16 Facts About Elouise Edwards

Elouise Edwards was a community activist and civil rights campaigner.

Elouise Edwards was born in British Guiana and moved to Manchester, England in the 1960s, becoming known for her campaigns to fight racial discrimination and to develop community services in the Moss Side area of Manchester.

Elouise Edwards's work included housing projects, women's networking groups, medical assistance programs, and the development of art and cultural programs.

Elouise Edwards was the youngest of ten children in the family of five daughters and five sons.

Elouise Edwards's father was an engineer who worked in the gold mining industry and her mother raised the children, until her death when Elouise was six years old.

Elouise Edwards was not in favour of moving, but in 1960 Berry went abroad to study lithography.

The Elouise Edwards lived in several shared housing situations, but could find no bank willing to grant them a mortgage.

Elouise Edwards began her career as a kitchen worker at the Manchester University refectory.

The Elouise Edwards' home was targeted for demolition, as were those of many of their neighbours' homes in Moss Side.

In 1975, Elouise Edwards became a neighborhood social worker for the Moss Side Family Advice Centre, allowing her to join her professional career with her activist causes.

Elouise Edwards was one of the founders in 1986, of Cariocca Enterprises Manchester Limited, an organisation created to expand entrepreneurial opportunities in the inner-city.

Elouise Edwards managed the project until 2012, when she donated the material she had collected to the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre.

In 1990, Elouise Edwards became the chair of the NIA Center in Hulme, now the Niamos Center, which served as an Afro-centric arts and cultural hub, promoting dance, drama, and music.

Elouise Edwards was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University of Manchester, and was granted an honorary chieftainship for her community work by the Nigerian Community of Manchester.

Elouise Edwards retired in 1998, Berry died in 2003, and in 2017, she returned to live in Guyana.

Elouise Edwards died on 22 January 2021 in Georgetown and a celebratory wake was held to honour her at the Manchester Cathedral on 5 March 2021.