Petrona Lashley

Petrona Lashley (19 January 1941 –2000) was a British Labour politician and community activist. She was Liverpool's first black Deputy Lord Mayor, and one of its earliest black councillors.

Early life Petrona Sonia Lashley She trained as a nurse in Hampshire, later moving to Liverpool where her partner worked on ships.

Political career Lashley was elected as Labour city councillor for Liverpool's Granby Ward in 1991. and another for "obtaining property by deception" in 1990. Some council colleagues supported Lashley, with Liverpool In 1995, the BBC aired a documentary titled Petrona's Honour, in which Lashley described her efforts to be reinstated as a councillor.

In 1997, Alfred B. Zack-Williams wrote:The Petrona Lashley Affair split public opinion in Liverpool. Many felt that these convictions were conclusive proof of her unworthiness to become Liverpool’s first citizen. For the already deprived, politically and economically marginalized Black population, this was yet another attempt by the local paparazzi to thwart their ambition of representation at the centre. Julia Chinyere Oparah similarly argued that "the public humiliation" of Lashley as "the only black woman councillor to be nominated as mayor, and the Labour Party’s subsequent failure to defend her was seen... to highlight the kind of short-lived support which could be expected from a mainly white male movement".

Legacy In 2019, Anna Rothery was appointed Lord Mayor of Liverpool, becoming the first black Lord Mayor of Liverpool. An article in the Liverpool Echo highlighted Lashley's near claim to the title a quarter of a century earlier. In the same year, Kim Johnson became Liverpool's first black MP. She said of Lashley:I knew her. I knew her kids. I went to school with her kids. She was a strong, formidable Black woman trying to make change in the community. I just think it was despicable what happened to her.