An Interview with an old Seaman

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

[Paragon]

These old men tell fascinating stories to be quite honest. I once had the privilage to be give access to talk to few among over 50 of them, who are now sheltered in the Seamen missionary located in Poplar, London. Amazing stories of intriguing experiences they tell. Some of the older few even lived long enough to have come as early as mid-1920s.

 

There is a photo essay called Somali Elders that contains useful information about their life experiences.

[N.O.R.F]

These guys are great to talk to. When we frst landed in Ingriiska we stayed with an old man who had been there for some 40 years already Allah Yarxamu. Some great stories I tell ya.

 

J11, is there really a Seamen Missionary located in Poplar?

[Paragon]

^^Yes sxb. It is approximately All Saints rail station.

[NGONGE]

^^ Here is a story of one of them. The last person to be executed in the UK.

 

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Introduction

This page provides an account of the events leading up to the execution of Mahmood Hussein Mattan, at Cardiff Prison, on 3 September 1952, and his subsequent posthumous pardon, granted 46 years later.

 

The Case Details

Mahmood Hussein Mattan was born in Somalia. He met his wife, Laura, in the late 1940s. At this time, Mahmood Mattan was a merchant seaman. Laura's family did not approve of the marriage, and due to the amount of racial prejudice, they were forced to live in separate houses in the same street in Cardiff.

 

In 1952, Mahmood Mattan was made redundant from his job in a steelworks. He was known to like playing cards and gambling on greyhound races, but he had no history of violent conduct.

 

On 6 March 1952, Lily Volpert, aged 42 years' old, was found murdered at he pawnbroker's shop in Cardiff's docklands area. Her throat had been cut with a razor, and £100 had been stolen. Within hours of the discovery of Lily Volpert's body, Mahmood Mattan, age 28 and Father of three, was arrested by the Cardiff City Police (now part of South Wales Police).

 

The main witness at Mahmood's trial for murder, at the Glamorganshire Assizes in July 1952, was Harold Cover. After a reward of £200 (enough to buy a house in 1952 Cardiff) was offered by Lily Volpert's family, he claimed to have seen Mahmood Mattan leave Lily Volperts' premises on the night of the murder. Also Mahmood Mattan's defence barrister described him as a semi-civilised savage. It was not surprising that the jury decided that Mahmood Mattan was guilty, and the judge passed the mandatory sentence of death. Mahmood Mattan's appeal was dismissed in August 1952, and he became the last person to be hanged at Cardiff Prison on 3 September 1952. As with other executed prisoners, his remains were buried within the prison.

 

During 1952, Harold Cover (now age 78) was also a suspect in the Volpert case. His description of the likely killer matched another Somali called Tehar Gass, even noting Gass' gold tooth. In 1954, Gass was tried for the murder of a wages clerk called Granville Jenkins. Gass was found insane and sent to Broadmoor. After his release he was deported to Somalia.

 

In 1969, Harold Cover was convicted of the attempted murder of his daughter with a razor. After this conviction, Laura Mattan approached the then Home Secretary, James Callaghan, but he did not refer the case to the Court of Appeal.

 

One of the investigation officers in the Volpert Case, Detective Inspector Ludon Roberts (died in 1981), was aware that Harold Cover's description did not match that of Mahmood Mattan, but this point was not placed before the original trial jury. Gass was interviewed by Cardiff City Police during their investigations. He admitted visiting Lily Volpert's shop on the day of the murder, but the original trial jury were also not told of this point.

 

In 1996, Mahmood Mattan's remains were exhumed from Cardiff Prison and re-buried in a Cardiff Cemetery.

 

On 24 February 1998, at the Court of Appeal in London, Mahmood Mattan's conviction was quashed. Lord Justice Rose (Vice-President of the Court of Appeal) said that the case against Mahmood Mattan was "demonstrably flawed". He went on to say that Mahmood Mattan's death and the length of time taken to dismiss the conviction were matters of profound regret. The other judges sitting with Lord Justice Rose were Mr Justice Holland and Mr Justice Penry-Davey.

 

 

Source

[NASSIR]

I am glad our people left us a biography of their overseas experience.

The experience of Langare and his crew in fighting off a racist white mob in their apartment was amazing.

The Somali Sailors.

 

http://www.hargeysa.org/The%20Somali%20Sailors.htm

[NGONGE]

This reminds me! I wrote the following a year ago(or was it more?)...

 

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Obituary

 

For Over 70 years Muse Cawar worked, wrote and invented new and entertaining Somali songs. His death, yesterday, at the ripe old age of 95 came as a shock to all his fans and followers.

 

Muse was born on the 7th of December 1910. Muse’s father was married to four women and Muse was his mother’s only child. Muse’s first brush with music came on his very first day on this earth, when his mother started singing him her sweet lullabies and hummed melodic nothings into his baby ears. He was raised in a village eighty miles away from the capital and spent most of his childhood there.

