BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (born 7 November 1957) is a British businessman, farmer, founder of "The Black Farmer" range of food products and was an unsuccessful Conservative Party candidate for the Chippenham constituency for the 2010 general election.^[1]

Early life

Emmanuel-Jones was born in Clarendon, Jamaica, but in 1961 he moved with his parents to the United Kingdom. They settled in Small Heath in Birmingham, where he was one of nine children living in a small terrace house.^[2]

After leaving school without qualifications, he joined the British Army but was dismissed from the service after a year for poor discipline.^[3]

Professional career

Television

After working in the catering industry Emmanuel-Jones enrolled on a training scheme that led to a job working for Peter Bazalgette on the BBC television series Food and Drink. He later continued to work in television, as a producer/director for 15 years and appeared in the Robert Llewellyn production Carpool on 22 January 2010.

Cameron's Black Tory^{[n 1]} shown on Channel 4, after the General Election on 6 June 2010, films Emmanuel-Jones over a four-year period in his bid to become the Conservative Party MP for the nominally Liberal Democrat seat Chippenham.^[4]

Farming

Emmanuel-Jones' television career gave him the capital to buy West Kitcham Farm, in Devon, which he continues to farm. He became known to the locals who helped him initially with farming as "The Black Farmer", which inspired him to set up the brand of the same name, whose products include awarding-winning sausages, chicken, ham and sauces.

He has since become involved in setting up the Black Farmer Scholarship, which aims to help and encourage ethnic minorities to work in the rural community, an area where to date they have been under-represented. This aim has been made into a Channel 4 TV series, Young Black Farmers, a series of three, which sees him take a group of nine inner-cityschool leavers from ethnic minorities on a scholarship on his Devon farm.

Business

Emannuel-Jones set up a marketing agency in London, specialising in food brands, including Lloyd Grossman, Kettle Chips and Plymouth Gin.^{[citation needed]}