Amelia King: A story of racism, oppression, and resilience

This blog provides a deep dive into the life of Amelia King, a British citizen who was among the first Black women to join the Women's Land Army during the Second World War, despite the blatant racism and prejudice she faced. Her story is one of resilience and overcoming adversity, as well as a reflection of the pervasive racism in Britain in the mid-20th century amidst the outbreak of war.

Family and early life

Amelia Elizabeth King was born in the East End of London on 25 June 1917, the daughter of Henry and Amelia King. Several members of her family served in the British armed forces in different capacities: her father Henry, born in Georgetown (Guyana), was a stoker in the Merchant Navy, and her brother joined the Royal Navy.¹ Several extracts from Henry King's own Merchant Navy records have survived, as shown below.

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Amelia was living with her parents and her four siblings in Limehouse, Stepney. The 1939 Register shows that she was working as a box maker at the time. Her eldest sister, Ada, was a bag machinist, and her younger siblings -Frances, Fitzherbert and Doris- were engaged in unpaid domestic duties, the engineering trade, and the tailoring trade, respectively, as shown in the image below. However, upon the beginning of war, Amelia decided to join the Women's Land Army as a volunteer.

The Women's Land Army

The Women's Land Army was originally set up in 1917 to enable women to replace male farmers and farmworkers who had joined the front lines during the First World War. Its main objective was to increase food production to support the war effort, and thousands of women joined the WLA, becoming affectionately known as 'Land Girls'. The organisation was disbanded in November 1919, but in early summer 1939, with the prospect of war becoming increasingly likely, the WLA was reinstated under the command of Lady Denman.

Racism, oppression, and the parliamentary debate on the 'colour bar'

Amelia's application to join the WLA was met with resistance and prejudice. Her local branch in Essex turned her down, alleging that it would be difficult to place her as there would be objections due to her ethnicity. Amelia was advised to join a munitions factory instead. In response, she turned to her local Labour Party MP, Walter Edwards, seeking someone to advocate on her behalf, and her story made it to the House of Commons. Her case received increasing coverage in newspapers, particularly in the context of the discrimination faced by other people of colour under what was known as the 'colour bar'. Although there were no laws requiring racial segregation in England, there were also no laws prohibiting it until 1965. The extracts below show how Amelia's case was reported at the time.

Around the same time that Amelia's case was being debated in Parliament and covered by the media, cricketer Learie Constantine was denied entry to a London hotel alongside his wife, daughter, and friends –a matter also reported by various news outlets.

The experiences of Amelia King and Learie Constantine exemplify the racism pervasive in Britain during the 1940s, 1950s, and beyond. The discrimination they faced, and its coverage by the media, sparked further debates about the severity and consequences of the 'colour bar', as well as protests against it.²

Admission into the WLA

Ultimately, the decision to refuse Amelia's entry into the WLA was overturned in October 1943, and she was able to serve between 22 October 1943 and 31 August 1945, as evidenced by her Women's Land Army Service card below.

Amelia's case continued to be covered by the media, often framed as an example of injustice and linked to the parliamentary debate that had followed. Publications highlighted the various attitudes of MPs, the WLA leadership, and others towards the inclusion of people of colour in Britain's daily life and institutions.

This episode, unfortunately, was not an isolated one but rather part of the broader institutional racism and oppression faced by Black Britons throughout the twentieth century and beyond, that continued to be a matter of debate in the following decades.

Conclusion

Amelia King's story is one of personal determination and resilience, but it is also a testament to the institutional racism and oppression experienced by many others. The records and newspaper articles related to her life, accessible through the Social History Archive, are the result of a longstanding partnership with The National Archives and the British Library. Our collections provide invaluable insights into the lives of Black Britons and the challenges they faced in the face of prejudice and discrimination.

Footnotes

1. (1) Stephen Bourne,The Motherland Calls: Britain's Black Servicemen and Women, 1939-45 (Stroud, 2012), chapter 4.
2. (2) Warwick Digital Collections, 'Londoners' Protest Meeting Against Racial Discrimination', https://wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/tav/id/4629 (accessed: 29 January 2025).

Authors

Ellie Ayton is Social Media Manager at Findmypast. She has a MA and a First Class Honours Degree in History, with a particular interest on women. Her MA dissertation was on women in the Crusades, and nowadays she enjoys research rabbit holes on women in crime, sport and suffrage (not necessarily in that order).

The research for this piece was conducted by Jen Baldwin. Jen has worked professionally in the field of genealogy since 2010 and has pursued her own family history since childhood. She is currently the Research Specialist at Findmypast. In this role, she integrates historical records with storytelling and public engagement strategies, with a focus on British social history and the value of UK-based collections for global researchers. Jen lectures internationally and has been a featured speaker at genealogical and historical conferences across North America and the UK since 2013. Her work has been featured by major British media outlets, and she is co-host of Was Justice Served?, a historical true crime podcast. Jen currently serves as a Trustee of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. Her research interests centre on underutilised archival resources and social history methodologies that deepen genealogical narratives.

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