by Marjorie H Morgan © 2013
Section 1
1960 – 1969
Entering the Wilderness
Norwell Lionel Roberts (aka Norwell Gumbs).
QPM. Policeman. Born: 1946, Anguilla.
Norwell Roberts (aka Norwell Gumbs) was born in Anguilla in 1946.
Roberts’ father died when he was three years old. Neverthless, he had a strict
upbringing and was often publicly reprimanded by his grandmother, who was a
Methodist deaconess. After his mother obtained employment as a housemaid in the
UK, Norwell Roberts left the West Indies and moved to England when he was 9 years
old.
In his new British home Roberts experienced prejudice at an
early age; after passing his 11 plus exam he was refused entry into a grammar
school because it was deemed that he was not sufficiently ‘aware’ of English
ways. Nevertheless, Roberts continued his education at a secondary modern
school in Bromley, Kent. At that school he became familiar with more incidents
of discrimination – from which he still bears a scar – such as when some older
pupils at the school, sixth formers, dropped him to ‘see what colour’ his blood
was[1].
Life at home was also discordant when Roberts’ mother remarried, because he did
not have a close enduring relationship with his step-father who kicked Roberts
out of the family home when he was just 15 years old.
Sometime afterwards he began work as a Laboratory Technician
in the Botany Department of London University. During his employment at the
University Roberts completed an application form to join the police force. His
subsequent selection challenged the White identity of the police force within
London. Many previous applicants had been discouraged from advancing their
applications beyond the form submission stage. Roberts career as a police
officer was the start of an attempt to change the ‘face’ of the capital’s
police force. Previous to his employment within the Metropolitan Police, the force
was entirely made up of members of the indigenous community who, inevitably, shared
personal prejudices and racial attitudes in their working practices; this was a
source of constant problems for the post-war migrants – some of who disliked Roberts’
choice to enlist as a policeman[2].
In March 1967, when Roberts was 21 he officially joined the
Metropolitan Police (Met) and achieved media and public attention because he
was the first Black police officer in London. At that time there were very few
Black people in uniform: it was the previous year, 1966, that saw the introduction
of the first Black Traffic Wardens in the country. When Roberts joined the Metropolitan
Police in 1967 there were only 5 other black police officers in the whole of
the UK, and they were all located outside of the capital. After six years the
number of Black policemen within the Met had risen to 8 out of 21,500[3].
Despite this slow start within the nation’s capital the first recorded Black
police officer in the country has been identified as John Kent, aka ‘Black
Kent’. Kent was a police constable in Carlisle in 1837.[4]
Under the scrutiny of the popular press of the time, Roberts
completed his initial training at Hendon Police College. Roberts’ selection and
training was a test for community relationships within all sections of the multi-cultural
British society of the 1960s. He remained in the police force for 30 years and
rose to the rank of Detective Sergeant. His initial placement was at Bow Street
Police Station, in Covent Garden, London. Despite the early public interest in
his career, whilst doing his work Roberts was subjected to regular
discrimination from both his colleagues and the general public. Roberts recalls
that on the first day of his Bow Street probation placement, the duty sergeant
told him that he would ensure that Roberts never completed the training period
there[5].
In spite of being ostracised by his fellow police officers, Roberts remained in
the police force and was often used for ‘positive discrimination’ photographic
opportunities by the Metropolitan Police. Before joining the Met, Roberts
worked at London University. It was whilst there that he met, and became
engaged to Carolyn Rooke, also a Laboratory Technician, who worked in the Zoology
Department: their engagement news, in April 1968, was reported in detail in newspapers[6].
Roberts served at several police stations across the
metropolitan area including: West Hampstead, West End Central, Wembley, Kentish Town, Vine
Street, Ealing, Albany Street, Barnet and Acton. Roberts had several successes
in his career, one of which occurred in 1985 when he was in CID and he won a
commendation for outstanding work on the cases on five contract killers. It is
also reported that Roberts achieved substantial success as the first Black
undercover officer.
In 1996 Roberts was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal (QPM)
for distinguished service – one of the highest awards given to members of the British
constabulary. Roberts retired from the Metropolitan Police in 1997. He lives in
Harrow. Since retiring from the Met, Roberts has focused on work within the
field of human resources and anti-discriminatory practices.
