James Townsend (baptised 8 February 1737 – 1 July 1787) was an English Whig politician and Lord Mayor of London in 1772–73. He is believed to be England's first black member of parliament and the first black Lord Mayor of London.
John Richard Archer (8 June 1863 – 14 July 1932) was a British politician and political activist. In 1913 he was elected Mayor of Battersea, becoming the first black mayor of a borough in London. He was a notable Pan-Africanist and the founding president of the African Progress Union.
John David Beckett Taylor, Baron Taylor of Warwick (born 21 September 1952) is a member of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. His full title is "The Lord Taylor of Warwick".
Based on data from unofficial sources including Operation Black Vote, the House of Commons Library estimated in a research briefing published in September 2022 that there were more than 60 ethnic minority members of the House of Lords as of September 2022.
James Townsend (baptised 8 February 1737 – 1 July 1787) was an English Whig politician and Lord Mayor of London in 1772–73. He is believed to be England's first black member of parliament and the first black Lord Mayor of London.
Peter McLagan, c 1900
Peter McLagan (1823-1900), was a British Liberal Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Linlithgowshire, in the central belt of Scotland, for nearly 30 years, from 1865 to 1893. Notably, he is Scotland's first and, to date, only black MP.
The usual verbal forms of address are:
The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress: “Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress” The Lady Mayoress only: “Lady Mayoress”
The role of the Lord Mayor is empowered with functions under the Local Government Act 1993. These functions include: to act as a leader of the community of the municipal area. to carry out the civic and ceremonial functions of the mayoral office. to promote good governance by, and within, the Council.
The Mayor and the 25 London Assembly Members receive an annual salary and, on retirement, a pension. They are also entitled in certain circumstances to a resettlement grant payment when they leave office.
Address some members using their title only, for example, Lord Sugar or Baroness Boothroyd. Other members have an additional part to their title which should also be used to address them, for example, Lord Collins of Highbury or Baroness Harris of Richmond.
Ignatius Sancho is the first known person of African descent to vote in a British general election. As an independent male property owner, with a house and grocery shop on Charles Street, he had the right to cast his vote for the Westminster Members of Parliament in the 1774 and 1780 elections.
Mixed race Dido Elizabeth Belle who was born a slave in the Caribbean moved to Britain with her white father in the 1760s. In 1764, The Gentleman's Magazine reported that there was "supposed to be near 20,000 Negroe servants." John Ystumllyn (c. 1738 - 1786) was the first well-recorded black person of North Wales.
Dorothy Mary Donaldson, Baroness Donaldson of Lymington, GBE, DStJ (née Warwick, 29 August 1921 – 4 October 2003), previously known as Dame Mary Donaldson, was the first female Lord Mayor of London (1983–84).
Abbott was the first black woman elected to Parliament, and is the longest-serving black MP in the House of Commons. Born in Paddington, to a British-Jamaican family, Abbott attended Harrow County School for Girls before going to read History at Newnham College, Cambridge.
29 November 1893
The following year Elizabeth, who was a strong supporter of the women's suffrage movement (see 19 September), accepted nomination as mayor. After a 'spirited contest', she defeated her only opponent, local draper Frederick Court, by 13 votes to become the first 'lady mayor' in the British Empire.
The vote was restricted to adult males and also by property qualifications, but never by race. The first black person known to have voted in a British election was Ignatius Sancho who qualified in Westminster in 1774 and 1780. The Reform Act 1832 extended the vote to landed middle class men.
First African-American Representative elected to Congress
Joseph Rainey of South Carolina began his service in the House of Representatives when he was sworn in on December 12, 1870.
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote.
There is also a small community of British aristocrats that are of partially black descent. Emma Thynn (née McQuiston), the Marchioness of Bath as the wife of the 8th Marquess, belongs to this sub-group.
Hanging on a wall in Scone Palace in Perth, Scotland, is an 18th-century double portrait of two young women of high society.
The title Sir is used to address a man who has the rank of baronet or knight; the higher nobles are referred to as Lord, so effectively a Lord is higher than a Sir. Any man who has the rank of Duke, Marquess, Earl/Count, Viscount, and Baron can be addressed as Lord.
Hereditary peeresses were able to sit in the Lords from 1963. Female Church of England bishops have been sitting as Lords Spiritual since 2015. As of December 2022, women make up about 29 % of the members of the Lords, which compares with about 35 % of the members of the Commons.