Beryl Gilroy

Beryl Agatha Gilroy (née Answick; 30 August 1924 – 4 April 2001) was a Guyanese educator, novelist, ethno-psychotherapist, and poet. The Guardian described her as "one of Britain's most significant post-war Caribbean migrants".

Early years Beryl Gilroy was born in Springlands, British Guiana, on 30 August 1924, into a very large family. Her father died when she was young and she grew up in the care of her maternal grandparents as a sickly child. Both were influential: her grandfather taught her how to read and her grandmother, Sally Louisa James, affected her deeply. She was an herbalist who managed the family smallholding. Gilroy spent a lot of time listening to woman chatting as they worked; her grandmother in particular told her folkloric tales and Guyanese proverbs. She was eventually employed by the Inner London Education Authority in 1953, making her the first Black female teacher in London. Her first teaching job was at a poor Catholic school in Bethnal Green where her third year pupils had already been taught racist stereotypes by their parents. In her 1976 memoir Black Teacher, she recalls the children whimpering and hiding under the table when she first arrived. She stepped away from teaching between 1956 and 1968 to raise their children, Darla-Jane and Paul, and to earn her master's degree in psychology. Schools had become more racially diverse during her time away; she variably estimated that between 33 and 55 different nationalities now filled the classrooms. Despite her rank, she received a lower wage than her oftentimes prejudiced colleagues. In 1980, she took an MA in education at the University of Sussex. She left the centre in 1990. It wasn't until the 1980s, when women were able to pursue publishing opportunities more readily, that any of her writing was legitimately read.

Personal life and death

Gilroy met her husband Patrick at the library at University College London. They married in 1954 and had two children: Darla-Jane and Paul.

Gilroy liked fashion and enjoyed dressing up, even for teaching. The orange skirt suit she was wearing when she arrived in the UK was on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum as part of the Black British Style exhibition in 2004. She identified as a feminist throughout her life, something she felt was particularly important for Black women. 1990: Greater London Council award for services in education 1992: Guyana Literary Prize for Stedman and Joanna