Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (born 7 November 1957) is a British businessman, farmer, founder of "The Black Farmer" range of food products, and was unsuccessful Conservative Party candidate for the Chippenham constituency for the 2010 general election.[1]
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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.
After leaving school without qualifications, he joined the British Army but was dismissed from the service after a year for poor discipline.[2]
He is married and has a son and a daughter from this relationship, with an adult son from his first marriage.[2]
After working in the catering industry Emmanuel-Jones enrolled on a training scheme which led to a job working for Peter Bazalgette on the BBC television series Food and Drink.
He worked in television working as a producer/director for 15 years.
Wilfred appeared on Robert Llewellyn's Carpool on 22 January 2010.
Cameron's Black Tory shown on Channel 4, on 6 June 2010, filmed over a four year period and followed Emmanuel-Jones' bid to become the Conservative Party MP for the Chippenham.[3]
Emmanuel-Jones' television career gave him the capital to buy West Kitchen 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 traditionally they have been under represented. This 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-city school leavers from ethnic minorities on a scholarship on his Devon farm.
Emannuel-Jones set up a marketing agency in London, specialising in food brands, including Lloyd Grossman, Kettle Chips and Plymouth Gin.
Emmanuel-Jones unsuccessfully contested the Chippenham constituency in the 2010 general election for the Conservative Party.[1]