Black presence in Putney’s past
For six days in October 2025, St Mary’s Church in Putney became a place where history spoke with a new voice. Primary school children created over 60 portraits of Black residents who lived in Putney 400 years ago, people documented in parish records but forgotten by history books.
Research into Wandsworth’s hidden Black history uncovered the records, and their significance was immediately apparent. The evidence had been sitting in St Mary’s parish registers for centuries.
How do you bring 400-year-old parish records to life in a way that restores dignity to people reduced to racial descriptors in administrative documents? The answer came through art.
The exhibition was shown in the Cromwell Room, named for the 1647 Putney Debates. All artwork has since been donated to Wandsworth Archive, and Wandsworth Council has commissioned an online exhibition.
These were not isolated entries: families across generations, workers integrated into parish life, couples building lives together.
51 drawings
Vibrant drawings that refuse to let historical figures remain invisible. Some pupils drawing George Cuffee used Stormzy as their inspiration: bold colours, direct gazes, historically accurate Stuart-era clothing combined with modern confidence. They made a visual argument that this confidence is not new, only reclaimed.
6 portraits
Pupils studied Stuart-era portrait conventions, allegorical objects, clothing and backgrounds that tell stories without words. One portrait shows Mary Russel with flowers; another depicts Seppeo, who died in 1735.
1 silhouette piece
A silhouette piece exploring visibility and historical absence.
“Uplifting and interesting”
“Interesting and enlightening”
“An excellent and absorbing flavour”
Local residents came, many surprised to learn of Black presence in Putney centuries earlier than they had assumed. The Black History Month service on Sunday 26 October, led by Reverend Sharon, remembered all members of the community across centuries.
Reverend Sharon, Reverend Kieron Rowley and Reverend John Whittaker at St Mary’s Church; Issa Cissokho and the team at Putney Pantry; the headteachers, teachers and pupils of Holy Ghost Catholic Primary, St Mary’s RC Primary Battersea and St Mary’s CE Primary Putney; and Danielle, Sara and the team at Wandsworth Council, whose grant funding made the project possible as part of Wandsworth Borough of Culture.