Asquith Xavier was known for standing up to workplace racial discrimination. He is commemorated by a blue plaque at 149 Ledbury Road, his home during the widespread discussion of his case.

Asquith Xavier was born on 18 July 1920 in Soufrière, Saint Mark, Dominica, one of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, then part of the British West Indies. Little is known about his early life, but he appears to have served as a police officer in Dominica.

Xavier arrived in Southampton on 15 April 1958 aboard the ship Ascania. The very next day, he began work at Marylebone Station, London, having probably already secured a job with British Railways before sailing. After a year working as a porter and carriage cleaner, he was promoted to the responsible position of train guard in April 1959. Agnes Disney Xavier, his wife, and three of their seven children joined Xavier in London later, and the couple had two more children in London.

Racist rejection

In 1966, Marylebone Station lost its long-distance and freight services under the extensive ‘Beeching’ cuts to railway services, so Xavier had fewer opportunities to increase his income. Guards working out of Euston could earn up to £30 per week with overtime – more than double Xavier’s earnings at Marylebone – and a promotion would help him to better provide for his family. Xavier applied for a transfer to Euston Station in March of that year. But his application was rejected and his Marylebone manager wrote to tell him that:

the local department committee staff representatives for sectional council no. 3 at Euston are not prepared to accept on promotion the transfer of coloured staff to Euston.

Local union representatives held power over employment on the railways at the time, and at Euston they had used it to enforce a ‘colour bar’ since 1954, blocking non-white people from jobs. At other stations where black staff had been employed, workers had gone on strike.

Xavier’s fight

Xavier decided to contest the decision, though his wife was concerned. His choice was exceptionally brave, and Agnes’s reluctance was understandable – only seven years before, in Xavier’s Notting Hill neighbourhood, a black man was murdered by racists. Moreover, the Race Relations Act of 1965 only outlawed discrimination in public places and did not cover housing or employment. It was also often very hard to prove discrimination had occurred – applicants were told an advertised job was taken when it was not, for instance.

Xavier’s case was unusual because he had clear written proof of having been discriminated against for racist reasons. He worked for a nationalised industry and had a union representative at Marylebone – Jim Prendergast (1914–74) of the National Union of Railwayman (NUR) – who was committed to equal opportunities. Prendergast had suspected that prejudice was at work in the redeployment of staff – he noted an earlier case when three white guards from Marylebone were sent to Euston and 11 black staff to a parcels depot – and he asked the NUR leadership to intervene.

Press arrive at Ledbury Road

When the union still hadn’t responded six weeks later, Prendergast gave Xavier’s story to the press, and the first reports appeared on 9 July 1966. Xavier found himself at the centre of a media storm that summer, which included being doorstepped by reporters at 149 Ledbury Road, a four-storey terraced house of about 1860 where he lived in a flat with his family.

From the Morning Star to the Daily Telegraph and even in regional papers well outside London, the existence of a colour bar at Euston and at other stations was deplored. This publicity came at personal cost to Xavier. ‘I have been very ill with a stomach ulcer. I’m sure it has been made worse by the worry about this case’, he told one journalist, and he was hospitalised for a time.

With support from the West Indian Standing Conference and the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, Xavier’s case was raised in Parliament by MPs from across the political spectrum. On 15 July the transport minister, Barbara Castle, said that the British Rail Board were ‘strongly opposed to discrimination on grounds of colour’ and committed to resolving ‘difficulties’. That day, British Rail’s representative, Leslie Leppington, announced the end of the colour bar at Euston and St Pancras at a press conference, and that Asquith Xavier could have the job of guard for which he had applied, on the new London to Manchester electric service out of Euston.

Leppington apologised for the ‘badly constructed’ memo that Xavier had been sent (rather than the discriminatory practices it revealed) and said that Euston staff representatives were ‘not so much anti-colour as pro-white, pro fellow railwaymen’, a statement not received well by the attending press. The West Indian Standing Conference welcomed the announcement about Xavier and the lifting of the colour bar, but expressed scepticism that this meant an end to racial prejudice at British Rail.

All change

Asquith Xavier arrived 50 minutes early for his first day of work at Euston on 15 August 1966, becoming the first black railway guard to work out of that station. British Rail gave him a red-carpet welcome, and his photograph appeared widely in the papers. Xavier had said that he had ‘no fears’ about going to Euston but was initially given police protection after receiving at least three anonymous abusive letters, one threatening to cut his throat.

Undeterred, he took a six-week course for his demanding job, becoming familiar with every signal box and set of points between Euston and Manchester Piccadilly and with four types of traction (steam, diesel, DC and AC electric). Xavier continued to work as a train guard out of Euston for the rest of his working life, though this was cut short by ill-health in the mid-1970s. Latterly he made his home in Kent, and died in 1980.

Xavier’s case led to government consideration being given to race and employment issues. To mitigate racial conflict and prevent frustration to those whose opportunities were limited by prejudice, Home Secretary, Roy Jenkins, headed a review. Learie Constantine, who sat on the Race Relations Board, refused to continue to do so unless action was taken. The eventual upshot was the new Race Relations Act of 1968, which covered the key issues of housing and employment.

Further reading

• John Davis, ‘Xavier, Asquith Camile (1920–1980)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004) (access with a UK public library card)