Kelso Cochrane (1926 or 192[1]7 – 17 May 1959) was an Antiguan immigrant to Britain whose unsolved murder sparked tensions in London.
Cochrane had moved to London in 1954, where he had settled in Notting Hill and worked as a carpenter. He aimed to save sufficient money to study law. After fracturing his thumb in a work accident, he was attended at Paddington General Hospital. Whilst walking home, he was set upon by a group of white youths who stabbed him with a stiletto knife. Three other men arrived on the scene, and the youths ran off. The three men took Cochrane to hospital, where he died. His funeral was attended by more than 1,200 people.[2]
Notting Hill was at the time a stronghold for Oswald Mosley's Union Movement and Colin Jordan's White Defence League. The previous year, race riots had broken out in the area. The detective investigating the cases was initially convinced that the youth's motive was robbery, but Cochrane's lack of money was explained by his fiancé, as Cochrane himself had emptied his wallet that morning. Searchlight claimed in 2006 that the police's public denial of any racist motive "was almost certainly a misguided attempt to ensure calm in the area".[2]
Local Union Movement member Peter Dawson later claimed to the Sunday People that it had been a group member who was responsible for the murder. Mosley himself later held a public meeting on the spot where Cochrane had been murdered. Following the murder, the British Government organised an investigation into race relations, chaired by Amy Ashwood Garvey.[3]
On Sunday, 17 May 2009 to mark the 50th anniversary of Cochrane's death, a blue plaque was unveiled at the Golborne Bar & Restaurant, now The Earl of Portobello (36 Golborne Road, London W10), just opposite the place where he was attacked.