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Dr John Alcindor

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Dr John Alcindor

Birth
Trinidad And Tobago
Death
25 Oct 1924 (aged 50–51)
Paddington, City of Westminster, Greater London, England
Burial
Kensal Green, London Borough of Brent, Greater London, England Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Dr.John Alcindor (M.B., B.Ch (Ed)was a physician who was instrumental in the formation of the African Progress Union (APU). He was born in Trinidad and attended St Mary's College, a private school, in Port of Spain. He won one of the four Island Scholarships to attend medical school at Edinburgh University, Scotland from which he graduated in 1899.
After graduation he moved to London and worked at hospitals in Plaistow, Hampstead and Camberwell. In July 1900 he attended the Pan-African Conference held at Westminster Town Hall at which there were 37 delegates from Europe, Africa and the United States including Samuel Coleridge Taylor, John Archer, Dadabhai Naoroji, Sylvester Williams and William Du Bois. Many delegates called for legislation promoting racial equality and Michael Creighton, the Bishop of London, asked the British government to confer the "benefits of self-government" on "other races as soon as possible".
After the conference, the Pan-African Congress wrote to Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, suggesting that black people in the British Empire should be granted "true civil and political rights". Chamberlain replied that black people were "totally unfit for representative institutions". Sylvester Williams responded to this by writing to Queen Victoria about the system "whereby black men, women, and children were placed in legalized bondage to white colonists". The letter was passed to Chamberlain who replied that the government would not "overlook the interests and welfare of the native races."
In 1907 he established his own medical practice in Paddington. He also carried out research and published articles on cancer, tuberculosis and influenza in the British Medical Journal and the General Practitioner. He pointed out that his research suggested that poverty, low quality food and unbalanced diets played an important role in poor health.
In 1911 he married Minnie Martin and the couple had three sons John Francis (1912-1993), Cyril Charles (1914-1946) and Roland Patrick Boyce (1917-1991). Minnie was subsequently disowned by her family for marrying a black man.
As a member of the Committee of the National Council for Combating Veneral Disease and honorary member of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, he worked to prevent syphilis and tuberculosis in Great Britain.
As well as running a medical practice at 37 Westbourne Park Road he worked as Medical Officer of Health for the Paddington Poor Law Guardians.
He became senior district medical officer of the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington in 1917 and in 1921 chairman of the APU, succeeding John Archer.
He died on 25 October 1924, aged 51, at St Mary's Hospital, London of Interstitial Hephritis and Cardiac failure.
The funeral service took place at St Mary of the Angels at Paddington followed by interment at Kensal Green. A list of attendees and those who sent floral tributes can be found in West Africa (London) 1 November 1924, p 1199.

He warrants a claim to fame in that he features in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.


Dr.John Alcindor (M.B., B.Ch (Ed)was a physician who was instrumental in the formation of the African Progress Union (APU). He was born in Trinidad and attended St Mary's College, a private school, in Port of Spain. He won one of the four Island Scholarships to attend medical school at Edinburgh University, Scotland from which he graduated in 1899.
After graduation he moved to London and worked at hospitals in Plaistow, Hampstead and Camberwell. In July 1900 he attended the Pan-African Conference held at Westminster Town Hall at which there were 37 delegates from Europe, Africa and the United States including Samuel Coleridge Taylor, John Archer, Dadabhai Naoroji, Sylvester Williams and William Du Bois. Many delegates called for legislation promoting racial equality and Michael Creighton, the Bishop of London, asked the British government to confer the "benefits of self-government" on "other races as soon as possible".
After the conference, the Pan-African Congress wrote to Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, suggesting that black people in the British Empire should be granted "true civil and political rights". Chamberlain replied that black people were "totally unfit for representative institutions". Sylvester Williams responded to this by writing to Queen Victoria about the system "whereby black men, women, and children were placed in legalized bondage to white colonists". The letter was passed to Chamberlain who replied that the government would not "overlook the interests and welfare of the native races."
In 1907 he established his own medical practice in Paddington. He also carried out research and published articles on cancer, tuberculosis and influenza in the British Medical Journal and the General Practitioner. He pointed out that his research suggested that poverty, low quality food and unbalanced diets played an important role in poor health.
In 1911 he married Minnie Martin and the couple had three sons John Francis (1912-1993), Cyril Charles (1914-1946) and Roland Patrick Boyce (1917-1991). Minnie was subsequently disowned by her family for marrying a black man.
As a member of the Committee of the National Council for Combating Veneral Disease and honorary member of the Anti-Tuberculosis Society, he worked to prevent syphilis and tuberculosis in Great Britain.
As well as running a medical practice at 37 Westbourne Park Road he worked as Medical Officer of Health for the Paddington Poor Law Guardians.
He became senior district medical officer of the Metropolitan Borough of Paddington in 1917 and in 1921 chairman of the APU, succeeding John Archer.
He died on 25 October 1924, aged 51, at St Mary's Hospital, London of Interstitial Hephritis and Cardiac failure.
The funeral service took place at St Mary of the Angels at Paddington followed by interment at Kensal Green. A list of attendees and those who sent floral tributes can be found in West Africa (London) 1 November 1924, p 1199.

He warrants a claim to fame in that he features in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.


Gravesite Details

grave photo from www.jeffreygreen.co.uk, used with permission. Photograph of John - courtesy of Jeffrey Green, author of Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain 1901-1914 London: Cass, 1998



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