Les in Chorlton; Yes, I know their is no racist intent in any of this but can we just go for the honest recognition that 'Blackface' in 19C English Folk Arts is almost certainly associated with carnivals influenced by Blackface Minstrelsy from the US into UK Music Hall?

Was 'blackface' introduced from the minstrel fashion? Or did 'blackface' exist already, to be reinforced by the minstrel fashion?

And remember the extraordinary popularity of the Black and White Minstrel Show that ran on BBC television from 1958 to 1978. In 1961, it won a Golden Rose at Montreux for best light entertainment programme. And by 1964, the show was achieving viewing figures of 21 million.

The show's premise began to be seen as offensive on account of its portrayal of blacked-up characters behaving in a stereotypical manner and a petition against it was received by the BBC in 1967. In 1969, due to continuing accusations of racism, Music Music Music, a spin-off series in which the minstrels appeared without their blackface make-up, replaced The Black and White Minstrel Show. It failed badly, was cancelled after 10 episodes and the Black and White Minstrel Show returned to win back viewers.

The first three albums of songs (1960–1962) all did extremely well - the first of these became the first album in UK album sales history to pass 100,000 sales.

The Minstrels also had a theatrical show produced by Robert Luff which ran at the Victoria Palace Theatre for 6,477 performances from 1962 to 1972. It established itself in The Guinness Book of Records as the stage show seen by the largest number of people. The show then toured in summer until 1987.

Source; Wikipedia

Britain - and London in particular - was changing. The Empire Windrush arrived from the Caribbean at Tilbury in 1948. Very few of the migrants then intended to stay in Britain for more than a few years. However, from the 1950s into the 1960s there was a mass migration of workers from all over the English-speaking Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, who settled in Britain.

These immigrants were invited to fill labour requirements in London's hospitals, transportation venues and railway development. In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed in Britain, with further legislation in 1968, 1971 and 1981, that severely restricted the entry of black immigrants into Britain.