Role: Doctor, British Red Cross volunteer
Alcindor was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he was educated at Saint Mary’s College; after winning one of the four Island Scholarships he went to study medicine at Edinburgh University, Scotland, graduating from there with a medical degree in 1899. He then worked in London hospitals, in Plaistow, Hampstead and Camberwell, going into practice on his own around 1907. At this period he played cricket, as a wicket keeper for London teams. In 1911 he married Minnie Martin, a white British woman.
Despite his experience and qualifications Alcindor was refused a place in the Royal Army Medical Corps on the grounds of his “colonial ethnicity”.
Brushing aside the army rejection, he instead joined 90,000 others in signing up as a British Red Cross volunteer.
Throughout the long years of the conflict, he helped countless wounded soldiers at London railway stations as they returned from the battlefields.
Deservedly, he was later awarded a Red Cross Medal for his life-saving work.
