Bulaya Chanda

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Acknowledgements

Samson Jackson is believed to be one of six Black Africans to have served on the Western Front during the First World War. He changed his name in 1915 from Bulaya Chanda to Samson Jackson. In the 1920s, he started using the name Chief Luale (Luali) for his career on the stage. 

Bulaya Chanda was born in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) around 1895. He was of the Awemba or Bemba tribe who are a Bantu speaking people found in the north-east corner of Zambia, near the border with Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo). 

Use the sources in this lesson to find out more about his fascinating life and how his experiences challenge popular beliefs about the First World War and inter-war period. 

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Tasks

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Background

Dr Anne Samson 

Bulaya Chanda aka Samson Jackson aka Chief Luale/Luali Bulaya Chandri was born in about 1895 and died in 1935. He was born in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) and died in Skegness, UK. During his life he used at least four names. Bulaya came to Britain as a servant in the employment of Sir Stewart Gore-Brown. He started working for Gore-Brown in about 1912 while Gore-Brown was on the Zambia-Congo Border Commission. Bulaya together with another servant, Kakumbi, left Zambia with Gore-Brown in July 1914 before war broke out but arrived in Europe after war had been declared. Gore-Brown left his two servants with an aunt in Surrey while he enlisted to serve on the Western Front. A few months later, May 1915, Gore-Brown decided it would be better for his servants to return to Zambia and made arrangements. 

On their way to the port, Bulaya ran off. He was soon found working as a dishwasher for a restaurant in London. Rather than arresting him, Gore-Brown left him at the restaurant believing Bulaya would only abscond again if they took him away. At some stage Bulaya decided he would be known as Samson Jackson and under this name enlisted as number 5027 with the 19th London Regiment between 18 October and 13 November 1915. The London Regiment later became the 9th Middlesex Regiment where he was number 105865 and served in Company C. As Private Samson Jackson, it is likely Bulaya served at Vimy Ridge in 1916, in Salonika in 1917 and the Middle East and Egypt in 1917 and 1918. In 1920, he was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. He left the army on 28 May 1921.  

Bulaya recorded his name in the 1921 census as Samson Jackson, still in the army, 24 years and 6 months old, single, male and of British West Indies, Barbados decent. Where he was staying is not clear as his residence Milton Barracks, Gravesend is crossed out. He is listed on the Return of all Officers and other ranks or ratings on Service. According to the 1921 Voters’ Register he is listed as living at 13 Harmwood Street, Chalk Farm, NW1, London. There is no one else listed at that address. 

In May 1922, Bulaya asked for assistance to return to Northern Rhodesia. However, a few days before he set sail, he changed his mind. Using the name Henry William Jackson, and recorded as a showman, on 20 September 1922 he married May Louisa Gilliss [Gillus] at the Registry Office in Croydon, Surrey. May Louisa was working as a factory hand at E&T Pink Limited in Staple Street, Borough when she got married.  

In March 1923, Bulaya again applied to the Native Commissioner in Kasama, Northern Rhodesia for assistance which was refused. He became an actor in London’s West End theatres, first in ‘The Forest’ at St Martin’s in 1924 and then in ‘White Cargo’ at the Playhouse. He is listed in ‘The Sportsman’ of 9 May 1924 as ‘Chief Luale, a Rhodesian, in the part of a native servant.’ In March 1925, in anticipation of ‘White Cargo’ ending, Bulaya applied to the Colonial Office for assistance to return to Zambia. The Governor of Northern Rhodesia recommended that Bulaya not be encouraged to return as he would find it difficult to adapt to ‘native life’ after an absence of ten years and that the government would be reluctant to employ him as an interpreter or clerk. In another letter, ‘It seems that at the time his wife was urging him to take her to Northern Rhodesia’, but in view of what Native Commissioner Mr Thomson told her she seemed to have abandoned that idea. He told her that she would not be allowed to land at Cape Town or Beira, and that even if she got into Northern Rhodesia she would either be removed or left to live in a native compound under all the disabilities attendant thereto. To Luale he made it clear that his earning powers would not be such as to enable him to ‘support his wife.’  

It is not known what Bulaya did between 1925 and 1929, although his medals were returned to the War Office in 1928 while he was living in Brixton (he obtained a replacement of the Victory one later). The inscription had been obliterated. In September 1929 Bulaya was in Morecambe working as a showman in the circus and carnival. He started a touring group called the ‘African Village’. He used his stage name of Chief Luale (Luali), which seemed to become the name he used until his death. He was supported financially by Butlin and the ‘Africa Village’ was eventually incorporated into the company. Having settled in Skegness, Bulaya became well-known, joined the British Legion and became a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (similar to Freemasons).  

