Funeral for Notting Hill Carnival co-founder Sam King MBE
- 19 July 2016
- From the section London
The funeral of a Jamaican "pioneer" who co-founded what later became the Notting Hill Carnival has been held at Southwark Cathedral.
War veteran Sam King MBE settled in south London having arrived on the Empire Windrush in 1948 and became Southwark's first black mayor.
His son, the Reverend Michael King, said his father was a "pioneer" who had been "a servant of the people".
Around 500 mourners attended the service for Mr King, who died in June.
Mr King arrived in Britain after volunteering for the Royal Air Force in 1944, and soon became a prominent campaigner for the West Indies community.
His son said his father helped organise London's first West Indies carnival "to exhibit ourselves as West Indians in a positive light".
Michael King said his father was "very pleased" the carnival had developed into the Notting Hill Carnival.
Sam King set up the Windrush Foundation with his friend Arthur Torrington in 1996 to celebrate the arrival of people from the Caribbean to Britain following World War Two.
Mr Torrington said Mr King believed "the ship was no different from the Mayflower" which transported English separatists to America in 1620.
"He was the one who really kept alive the importance of the Windrush", he said.
