BEN
BOUSQUET
Tribute
 Ben Bousquet died, peacefully, at home in South Africa
in the company of his beloved wife Mary in June
2006. Over almost two decades, we had worked together
on a number of articles and lectures on West Indian
history, with our biggest joint project being the
book ‘West Indian Women at War’ which
was published in 1991.
I knew Ben as a man of two core passions.
First, a remarkable passion for people. His desire
to engage in conversation with everyone he met resulted
in him accumulating acquaintances at a staggering
pace. These were frequently turned into friends.
His second passion was a hatred of injustice. It
shaped his political life. His life-long campaign
against apartheid South Africa was fuelled by this
passion. Many of his constituents during his years
as a Labour councillor in Kensington and Chelsea,
and his clients when he worked in community relations
at Lambeth Council, benefited from his staunchness
as a champion for the victimised. And the Labour
Party Black Section, which he co-founded in the 1980s,
stemmed from a sense of injustice at the lack of
representation of Black people in Parliament and
senior ranks of the Party.
These two passions were not separate from his enthusiastic
commitment to Black history. As an important African-Caribbean
historian, Ben’s passion for history was inspired
by the people that populate it (often ordinary people
doing extraordinary things), and the constant struggle
for justice which weaves through it like an unbroken
thread. In short, it was about the people and the
struggle for justice.
That is what our annual lectures at the Imperial
War Museum, and our book ‘West Indian Women
at War’, were about. And that is what the many
other books that we discussed at length, but never
got round to writing, would have been about. I, and
his legion of friends, will miss him dearly.
A memorial service for Ben is being held at St Mary
Abbots Church, off Kensington High Street in West
London on 31 August 2006 at 11.30am. If you wish
to attend, please email [email protected]
Colin Douglas
10 August 2006
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