Have you heard of the Edwardian trailblazer Princess Dinubolu of Senegal - the first woman of colour to enter a British beauty competition?
Blue plaques for women
The Essex Women’s Commemoration Project (EWCP) sees blue plaques being unveiled across Essex to commemorate women whose historic achievements deserve to be more widely recognised. Each month, we will look into the lives of these ground-breaking women...
Princess Dinubolu of Senegal – the Edwardian trailblazer
Mr. Bacon, manager of Southend Kursaal in 1908, was busily preparing for the annual Beauty Contest when a telegram arrived from Norfolk. It was signed by someone calling herself Princess Dinubolu of Senegal: ‘Was not allowed to compete Yarmouth Beauty Show on account of colour. Have you any rule barring me? I am light chocolate.’ Bacon replied: ‘Don’t come. Local prejudice.’
He was well placed to know about that prejudice since he was part of it. The previous year’s Beautiful Baby competition had been won by a black child who Bacon called a racial epithet. Not all reactions were so negative. In a poem published by The Essex Newsman on 22 August 1908, Claude Greening eulogises the Princess and urges Southend to support her:
‘...Dressed in taste and style,
Many a throat will be quite husky,
Cheering your sweet smile!
Buxom, bouncing, brilliant beauty,
Boasting lustrous eyes,
If Southend performs its duty –
Yours must be the prize!’
And so it was that on the evening of 19 August 1908, Princess Dinubolu became the first woman of colour to enter a British beauty competition. Probably. We know that she took part as reports appeared in newspapers as far afield as Marlborough in New Zealand – but is her story true?
It seems likely that Mr Bacon, mindful of filling his 5,000 seats, spotted a marketing opportunity and swiftly changed his mind. When Dinubolu arrived at Southend Victoria Station she was paraded through the streets in an open carriage on her way to the recently opened five-star Metropole Hotel, later the Palace, and now the Park Inn. None of the other 100 contestants, some from America, received the same treatment.
In interviews, the story the Princess relates (perhaps concocted by Bacon) seems impossibly romantic. Described as being ‘just out of her teens’ she had apparently fallen in love with a handsome but lowly musician who her father, the King, disapproved of so they eloped to Europe, eventually separating in Marseille.
On the one hand, this has some veracity since Senegal was a French colony, but why would you split from someone you’ve given up so much for, especially when you’ve reached a place of safety?
Many imposters were present in Edwardian society masquerading as African royalty. Was this also a hoax? If it was, then the whole point is that it’s eventually revealed – but after the Southend event we hear nothing more.
While Princess Dinubolu of Senegal can’t be proved as an official title, it was how she self-identified. We know she was a woman of colour and not someone posing. Greening’s short poem (an eye-witness account?) makes six references to her darker skin tone. The Yarmouth contest is documented as taking place the week before Southend on 12 August 1908, so the dates are consistent, while the Princess’ reported beauty tip of being buried up to the neck in sand, although bizarre to Edwardians, is still practised in North Africa today.
Whoever she was and wherever she was from, this was a lone act of defiance against racial prejudice. The various categories she entered point to this: Best Blonde, for example. She never expected to be successful, and wasn’t, but her objective was clear: ‘People have told me that only cream-and-pink little English misses can win, and that your judges have no eye for any other sort. I wish to prove them wrong.’
Princess Dinubolu was years ahead of her time. It wasn’t until 1970 that Jennifer Hosten became the first black Miss World and she acknowledges the long journey that began in Southend: ‘Her (Dinubolu’s) recognition that a beauty contest could be used as a platform for creating societal change is noteworthy. As was her courage and determination in the face of an enormous challenge.’
A blue plaque commemorating Princess Dinubolu will be unveiled by the Essex Women’s Commemoration Project, sponsored by the Community Rail Partnership, on Sunday 26 March at Southend Victoria Station, 12 noon.
Help us solve the mystery of Princess Essex!
Artist Elsa James received a photograph of a woman from this period taken at Romney Studios in Southend High Street. Did you send it to her? Is it the Princess? Do you have photos, diaries, newspaper clippings, family stories about the 1908 beauty contest that aren’t in the public domain?
Perhaps you’re a descendent of Mr. Bacon, the Mayor James Colbert Ingram, the interpreter she spoke through or the winner of the Beautiful Baby competition. The main competition was won by Elsie Rogers of The Chimes, Streatham, while Best Hair (a remarkable 5ft 5 inches in length) went to Mrs Dawson of Stanley Road, Grays. Are you related to either of these ladies? Contact grahamwatts@supanet.com
