Eton’s first black scholar, now 69, receives apology from college for ‘vicious’ racist slur
Nigerian author, accused of witchcraft by classmates in 1968, still views his time there as a ‘great adventure’
WHEN the head of Eton College offered an apology to Dillibe Onyeama for the racism he suffered at the school in the Sixties, it may have jogged the memory of veteran Daily Telegraph readers.
Mr Onyeama, the first black student to complete his education at the 580-year-old school, was defended by his head teacher at the time, in this newspaper, after his peers accused him of witchcraft.
In 1968, The Telegraph ran a frontpage story about the “vicious” campaign by fellow students who claimed he had cast a spell on a classmate.
Anthony Chenevix-trench, then the school’s headmaster, said he had fully investigated the matter and concluded that these were nothing but “malicious, untrue reports”.
A report in this newspaper from the same year detailed how Mr Onyeama was cheered by the audience when he appeared to give a “black power” salute during a school production of Antony and Cleopatra. Mr Onyeama went on to write a book about his time at Eton College, which detailed the racism he was subjected to by his peers. It caused a furore at the time.
In 1973 he was banned from the school after being told by then headmaster Michael Mccrum that his book had “caused a lot of annoyance” and that he was not “persona grata” at Eton.
“Frankly it seems to me strange, after what I and most others here regard as ill-founded criticism of the school as a racialist institution, that you should continue to wish to visit,” Mr Mccrum wrote to him.
“One does not usually force one’s company where it is not welcome. I am naturally sorry to disappoint you but I think you will appreciate that you have brought this on yourself.”
But according to a Telegraph report, he disregarded the ban and attended a Fourth of June celebratory event at the school the same year.
Mr Onyeama, a Nigerian whose father was at the time a judge at the international criminal court in The Hague, reported the incident to the Race Relations Board, for alleged discrimination.
The board’s chief officer said the complaint would be considered, but cautioned that committee members might take the view that anyone who made a “strong attack” on their former school might expect to be banned, regardless of their skin colour.
The ban was eventually lifted around 10 years ago, and this week, Simon Henderson, Eton College’s current headmaster, said he was “appalled” at the racism Mr Onyeama experienced at the school.
Mr Henderson said he intended to invite him to the school so he could apologise in person and make it clear that he would “always be welcome”.
Speaking from his home in Enugu, south eastern Nigeria, Mr Onyeama said he would take the headmaster up on his invitation but joked he would only come if he could bring his wife
‘All the traditions at school were very attractive – you were living on Cloud Nine essentially’
‘While it is appreciated it is neither here nor there and does not add or subtract to my general outlook on Eton’
and if the school paid for his flight.
“I would be quite happy to do this, but this is predicated on my interest in how things have changed,” he said, adding an apology was unnecessary.
“To start with, I never wanted an apology, I never expected an apology, and he is under no obligation to apologise. While it is appreciated, it is neither here nor there and does not add or subtract to my general outlook on Eton.”
He described how he encountered students who had “supremacist attitudes” and who “did not regard Africans in the league of being human”.
But Mr Onyeama, a 69-year-old novelist and publisher, said he viewed his time at Eton as a great adventure, and a “mixed bag” of experiences.
“All the traditions at school were very attractive: English refinement, etiquette, good breeding, good diction, good education, sports, fabulous food, games, privileges, luxury; you were living on Cloud Nine essentially,” he said.
One of his contemporaries at Eton was Hugo Vickers, the royal biographer and commentator, who remembered him as “charming and friendly”.
He said: “Public schoolboys are very silly at that age; they make silly jokes. There was bullying. People could be pretty unpleasant at that age for one reason or another.
“I hope we didn’t make him feel unwelcome in any way. I’m sure there were a few jokes at his expense but I don’t think anything was meant to harm him.”
Other contemporaries included Adrian Palmer, Fourth Baron of Palmer, one of the last of the hereditary peers, and Mark Douglas-home, nephew of Alec Douglas-home, the former prime minster, who became the editor of The Herald in Scotland in 2000.