Fay Allen
{{Short description|British police constable (1938–2021)}}
{{for|the Los Angeles school board member|Fay Allen (teacher)}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox police officer
|honorific_prefix =
|name = Fay Allen
|honorific_suffix =
|image = Sislin Fay Allen.jpg
|alt =
|caption = Allen in 1968
|birth_name = Sislin Fay Allen
|birth_date = 1939
|birth_place = Jamaica
|death_date = 5 July 2021
|death_place = Ocho Rios, Jamaica
|education =
|alma_mater =
|known_for = First black woman police constable in the United Kingdom
|notable_works =
|spouse =
|relatives =
|service_label =
|service =
|allegiance =
|department = Metropolitan Police
Jamaica Constabulary Force
|branch = Missing Persons Bureau
|serviceyears = 1968–1972 (Met)
1972–? (JCF)
|status = Retired
|rank =
|badge =
|awards = Lifetime achievement award
|memorials =
|otherwork =
}}
Sislin Fay Allen (née Patterson; 20 March 1938{{Cite news|title=Sislin Fay Allen obituary|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/sislin-fay-allen-obituary-hsprvgs8k|access-date=2021-08-16|issn=0140-0460}} – 5 July 2021{{cite news |author= |title=Britain's first black policewoman, Sislin Fay Allen, dies at 83 in Jamaica|url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Britains_first_black_policewoman,_Sislin_Fay_Allen,_dies_at_83_in_Jamaica |work=Jamaica Observer |location= |date=6 July 2021 |access-date=14 July 2021}}), known as Fay Allen, was a British and Jamaican police officer who was the first black woman police constable in the United Kingdom, serving in the Metropolitan Police in London from 1968 to 1972. She also worked for the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Early life and family
Allen was born in Jamaica,[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0555wj7 Fair Cop: A Century of British Policewomen], BBC, 2015.[http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/jamaica-born-sislin-fay-allen-becomes-the-first-black-woman-news-photo/74098758 "Sislin Fay Allen"], Getty Images. and moved to the United Kingdom in 1961{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80956876/fay-allen-1968/| title=The first coloured policewoman| work=The Guardian| via=Newspapers.com| date=2 January 1968| page=2| accessdate=7 July 2021}} or 1962.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80253298/the-gazette/| title=Colored Policewoman Starts Work| work=Montreal Gazette| via=Newspapers.com| date=20 April 1968| page=4| accessdate=7 July 2021}} She lived in Thornton Heath, Croydon.{{cite web| url=https://www.thorntonheathchronicle.co.uk/first-black-london-wpc-lived-in-thornton-heath/| title=FIRST BLACK LONDON WPC LIVED IN THORNTON HEATH| publisher=Thornton Heath Chronicle| date=17 May 2019| accessdate=7 July 2021}} She qualified as a State enrolled nurse in October 1963, having trained at Queen's Hospital, Croydon with placements at the Purley War Memorial Hospital and Waddon Hospital, Croydon.{{Cite book |title=Roll of Assistant Nurses |date=1965 |publisher=General Nursing Council}} She then worked at Queen's Hospital, Croydon, a geriatric facility in south London.[http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/sislin-fay-allen-britains-f/4578781738 "Sislin Fay Allen Britain’s First Black Policewoman"], Black History Month, 25 August 2015. She was married to a fellow Jamaican immigrant and had two children.
Career
Allen had always been interested in the police and in 1968 saw a recruitment advertisement in the newspaper, applied, and was selected. The first black officer in the British police since the 19th century, Norwell Roberts, had only joined the Metropolitan Police the previous year. "On the day I joined I nearly broke a leg trying to run away from reporters," she told an interviewer later. "I realised then that I was a history maker. But I didn't set out to make history; I just wanted a change of direction."{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/47254533|title=100 years of women in the Met Police|date=15 February 2019|work=BBC Newsround|access-date=7 May 2019}}
After training at Peel House[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/jamaican-policewoman-joins-force "Jamaican Policewoman Joins Force", British Pathé] for 13 weeks,{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80956894/1968/| title=Immigrants urged to Show restraint|work=The Guardian| via=Newspapers.com| date=30 April 1968| page=24| accessdate=7 July 2021}} she was posted to Fell Road police station in Croydon, where she lived, on 29 April 1968, aged 29."Coloured woman P-c for Croydon", The Times, 27 April 1968. She experienced more prejudice from the black community than from her colleagues or from white people in Croydon, and was met largely with curiosity and considerable interest from the media, although the Metropolitan Police did receive some racist mail about her appointment. The threatening and abusive letters she received when she started working at Fell Road made her consider whether she wanted to remain in the force.The Times, 30 April 1968{{Cite book|last=Ali, Tariq|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38732030|title=1968, marching in the streets|date=1998|publisher=Free Press|others=Watkins, Susan.|isbn=0-684-85360-4|location=New York|oclc=38732030}}{{cite news| url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/80956912/fay-allen-abuse/| title='Abuse' for first coloured policewoman| work=The Guardian| via=Newspapers.com| date=29 April 1968| page=1| accessdate=10 July 2021}} After a year in Croydon, she was posted to the Missing Persons Bureau at Scotland Yard for a while before being transferred back to the beat at Norbury police station.
Later years
In 1972, she resigned from the Metropolitan Police to return to Jamaica with her family. There she joined the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Eventually, she returned to England; as of 2015, she lived in South London. In 2020, she was given a lifetime achievement award by the National Black Police Association.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57742700| title=Sislin Fay Allen: Britain's first black policewoman dies aged 83| work=BBC News| date=6 July 2021| accessdate=6 July 2021}}
She died in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in July 2021, aged 83. Her death was announced on 5 July.{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/sislin-fay-allen-britains-first-black-policewoman-dies-in-jamaica-12349541|title=Sislin Fay Allen: Britain's first black policewoman dies in Jamaica|website=Sky News|date=5 July 2021}}
Legacy
Allen has been an inspiration to women wanting to join the police and especially for black women police officers such as Commander Alison Heydari.{{Cite web |title=Black History Month: What it was like for Sislin Fay Allen, Britain's first black policewoman |url=https://news.sky.com/story/black-history-month-what-it-was-like-for-sislin-fay-allen-britains-first-black-policewoman-12115248 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Sky News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Ormiston |first=Sam |date=2022-04-27 |title=Black mum became cop while raising 3 children to 'change the Met from within' |url=https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/my-friends-were-murdered-through-23515180 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=My London |language=en}}
Footnotes
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Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Women Metropolitan Police officers
Category:Jamaican police officers
Category:Black British police officers