Medway's Greatest Men

Who will you vote for?

Below you will find some videos and text about some of Medway's Greatest men. During the Electric Medway Festival (Aug/Sept 2020), a vote was taken to find Medway's Greatest Man.

The winner – with 35% of the vote – was the rights campaigner, Asquith Xavier. The runner up was the union campaigner, William Cuffay.

Find out more about Asquith, William, and the other candidates for Medway's Greatest Man below.

Candidate 1 – Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens is a well-known writer. His link with Medway began when he was four years old and his father brought the family to Chatham where they lived until Charles was eleven. Things didn’t go well after they left and, perhaps, that was one of the reasons why he was so keen to return once he was well known and rather wealthy. Rochester, Chatham and the surrounding Medway areas feature heavily in his works.

Charles was 21 when he submitted his first story, ‘A Dinner at Poplar Walk’, to the London periodical Monthly Magazine. It was following this that he starting working as a journalist, covering politics. He also started writing fiction under the name of Boz! As he became more successful, he was hired to write for more magazines and it was then that he wrote the The Pickwick Papers as a series. So popular did this become that the final instalment sold over 40 thousand copies!

Charles followed this up with the incredibly successful Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and many, many others. It is said that Queen Victoria loved his work so much, that she would stay up after midnight to discuss them! Charles toured the US to huge success, but grew tired of American publishers stealing his works.

Charles can also make claim to creating the Christmas that all enjoy today. At the time, it was not celebrated so broadly and his works did much to revise the tradition. A Christmas Carol is the basis of hundreds of TV Christmas specials and movies.

Charles founded a home named Urania Cottage, which supported over 100 needy women. He eventually moved back to his beloved Kent and his writing chalet can still be seen on Rochester High Street, where it was moved after my death. There are museums and festivals based on his works, and once even a theme park! He has been on stamps, had schools named after him, and he was even featured on the £10 note! His books have been turned into thousands of films and shows, and he has been described as one of the greatest writers of all time. He also was listed as one of the greatest Britons of all time.

Candidate 2 – Will Adams

Will Adams (or Miura Anjin in Japan) was born in Gillingham and loved the sea from an early age. He became an apprentice in a shipyard and after twelve years he joined the Navy becoming a pilot. In 1598, he set sail with a trade fleet of five ships aiming to go to Chilie in South America to sell their cargo for silver. It was a risky journey, but they had a backup plan if things went wrong – to sail to mysterious Japan instead!

Things did indeed go wrong and they decided to go with the back up plan, sailing around Africa, losing many men – and even their commander – to sickness, battle and the weather. It took 19 months, but eventually they reached Japan, with only one ship left! It didn’t get any better in Japan though. The ship was seized by the Shogun of all Japan and they all ended up in prison. However, for some reason, Will got on well with the Shogun and he eventually released the men. They sailed on around Japan, but the ship sank when they got to Bungo.

Will and his crew helped the Shogun build western-style ships, and they set up trading companies and got rich. Still, Will stayed with the Shogun as his advisor and was even made into a Samurai. Will was given land and titles and became a really important man, helping Japan open up to the world.

In Japan, Will has a railway station and a town named after him. He has even had TV shows, movies and books based on his life, and he even has an annual festival in Gillingham!

Candidate 3 – William Cuffay

William Cuffay was born in Gillingham in 1788. His mother was a white English woman and his father was a former slave named Chatham Cuffay. He began his career as a tailor, working for Matthews and Acworth on Chatham High Street. Eventually, he moved to London to seek his fortune.

Working conditions were hard in London. Hours were long and the pay was poor. Skilled working men, such as William, were beginning to resent the lack of respect they received and began to campaign for better conditions. In 1834, a large group of tailors went on strike. They demanded a ten-hour workday from April to July and an eight-hour day during the rest of the year, with pay of 6 shillings and 5 pence a day. Quite reasonable you might think! Unfortunately, the strike failed. William lost his job and his reputation saw him barred from employment.

This did not deter William and he went on to help form the Metropolitan Tailors’ Charter Association, an organisation he helped to lead. In 1848, he helped organise a rally in Kensington, but was betrayed and arrested for ‘conspiring to levy war’ against Queen Victoria. As punishment, William was sent to Tasmania, where he spent the rest of his life. He didn’t rest, however, and carried on campaigning for democratic rights. William dedicated his life to improving working conditions for normal people.

Candidate 4 – Asquith Xavier

Asquith Xavier was born in Dominica, which was a British colony at the time. However, following the Second World War, he followed the call to come to Britain to work as part of the Windrush generation. Eventually, Asquith found his way to Chatham where he set up family and took a role on the railways. He enjoyed his job as a guard at Marylebone Station in central London.

In 1966, Asquith applied for a role at Euston station, but did not get the role. He later learned that he had been rejected because of the colour of his skin. The management and unions had agreed not to employ any non-white people for jobs at Euston Station that involved contact with the public – they could be cleaners and labourers, but not guards or ticket collectors.

Asquith was not going to let this go unchallenged. The Race Relations Act of 1965 had made it illegal to discriminate on ‘grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins’ in public places, but it did not apply to workplaces. Supported by colleagues, Asquith’s campaign caught the attention of parliament and, on 15 July 1966, British Railways announced that colour bars at stations in London had been abandoned.

Asquith was then offered the job, with his pay backdated to May, the month when he had originally been rejected. His life was not easy after that, but it was a first step towards equality – a process that continues to this day.

Candidate 5 – Thomas Waghorn

Thomas Fletcher Waghorn was born in 1800 in a house on Chatham High Street. His father was a butcher. At the age of 12, he joined the Royal Navy, eventually ending up in India. Here, Thomas ended up commanding a small Cutter during the Arakan War. During his time in India, Thomas became fascinated with the idea of establishing a steamship route from Britain to India. By now, he was a lieutenant and he was commissioned to explore the idea, later moving on to developing a postal route from Egypt to India.

Between 1835 and 1837, Thomas lived among Arabs in the desert and laid the foundations for the route across the desert, from Cairo to Suez. This involved building rest-houses and supplying guides, steamboats, horses and carriages for travellers. He became deputy consul in Egypt in 1837, but soon fell out with the authorities. From 1840, P&O set up in competition, backed by the British government, and Thomas was out of business by 1844.

Thomas now turned his attention to speeding the post in Europe, through the new railway system. He was successful, but the government didn’t pay for the trials as they’d promised, leaving Thomas heavily in debt. Thomas is remembered for being a pioneer who tried to make things better, and even though he wasn’t successful he still helped to change the world.