A village church will remove the ‘Chocolate covered C**n’ gravestone of 1930s entertainer GH Elliot unless relatives come forward to stop them.
Dancer Elliot was thrown into the spotlight amid the Black Lives Matter movement after comedian Harry Enfield used him as an example on Radio 4’s Today programme to defend performing in blackface.
Elliot’s headstone, and that of another singer who performed in blackface in the 1930s, were covered up last week at St Margaret’s church in Rottingdean, east Sussex.
Elliott was buried with a headstone which reads: ‘The last curtain call for GH Elliott the Chocolate Coloured C**n who passed peacefully away 19 November 1962. Dearly loved R.I.P.’
His headstone stands next to that of a fellow performer Alice Banford, known as Lal Cliff, whose headstone reads: ‘C**n singer and dancer’.
GH Elliott performed on stage in the early 1900s under persona of ‘Chocolate Coloured C**n’
The church where a music hall star who performed in blackface is buried is considering erasing his ‘deeply offensive’ stage persona the ‘Chocolate Coloured C**n’ from gravestone
Mr Elliott is buried next to fellow musical hall star Alice Banford, known as Lal Cliff. Her gravestone has also been covered up because it too is engraved with the highly-offensive slur. It reads: ‘C**n singer and dancer’
Worried about a backlash, church officials last week took steps to cover and protect them.
Father Anthony Moore said he found the language ‘deeply offensive’, adding: ‘I am sure that the vast majority of people would agree and would want it changed.’
The Parochial Church Council has now decided to ‘apply for a faculty’ to remove both headstones into safe storage as soon as possible.
The statement said: ‘It wishes, as is its legal obligation, to protect the property (the gravestones) of the relatives of the deceased but at the same time would welcome an urgent conversation with descendants about the appropriateness of the wording of the inscriptions in their churchyard.
‘In law, a headstone is the property of the heirs at law. Efforts will therefore continue in the attempt to contact the relatives of G H Elliott (Alice Banford is believed to have no surviving relatives).
Gravestone of Alice Banford, which reads: ‘C**n singer and dancer’ has also been covered
Father Anthony Moore said he found the language ‘deeply offensive’, adding: ‘I am sure that the vast majority of people would agree and would want it changed.’ Pictured: The gravestones are now both covered up
The graves, which are directly next to each other, have both been covered up. It is speculated that the performers were buried next to each other due to their shared profession
‘The PCC would like to speak urgently with G H Elliott’s relatives in order to work with them on the re-engraving of the memorial or the construction of a new headstone which properly commemorates and respects his life but which omits wording that causes hurt and offence in today’s society.
The Lancashire showman who made a career out of blackface after first blacking up at the age of nine
George Henry Elliott was born in November 1882 in Rochdale, Lancashire.
He moved to the United States with his family at the age of four.
A music hall singer and dancer, known as the ‘Chocolate Coloured C**n’ who performed on stage in the early 1900s.
His act would see him wearing a painted black face and he did a minstrel show in an all-white top hat and tails outfit.
Mr Elliott featured in the 1925, 1948 and 1958 Royal Variety Performances.
He made more than 100 records and first used blackface aged just nine.
Mr Elliott was married twice. His first wife Emily Hayes died in 1940 and he then wedded acrobat Florence May Street.
Mr Elliott lived in a cottage called ‘Silvery Moon’ named after one of his famous songs.
Following his death in November 1962, he was buried at St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean, Sussex, after retiring to the village.
His gravestone in the churchyard was covered in June 2020.
Elliott applying his traditional blackface minstrel show make-up
‘It is proposed that these new headstones would be introduced into the churchyard once necessary permission is obtained.
Fr Anthony said: ‘We are grateful for the patience of residents and are pleased that a way forward is being facilitated with other interested parties to agree an outcome which does not cause public offence but which continues to respect the memory of the deceased.’
Elliott, who was born in Rochdale 1882, was a white musical hall singer and dancer, who wore blackface and did a minstrel show in an all-white top hat and tails outfit.
During his long career Elliott appeared in three Royal Variety Performances in 1925, 1948 and 1958 and made over 100 records.
He retired to the genteel seaside village of Rottingdean where he lived in a cottage called ‘Silvery Moon’ named after one of his famous songs.
While the relationship between Elliott and Mrs Banford is unclear, the churchyard where they are buried is popular with entertainers.
Gravestones of many notable artists including pre-Raphaelite painter Sir Edward Burne-Jones, novelist Angela Thirkell and author and playwright Enid Bagnold can all be found there.
Comedian Harry Enfield sparked outrage by mentioning Elliott’s controversial stage name live on BBC Radio 4 while defending his own use of blackface after impersonating Nelson Mandela on his sketch show Harry and Paul.
The comedian angered some Today listeners after using the word ‘c**n’ during a debate about the use of blackface in comedy with comedian Ava Vidal, as a wave of anti-racism protest sweeps the UK.
Both Mr Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have faced criticism over scenes from their sketch series Harry and Paul in which Mr Enfield appears dressed as Nelson Mandela selling drugs and promoting shoplifting.
When asked by host Nick Robinson about the connotations the use of blackface gives, Mr Enfield said on Radio 4: ‘Obviously Al Johnson or GH Elliot, who played the Chocolate Coloured C**n in the 1930s – they perpetuated the myth of the happy negro who was just very happy to sing under the crack of the whip, the American whip or the British imperial bayonet and obviously that’s deeply offensive and always will be.’
Mr Robinson replied: ‘Just to be clear, Harry, because there will be people offended by that term you just used.
‘You’re using it in inverted commas. Let’s not repeat it, but it’s a term that was used at the time.’
Enfield responded: ‘Well, that was his name on stage.
‘But I’ve played Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, David Cameron – four prime ministers.
‘Say Rishi Sunak became prime minister, I would find it difficult that I would not be allowed to play him because of the colour of his skin.’
Mr Elliott’s grave is situated in the churchyard of St Margaret’s Church, Rottingdean, Sussex
A workman boards up the gravestone of Mr Elliott in the churchyard on Thursday afternoon
Harry Enfield (above) and Paul Whitehouse (not pictured) have faced criticism in their sketch series Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul for their depiction of Nelson Mandela
Regarding the depiction of Mandela in Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul broadcast in 2007, Enfield added: ‘I thought, who is my hero? Nelson Mandela, who I had the pleasure of meeting once, and what’s the stereotype of black people?
‘At the time, there was a lot of things in the paper about drugs, so I made him a drug dealer, or a peddler of alcopops to children and things like that, which I thought was so wrong it was alright. I wouldn’t do it now, but I don’t think I regret it.
‘I definitely think there should still be a conversation about it.’
Ava Vidal said on the show: ‘I’m sure you can take the mickey out of the prime minister without blacking up, if there was a black prime minister.
‘If you’re going to do comedy, why wouldn’t you subvert the stereotype, why wouldn’t you challenge it, why would you reinforce it?
‘You have to look at the origins of blackface. It was distorting black people’s features, it was done for the entertainment of white people and it was done promoting negative stereotypes, and it normalises dehumanisation.’