Connie Mark Honoured With Blue Plaque in Hammersmith

---

Jamaican activist was part of the Windrush generation

Mayor of H&F, Cllr PJ Murphy (pictured centre) presents the Connie Mark blue plaque

Connie Mark, a Jamaican born activist and member of the British military, has been honoured with a new blue plaque at her former home in Hammersmith.

The plaque, presented by Hammersmith & Fulham Council and the Nubian Jak Community Trust, was unveiled at Connie’s former home, Mary Seacole House, by Hammersmith & Fulham Mayor, Cllr PJ Murphy, and current residents of the residential home in Invermead Close.

Born, 1923, and raised in Jamaica, Connie was 16 at the outbreak of the Second World War. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service, the women’s branch of the army, a couple of years later and served in Jamaica as a medical secretary.

After six months she was promoted to Lance Corporal, and quickly promoted again to Corporal. It was after her first promotion that Connie began to fight for equal pay and for the role of Caribbean servicewomen to be properly recognised within the armed forces.

In the 1950s Connie moved to Britain, settling in Hammersmith in her later life, working as a medical secretary and getting involved with different community and charitable projects.

This included fighting to preserve the memory of another important figure in H&F’s history, Mary Seacole. Connie became a founding member and president of the Mary Seacole Memorial Association.

Her continual campaigning for equal rights saw her finally received a British Empire Medal for meritorious service in 1991 and an MBE in 1993, before dying in 2007.

Connie was part of the Windrush generation who arrived from the Caribbean and was interviewed by the Windrush Foundation.

Blue plaque commemorating Connie Mark

Cllr Murphy said, “I am proud that Hammersmith & Fulham is creating a heritage path celebrating the massive contribution people of colour have made to society. Connie not only successfully campaigned for equal rights, recognition and pay for women and people of colour within the armed forces, but also fought to ensure we’d never forget Mary Seacole and the legacy she's left behind.

“We will forever be grateful to Connie Mark for her hard work and the impact she had on H&F's history.”

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

May 20, 2022