Burford was born in Jamaica on 9 December 1944 and was raised there by her grandmother until the age of seven. In 1955 Burford moved to London with her family, where she attended Dalston County Grammar School, which later became Kingsland Secondary School. The school is now known as Petchey Academy and specialises in health, care and medical science. Burford described herself as a "descendent of three different diasporas: African, Jewish and Scots", as well as claiming her lesbian identity.
Burford was an active writer, having written plays, short stories, poems, and science fiction stories. The 1980 anthology A Dangerous Knowing: Four Black Women Poets, to which Burford was a contributor, was the first anthology to be published in the field of black British women's writing. The anthology was described in the academic journal Hecate as "a gift" and a "testimony to the depth of Black feeling and the complex power inherent in Black love." Burford's 1984 play Patterns was commissioned by Changing Women's Theatre. The play focused on women's labour and was performed at the Oval Theatre in London. The Threshing Floor, an eponymous novella and collection of short stories, features in many school and college reading lists across the United Kingdom, and individual works from the collection have been republished in other anthologies. Burford's writing was included in the anthology Daughters of Africa. Burford's works were selected multiple times by the journal The Women's Review of Books as works that readers of the journal might find interesting.
Equality and diversity
In 1999 Burford was appointed Director of Equality for the Department of Health, a post she held until 2002.
Burford assisted with the creation of Bradford's healthcare apprenticeship scheme, led by Bradford University, which is credited with helping transform the diversity of the city's healthcare workforce. Burford was awarded an honorary doctoratein 2001 from the University of Bradford to recognise her contributions to equality and diversity. After her retirement in 2005 Burford became the first deputy director of the university's Centre for Inclusion and Diversity.
Death and legacy
Burford died of respiratory failure on 20 February 2010. The University of Bradford set up an annual lecture in memory of Burford known as the Barbara Burford Annual Memorial Lecture, given as part of the international annual Making Diversity Interventions Count conference. The lecture is given each year by one of her colleagues from the field of equality and diversity who had direct links to Burford and her work. The Barbara Burford Honour was founded in 2017 by British magazine Gay Times as part of the Gay Times Honours, a series of honours to recognise LGBT individuals who have made a difference in their field. The inaugural Barbara Burford Honour was won by Rachel Padman, a transgender astrophysics lecturer from the University of Cambridge.