His daughter was born in 1930. He died, aged 36, on 29 April 1935 in Skegness from tuberculosis. The ‘Nottingham Evening Post’ recorded on 1 May 1935 that he ‘died in a sanatorium at Louth on leaving behind a wife and one child.’ So ended the life of a remarkable man from rural Africa who became one of only six (so far) known black Africans to serve in an armed capacity on the Western Front, made a successful life for himself in England and was refused permission to return to his country of birth. 

A note on names

In the UK, a person can use any name they like without permission unless you are applying for a legal document such as a passport or driving licence (https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll). 

In many pre-Independence African traditions, children did not take on the same surname as their father as happens in Britain. Names changed depending on culture, how old the person was and whether the culture was matrilineal or patriarchal. Clan names were also important identifiers. This can make tracing a person’s history in Africa rather difficult and could account for the variations Bulaya has used in his life. He also makes use of Jackson, a surname associated with Barbados suggesting he initially saw downplaying his African name as advantageous (to enlist and get married) but later reverting to his African heritage for the stage. 

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Teachers' notes

Using the life of Bulaya, also known as Samson Jackson and Chief Luale, the purpose of this collection is to allow students and teachers to explore various themes around Empire between the First World War of 1914-1918 and the start of the Second World War (1939-1945).  

The tasks linked to documents are arranged thematically following the events of Bulaya’s life. On completing the lesson, teachers could also task students to create a guide on how to research the life of a First World War soldier: what sources could you use? What advice would you give? What difficulties might you face? They could also work with a group of sources or source type on a certain theme or linked themes. The documents should offer learners a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis and support their course work.  

Alternatively, teachers may wish to use these sources to develop their own resources or encourage students to ‘curate’ their own ‘exhibition’ of the most significant sources on the topic. Students could use the documents to substantiate or dispute points made in the introduction to the lesson.

Content note: Some of the language and ideas within these documents are considered inappropriate and unacceptable today. The original wording has been preserved here to accurately represent these records and to help us understand the past. Bulaya used this language himself. Please take as much care as required or seek support where needed, they can cause an emotional reaction. 

It is also worth understanding that the historical context for Bulaya’s involvement in ‘the Africa Village’ as a ‘showman’ and other performances was at a time that so called ‘freak shows’ were still popular.  

Discussion questions

• How easy was it to put Bulaya’s life history together working with these sources?  
• How many names did Bulaya use? What does this suggest? 
• What challenges do you think a researcher has finding information about ‘ordinary’ people in Britain? 
• What other challenges are there when the person is an immigrant? 
• Which sources were the most useful, interesting, or surprising?   
• Do you think Bulaya should be better remembered? Why/why not? 
• Where do you think we could find out more about his life? 
• What can we learn from Bulaya’s experiences to help us today? 
• Compile a chronology of Bulaya’s life using the sources in the lesson. 

Connections to the curriculum

Key stage 3 

Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day: the First World War and the Peace Settlement; the inter-war years. 

Key stage 4 

AQA GCSE History:  

Depth study: Conflict and tension: the First World War, 1894–1918 

Thematic study: Migration, empires and the people: c790 to the present day 

Sources

Joan Robson (nee Luale), Photographs from personal archive  

Morecambe Guardian, 8 September 1929 

Skegness News, 1 May 1935
The Nottingham Evening Post, 1 May 1935
The Sportsman, 9 May 1924 

CO 796/6 Colonial Correspondence
WO 372/10/180814 – Medal role
WO 95/3031/6 War Diary 

Robert I Rotburg, Black Heart: Gore-Browne and the Politics of Multiracial Zambia (University of California Press, 1977; reprint 2021) 

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External links

Great War in Africa Association – https://gweaa.com 

Shiwa Ngandu (Gore-Browne’s estate) – https://www.shiwangandu.com/history.htm 

Butlins in Skegness – https://www.butlins-memories.com/skegness/index.htm 

Historic Amusement Parks and Fairground Rides – https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/iha-historic-amusement-parks-fairground-rides/heag057-historic-amusement-parks-iha/  

Acknowledgements

This resource has been made possible by the generosity of Bulaya Chanda, Chief Luale’s daughter, Joan Robson. Joan was four years old when her father died in 1935 and in 2023, when the image photos were taken, she was 92. All through her schooling in England, she was the only person in the town who was not white British. After she finished her education, she became a nurse, and ended her career as Matron of an NHS hospital.  

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