New book on Skegness African Village boss
An African who became a well known character and entrepreneur in Skegness in the 1930s is the subject of a new book.
Bulaya Chanda, also known as Samson Jackson and Chief Luale, ran the African Village attraction in the resort’s Butlin’s Amusement Park.
With the help of Bulaya’s 95-year-old daughter, Joan Robson, of Grimsby, historian Anne Samson has researched his life and written Bulaya Chanda: African ‘Boy’ to English ‘Dandy’.
Born in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Bulaya was one of only five black Africans known to have served as a combatant at the Western Front during the First World War.
In the 1920s he started using the name Chief Luale for his stage work as an actor in London’s West End. He appeared with John Gielgud and Hermione Baddeley and others, and befriended the famous black American singer and actor Paul Robeson.
In 1927Billy Butlin started his Central Amusement Park on Skegness foreshore. Bulaya teamed up with the legendary showman and opened the African Village, where the attractions included native dancers and warriors and a snake charmer.
A local newspaper reported: “The Chief walks on glass and eats fire; there is a man-woman (‘the world famous Jacob-Jacqueline’) and all sorts of weird individuals therein without any extra charge.”
During the holiday season Bulaya, together with wife May and little daughter Joan, rented rooms at the Lion Hotel (now Wetherspoons’ Red Lion. He formed a business partnership with May and Emily Osborne Parrott, the Lion’s licensee, known as Luale Ltd. May was the company’s director and secretary, with the Lion as its business address.
Mrs Parrott’s great-nephew, former Skegness Standard editor John Cowpe, says he was told by family members that his great-aunt was Bulaya’s benefactor, buying him a posh car and expensive clothes.
However, Bulaya’s rising fortunes were tragically cut short in 1935 when he was admitted to Skegness Cottage Hospital suffering from pneumonia. Eleven weeks later he died at a Louth sanitorium, aged somewhere between 34 and 40.
Bulaya Chanda: African ‘Boy’ to English ‘Dandy’, price £11.67,is available online through https://tslbooks.uk/produce/bulaya-chanda-anne-samson or from the Great War in Africa Association https://gweaa.com
Bulaya Chanda, also known as Samson Jackson and Chief Luale, ran the African Village attraction in the resort’s Butlin’s Amusement Park.
With the help of Bulaya’s 95-year-old daughter, Joan Robson, of Grimsby, historian Anne Samson has researched his life and written Bulaya Chanda: African ‘Boy’ to English ‘Dandy’.
Born in Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, Bulaya was one of only five black Africans known to have served as a combatant at the Western Front during the First World War.
In the 1920s he started using the name Chief Luale for his stage work as an actor in London’s West End. He appeared with John Gielgud and Hermione Baddeley and others, and befriended the famous black American singer and actor Paul Robeson.
In 1927Billy Butlin started his Central Amusement Park on Skegness foreshore. Bulaya teamed up with the legendary showman and opened the African Village, where the attractions included native dancers and warriors and a snake charmer.
A local newspaper reported: “The Chief walks on glass and eats fire; there is a man-woman (‘the world famous Jacob-Jacqueline’) and all sorts of weird individuals therein without any extra charge.”
During the holiday season Bulaya, together with wife May and little daughter Joan, rented rooms at the Lion Hotel (now Wetherspoons’ Red Lion. He formed a business partnership with May and Emily Osborne Parrott, the Lion’s licensee, known as Luale Ltd. May was the company’s director and secretary, with the Lion as its business address.
Mrs Parrott’s great-nephew, former Skegness Standard editor John Cowpe, says he was told by family members that his great-aunt was Bulaya’s benefactor, buying him a posh car and expensive clothes.
However, Bulaya’s rising fortunes were tragically cut short in 1935 when he was admitted to Skegness Cottage Hospital suffering from pneumonia. Eleven weeks later he died at a Louth sanitorium, aged somewhere between 34 and 40.
Bulaya Chanda: African ‘Boy’ to English ‘Dandy’, price £11.67,is available online through https://tslbooks.uk/produce/bulaya-chanda-anne-samson or from the Great War in Africa Association https://gweaa.com
(Please note I have sent a shorter version of this feature to the News section. For more information contact John Cowpe, tel 01754 762826, email [email protected])