Kelso Cochrane's funeral procession on Ladbroke Grove - courtesy Historytalk
Kelso Cochrane murder: 50th anniversary
The fiftieth anniversary of the tragic murder of Kelso Cochrane on Southam Street, just off Golborne Road, is to be marked by the unveiling of a commemorative Blue Plaque on Sunday May 17th.
Kelso, a 32-year-old carpenter from Antigua, was stabbed by a gang of white youths on May 17th 1959. Police at the time described it as a robbery, but many people, then and now, saw it as a racist attack. No one was ever arrested for the murder.
The incident happened at a time of high tension after the Notting Hill Riots the previous year. The fascist and racist British Union Movement was active in the area and its leader, Oswald Moseley, stood as a candidate for Parliament in the 1959 general election in the Kensington North constituency. He came last at the polls with eight per cent of the vote.
Over 1,000 people attended the funeral procession along Ladbroke Grove. Some believe that Kelso’s brutal murder marked a turning point in race relations in North Kensington. After the murder, there was a marked improvement in community relations and one local historian, Tom Vague, believes the funeral procession was the seed for the Notting Hill Carnival.
In his Talking Pictures series published by the Portobello Film Festival last year, Vague wrote:
‘Rather than start another riot, the killing of Kelso Cochrane turned the tide against the fascists, and started Notting Hill Carnival. As Mosley was blamed for bringing further disgrace on the area, on June 11 over a thousand black and white people followed Kelso Cochrane’s funeral cortege, in what has been described as a proto-Carnival procession, along Ladbroke Grove to Kensal Green Cemetery.’
The plaque will be unveiled at 3pm on Sunday 17th May at the Grove Bar & Restaurant at the junction of Golborne Road and Southam Street, W10, by Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Mayor, Councillor The Hon Joanna Gardner, and His Excellency Dr Karl Roberts, High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda.
The plaque unveiling is part of a weekend programme of Kelso Cochrane events, from 15th to 17th May.
Friday 15th May
Concert for Kelso – 7pm to midnight at the Tabernacle, Powis Square, W11.
Saturday 16 May
Kelso Cochrane Memorial Event - 12 noon at graveside, Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, W10, followed by a march along Ladbroke Grove to the Inn on the Green and Portobello Green, and a concert and film evening at the Neighbourhood Club, 12 Acklam Road London W10.