 

Muse’s childhood as he recalled in many TV and magazine interviews, was a happy one and shaped what was to come in his future life. In a long interview I had with him two years ago, he reminisced about his young days and how his father’s punishments were the main reason he became a musician and poet. As a child of four or five, whenever Muse was naughty or needed to be punished, his father would send him out to the front yard and order him to sing to the mother goat. He was not allowed to sing the same song twice. Being a young infant who had no experience with that many songs - other than his mother’s lullabies - He had no choice but to talk to the goat in a singing tone, making sure that the conversation is not repeated when father was within earshot.

 

As the years went on and Muse was introduced to Koran school, his vocabulary and musical ear both improved. Now, the mother goat was being serenaded with most of the popular love songs of that time. Songs such as: Mother, my she-camel got the hump! And, if my heart was a river, scoop my love gently and don’t spit back! Or, the Haynes laughed at my pain!

 

Still, his father insisted that he never repeat the same song twice on the same day. Muse, by now very articulate and brave enough to devise his own poems, used the mother goat as his sounding board successfully. Indeed, it’s unlikely that there ever lived a she-goat that got serenaded with as many original love songs as Muse’s did.

 

When Muse was twelve years of age, a mysterious stranger visited his village. The whole village was excited about the return of the ‘seaman’. Muse later found out that this seaman was a cousin of his father’s that lived in a far away land and was richer than the richest man in the village.

 

In the nights that followed the seaman’s arrival, Muse learned about the world outside the village, the people with cat’s eyes and the big blue ocean. He memorised an amazing number of words, phrases and terms. Muse was fascinated with the seaman and his tales. His imagination led him to dream of a great world outside his village. One full of green trees, waters and pretty children with cat’s eyes.

 

One day, Muse sneaked into the seaman’s bedroom and demanded that he take him with him when he returns to the land of the king that ruled the world. The seaman was taken aback and told him that he is but a mere child and that he’s not ready for such great journeys. Muse told the seaman not to worry about his ability, patience or strength. The seaman told him that he doubted if his parents would agree but Muse cut him short by saying: if you agree, they’ll agree; I’ll make them agree.

 

Three months later, Muse found himself with the seaman in Aden’s Al-Aiderous mosque in Crater district, praying the noon prayer. Muse had arrived two days earlier and was staying (along with the seaman) with a strange looking Somali family.

 

On the voyage to Aden, the seaman had told him all about this new life and about the plans he has in store for him. Muse promised to work very hard and do all that the seaman orders him to do. This promise was the same one he made to his parents before leaving the village.

 

Later that day, Muse and the seaman went to the port again to seek work. The old seaman had already secured his own job and was sailing out in a week’s time. However, he could not arrange a place for Muse on the same ship and did not want to leave him back, alone, in Aden. He therefore decided that it’s best to keep returning to the ship every day to see if any other workers had dropped out or secured better employment elsewhere.

 

Muse faced the prospect of his adventure ending very abruptly. He knew full well that if the seaman could not find him a job on the same ship, he’d have to send him back to the village. Aden was not a place for a lonely boy of twelve.

 

As they walked around the port, Muse, just as he did for the previous two days, surveyed the faces around him and blatantly stared at all the strange looking people. He was later to find out that the soft haired Somalis were actually Indians, the pale looking and short Somalis were Arabs and the pink Somalis with the ocean in their eyes were Europeans!

 

That night and the few that followed were the hardest in Muse’s life. For everyday, after they came back from the port without securing a job, the seaman would leave him in the room of their boarding house and go out to waste the night away in some bar or coffee shop. The loneliness ate away at young Muse’s heart and he daydreamt of all the stories he would tell his beloved mother when he got back home. But not yet, not yet.

 

 

The next couple of days followed the same pattern but on the third day the seaman managed to secure a job for Muse on the same ship. Now the adventure can begin, now he can see lands and places even more amazing than the impressive Aden!

[N.O.R.F]

Who was the guy who built the first mosque in the UK? I think he was Somali/Yemeni and living in Liverpool.

 

Any info?

[NGONGE]

^^^ Wrong

 

 

On Christmas Day 1889, the Liverpool solicitor and Muslim convert William Abdullah Quilliam opened the doors of what is England's first mosque.

Source

[N.O.R.F]

LoL

 

Somaalidu been badanaa!

[5]

Originally posted by Northerner:

LoL

 

Somaalidu been badanaa!

Have you heard that P. Diddy is Somali? And so was apparently Aaliyah.

[Allamagan]

Reading these fascinating stories about somalidii hore ee Britain this lady, Ugaso Mire came into my mind:

 

 

Does anyone know her? This picture was on display in Museum of London with a little note that reads like "Ugaso Mire from Somalia. She came to London in 1930..." it was an image slideshow with other London people and their stories so unfortunately it got changed b4 I ever finished reading eedo' story. I couldn't wait longer as our bus has already arrived and I had to go. As soon I came home, I googled her name, but couldn't find anyting useful than this and this !

 

Anyone know her? Read her story? why not share!

[N.O.R.F]

I cant believe I have not visited that Museum. Wasnt very 'cultured' laakin the next time I'm in blighty I'll make sure of it IA. Alot Somali/African artifacts on display I hear.