Allan Glaisyer Minns was the elected mayor of Thetford, Norfolk which made him the first black man to become mayor in Britain. He also played an important part in his community as a respected physician before his election. Richard Maguire concluded on an article about Allan in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in 2016 that ‘Allan Glaisyer Minns was born in the Bahamas a quarter of a century after the Caribbean system of slavery had ended. His grandmother had been enslaved, and his uncles had been born into slavery and manumitted as children. Access to a good education in the Bahamas and then medical training in England, allied with his own hard work, allowed him to build an important role in Victorian and Edwardian society, becoming a respected physician, a leader of his community, and the first black mayor of an English town.’
1858
1930
Inauga, The Bahamas
1888- Purchased a practice in Thetford
1903- Elected to Thetford Borough Council
1904- Chosen as Mayor of Thetford, which made him the first Black mayor in Britain.
Allan Glaisyer Minns was born in Inagua to John Minns and Ophelia Elizabeth Bunch. Allan’s paternal grandfather, also named John Minns, emigrated from England to the Bahamas in 1801 and became a planter and slave owner. He formed a relationship with one of his female slaves, Rosette, and freed her in 1808. The interracial union produced a number of enslaved children whom Minns later manumitted including his son John Minns, Allan’s father.
Allan Minns received an early education at the Nassau Grammar School for boys. Allan was one of ten children. On completion of his education he moved to London, England, to study medicine at Guy’s Hospital. His brother and sister also came to England and lived in Thetford for many years.
Allan trained at Guy’s and qualified as a doctor and then came to Thetford where he purchased a practice in 1888 at Alexandra House on White Hart Street, later moving the business to Bridge Street in Thetford. His career as a well respected physician and community leader grew for over 25 years. In the 1890s he became the Medical Officer at Thetford Workhouse and Honorary Medical Officer of Thetford Cottage Hospital. Allan also published many health advocating articles in the Thetford and Watton Times in the early 1900s on themes like ‘Fresh Air and Common Sense’.
Minns’ involvement in local politics made him a fixture within conservative political circles. He was a very active member of the Working Men’s Conservative Association. In 1903, Allan was elected to Thetford Borough Council and only a year later he was unanimously voted as Mayor by his fellow councillors. He continued to hold this position until he stepped down in 1906 and was Deputy Mayor for the next two years and further continued to serve on the Council afterwards. During his tenure, he addressed issues that ranged from horticulture to capital punishment and oversaw improvements in the town’s services. In 1923 he left Thetford and moved to Dorking in Surrey where he resided until his death.
Minns’ story has become more recognised over the last twenty years, particularly when he appeared in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for the first time. However, many people inaccurately believed John Archer, mayor of Battersea in 1914, to be the first Black mayor in Britain. It is also apparent in contemporary sources like the American-published Negro Year Book for 1914 which noted John Archer’s election as the ‘second time in history of that country [Britain] that a man of colour has been elected mayor of a town. 1904, Mr Allen Glaser Minns, a coloured man from the West Indies, was elected mayor of the borough of Thetford, Norfolk’.
Richard Maguire concluded on an article about Minns in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography in 2016 that ‘Allan Glaisyer Minns was born in the Bahamas a quarter of a century after the Caribbean system of slavery had ended. His grandmother had been enslaved, and his uncles had been born into slavery and manumitted as children. Access to a good education in the Bahamas and then medical training in England, allied with his own hard work, allowed him to build an important role in Victorian and Edwardian society, becoming a respected physician, a leader of his community, and the first black mayor of an English town.’
Allan married twice, first to Emily Pearson in 1888, Pearson died in 1896 and Allan remarried, to Gertrude Ann Morton in 1896. He had children with both wives and one of his sons Allan Noel Minns followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a doctor. Allan Noel Minns was also one of very few Black officers to serve in the British Army during World War One.
Allan Glaisyer Minns was a keen gardener and a founder of Thetford Horticultural Society. He had his own house in White Hart Street.
Samuel Momodu, ‘Allan Glaisyer Minns’, BLACKPAST (BLACKPAST, revised 2018) [accessed 25 February]
CbolsterNRO, ‘Allan Glaisyer Minns: The First Black Mayor of a British Town’, Norfolk Record Office (Norfolk Record Office, revised 2020) [accessed 25 February]
Richard Charles Maguire, ‘Minns, Allan Glaisyer’, Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography (Oxford Dictionary of National Bibliography, revised 2016) [accessed 25 February]
