The Mary Seacole Trust is delighted to announce that Dawn Hill, trustee and president of the Mary Seacole Trust, has been awarded a CBE in the Queen’s 2018 New Year’s Honours list. The honour was awarded for services to culture, in recognition of Dawn’s pivotal contribution to recording and celebrating Black history and heritage in the UK, as well as for her many achievements in academic work and public service.
Dawn has been a trustee of the Mary Seacole Trust (formerly known as the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal) since 2011. She was instrumental in bringing about the acclaimed statue of Mary Seacole and securing its iconic site in the gardens of St Thomas’ Hospital, directly opposite Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.
Dawn is chairman of the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton. She is also a governor at Evelina Children’s Hospital School, St Thomas’ Hospital, serving as chair of governors until 2011. She was a governor (elected patient representative) at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Foundation Trust from 2009 to 2015 and a non-executive director from 1999 to 2007.
Dawn’s many achievements include gaining the Points of Light Award, given to her by the Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP, on 18 October 2017. The award celebrates Dawn’s role in championing diversity and inclusion by creating, in the Black Cultural Archives, a vitally important national resource that is shining a light on the achievements of individuals of African or African Caribbean descent in British society.
Dawn is the author of many academic reports and publications, including eighteen academy schools’ consultation reports for the Department for Education and United Learning Trust, the Survey to Identify the Community Care Needs of the Black and Minority Ethnic Communities and the Report on Improving Access to Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Services by Members of the Black and Ethnic Minority Communities for The National Council for Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Services.
