In alignment with the Black History Month 2025 theme, "Standing Firm in Power and Pride," we're celebrating the pioneers who have contributed to Kingston's rich heritage. Stay tuned as we continue to update this page throughout October.
Dame Neslyn Watson-Drueé
Born in Jamaica, and one of the Windrush generation, Dame Neslyn Watson-Drueé has been a pioneer in the development of leadership for Black and Ethnic minority workers in the NHS and wider. She was Chairman of NHS Kingston from 2001-2011 and has gone on to become a nationally recognised leadership coach.
Interviewed in the Phoenix Newspaper in 2023 she said, "I am absolutely astonished and filled with inexplicable joy for this honour to be appointed as a Dame. I am forever in awe of the fact that I came to this country from rural Jamaica as part of the Windrush Generation filled with hope, confidence and a desire to achieve."
Jeffery Braithwaite
Jeffery Braithwaite joined the Metropolitan Police in 1974, the only black recruit in his class. By 1998 he was head of the Race and Violent Crime Task Force which had been created as a result of the aftermath of the inquiry following the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1989. He was tasked with setting up independent advisory panels to review police operations. For this, he was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2003.
In 2001, he was appointed as Kingston’s first black borough commander, a position he held until retiring in 2004.