that he probably hadn't known existed is remarkable enough, but what Tom Jenkins did here by self-educating and impressing enough to be given his own school is something else."

Jenkins moved from the Scottish Borders to London in 1818 where he helped establish a school in the district of Pimlico.

Just three years later he was invited by the Governor of Mauritius, Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar, to teach children in the colony.

Tom Jenkins never set foot in Britain again, having served the colonial government of Mauritius for 37 years before his death in 1858.

He was survived by his wife Augustine Jenkins and their four children; Samuel, Thomas, Daniel and Mary.

Jenkins is just the latest historical figure being celebrated by the anti-racism group in Hawick.

In 2023 they unveiled a plaque to commemorate the visit of abolitionist Frederick Douglass in 1846.

They have also staged their own black history tours, created education packs for local schools and this year will present the first Frederick Douglass Prize to a secondary pupil who "best exemplifies" the anti-racism group's ethos.

Evelyn Jackson from Hawick Archaelogical Society is a member of the group.

She added: "We have a strong team who continue to work hard to develop our anti-racism message.

"Not only will we be unveiling the Tom Jenkins post box later this year, but we will also be presenting the Frederick Douglass prize for the first time."