Description:My name is Edna Davis. I was born in Jamaica, West Indies in the parish of St. Mary, in a little district called Preston. I am a Caribbean and I have lived in Yardley, Birmingham for six years and forty six years in Croydon, London. There were eleven of us children in all but two died and nine lived. There were seven girls and two boys. I am the seventh in the family and both of my parents have sadly passed on.
I came to England in 1956 and joined my brother and sister-in-law. The reason that I left Jamaica was because my parents were very strict and I was very disobedient and I would not abide by the rules. I travelled by air, leaving Kingston, Palisada Airport on 11th July 1956. When I arrived in the UK, I was shocked and disappointed, I thought that the houses were unbearable to look at and the weather was cold, even though it was July and the weather just got worst.
My sister-in-law was very helpful as she had already been to the USA and had some travelling experience. I started nursing but left as I could not get the weekend to enjoy myself. I went to the engineering department to do assembly work in Philips Engineering. One morning I was going to work and I lost my purse. That same evening someone knocked on my door and handed it back to me because there were some photographs in the wallet and we were the only black house in the area. That was lucky and this was in the year of 1956.
Photograph courtesy of Veena Gogna.