First black woman to be lord lieutenant
Peaches Golding, the daughter of a US civil rights activist, has become the first black woman to be made a lord lieutenant. Americanborn Ms Golding, 63, will represent the Queen at ceremonial events in Bristol, which has been her home for 35 years
THE first black female lord lieutenant said her American civil rights activist father would have been “very proud” of her.
Peaches Golding OBE, 63, has been chosen to become the Queen’s new representative in Bristol.
She was born in North Carolina and is the daughter of Charles Brady Hauser, a teacher who in 1947 mounted a civil rights protest by refusing to sit at the back of a bus.
He received $2,000 compensation from the Greyhound bus company after he was wrongly arrested and jailed. He was not legally obliged to sit at the back of the bus because the “Jim Crow” segregation laws applied only to interstate buses.
His action took place eight years before Rosa Parks made her famous protest in Montgomery, Alabama.
He later became a member of the North Carolina General Assembly, and was elected twice to represent an area that was majority-white, Ms Golding said. “I’m sure he would have been very proud of me, and I’m sure the rest of my family will be as well,” she said, adding that her parents, both teachers now deceased, had had “large ambitions” for their children.
She said it was a “deep honour” to represent the Queen. Ms Golding moved to Bristol in 1983 after meeting and marrying a local man while working as a teacher in Nigeria.
She set up a marketing and communications business in the city and currently works as a marketing consultant. In 2010 she became the first-ever black High Sheriff in England, months after the death of her father. The post is more than 1,000 years old.
She has worked on several projects to benefit the city, and says she thinks she has been given the role because she is a “safe pair of hands”. She is particularly focused on tackling homelessness and improving education and young people’s opportunities.
She said: “I have found that Bristol has accepted me. I have always been comfortable here. There have been times when there were tensions, but these things happen everywhere.
“I’ve been able to have a voice and it’s one that people have listened to.”
The monarch has her own personal representative in each area of the UK.
Historically they were responsible for organising the local militia but the role is now largely ceremonial. It includes escorting royalty on visits and advising on honours nominations.
Incumbents are normally notable retired local people. The role can be held until the age of 75.
Ms Golding is thought to be the first black woman to hold the role, which was created by Henry VIII in the 1540s. She says she hopes to inspire others, but wouldn’t call herself a trailblazer.
Ms Golding will replace the outgoing lord lieutenant, Mary Prior, who will retire next month when she turns 75.