In the long struggle against racism in Britain, some names are celebrated in headlines while others work quietly, doggedly, shaping history without seeking the spotlight. Roy Hackett belonged to that second group. He was a man of modesty and humour, but also of resolve, a community organiser who believed deeply in fairness. His role in the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott marked a turning point in British race relations, forcing a powerful company to abandon its discriminatory employment practices and showing a nation that racism could be challenged through collective action. But his life, stretching from colonial Jamaica to twenty-first-century Bristol, tells an even larger story of migration, struggle, resilience and pride.
Roy Hackett was born in 1928 in Jamaica, in the parish of St Thomas. He grew up in a rural environment marked by hardship but also by strong community ties. Like many of his generation, he was taught to see Britain as the “mother country.” When he boarded a ship in 1952 to join the wave of Caribbean migrants later known as the Windrush generation, he carried the hopes of better opportunities and the desire to contribute to rebuilding a nation still scarred by the Second World War.
The reality was harsher. After arriving in Liverpool and later moving to Bristol, Hackett encountered the cold face of racism. Lodging houses and landlords often displayed signs reading: “No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs.” Employers turned away applicants with dark skin regardless of their skills or experience. He later recalled sleeping in doorways because he could not find a place to live. Yet these early experiences did not break him. Instead, they forged in him a quiet determination to challenge discrimination and build solidarity among Black communities.
By the early 1960s, Bristol’s Black population was concentrated largely in the St Paul’s district, an area that became both home and target. Jobs were scarce, housing was poor, and open prejudice was common. Nowhere was this more evident than with the Bristol Omnibus Company, which operated the city’s buses. The company, supported by the Transport and General Workers’ Union branch, enforced a “colour bar” that prevented Black or Asian men from working as bus drivers or conductors. They could only be employed in the lower-paid, less visible roles of mechanics or cleaners.
Hackett and others in the community knew this policy had to be challenged. In 1962, he joined forces with Owen Henry, Audley Evans and Prince Brown to form the Commonwealth Coordinated Committee (CCC), a grassroots group created to campaign against racial discrimination in Bristol. Together, they began to plan a strategy. Inspired by the example of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., they realised that economic pressure and organised protest could succeed where appeals to fairness had failed.
The Bristol Bus Boycott began in April 1963. Residents were urged not to ride the buses, and Hackett, along with younger campaigners like Paul Stephenson, helped to mobilise marches, petitions and demonstrations. Stephenson became the public face of the campaign, giving interviews and dealing with the press, but behind the scenes Hackett’s organisational skills, persistence and ability to unite the community were crucial. He was known for his calm authority and his sense of humour, traits that helped to keep the movement together when tensions ran high.
The boycott lasted four months and attracted national attention. Politicians including Harold Wilson and Tony Benn voiced their support. The Archbishop of Bristol condemned the company’s policy. The campaign linked Bristol’s local injustice to the wider tide of civil rights struggles across the Atlantic. In the summer of 1963, just as Dr. King was preparing to deliver his “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, Hackett and his colleagues forced the Bristol Omnibus Company to back down. On 28 August 1963, the same day as King’s historic speech, the company announced the end of the colour bar. Soon afterwards, two young men of West Indian heritage, Guy Bailey and Raghbir Singh, were employed as bus conductors.
The victory was more than symbolic. It demonstrated for the first time in modern Britain that organised Black protest could bring about tangible change. It also helped pave the way for the Race Relations Act of 1965, the first legislation to make racial discrimination unlawful in public places. For Hackett, it was proof that ordinary people could reshape society through unity and courage. Yet he remained modest. Reflecting later, he said simply: “We didn’t set out to make history. We just wanted to be treated fairly.”
After the boycott, Hackett never stepped away from activism. He became a lifelong community organiser in Bristol, focusing on housing, education, and opportunities for young people. He helped to establish the St Paul’s Festival in 1968, which grew into the St Paul’s Carnival, one of the UK’s most vibrant celebrations of Caribbean culture. For decades, he worked quietly to support families, mediate disputes, and inspire younger generations. He was not a man of great speeches, but of steady deeds.
In later years, Hackett received wider recognition for his role in shaping Britain’s civil rights landscape. In 2009, he was awarded an OBE for services to diversity and to the Bristol community. In 2020, the city of Bristol granted him the Freedom of the City, one of its highest honours. Yet he remained grounded. Even into his nineties, he was known to attend community meetings, offering encouragement and sharing stories with humour and warmth.
Roy Hackett passed away in August 2022 at the age of 93. Tributes poured in from across Britain. Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, called him “a giant of the civil rights movement.” Historian David Olusoga described him as “a quiet revolutionary who changed Britain forever.” For those who had marched alongside him, and for generations who benefited from his courage, he was proof that the fight for justice could begin in the streets of a single city and ripple out to transform a nation.
For Black History Month, Hackett’s life offers a powerful reminder of what community action can achieve. His story is not just about buses in Bristol; it is about the right to dignity in work, in housing, and in everyday life. It is about how the struggles of the Windrush generation built the foundations for Britain’s multicultural future. Above all, it is about the quiet force of a man who believed that fairness was worth fighting for, and who showed that history is made not only by those in the spotlight, but by those who stand their ground until change comes.
Further Reading & Sources
- BBC News: Obituary of Roy Hackett (2022)
- Paul Stephenson, Memoirs of a Black Englishman (2009)
- David Olusoga, Black and British: A Forgotten History (2016)
- The Guardian: Retrospectives on the Bristol Bus Boycott
- Oral histories from the St Paul’s community, Bristol Archives