Move over Charles Darwin and Elizabeth Fry. A leading historian wants to see a black face on a bank note to demonstrate the changing social and ethnic composition of Britain.

Mary Seacole, the nurse who served in the Crimea, Olaudah Equino, an 18th century anti-slavery writer, or Dadabhai Naoroji, the first South Asian MP who sat for Finsbury in the 1890s, have all been suggested as candidates.

Linda Colley, the author of several books on British identity, said in an interview for Fabian Review, the magazine of the Fabian Society, that “practical measures” were needed to create a new definition of Britishness to include blacks and Asians.

“There are omissions which are painfully obvious and which could easily be put right,” she said. “Why, for instance, are all the people on the British bank notes always white?”

While most of the historical figures depicted on the notes are household names, such as Charles Darwin and Sir Edward Elgar, the Fabians - who are organising a major conference on the future of Britishness - are questioning why Sir John Houblon should stay on the £50 note when few have heard of him.

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