Clovis is Winsome’s husband and Shirley’s father. An immigrant from Barbados, Clovis meets and marries Winsome not long after her arrival in England. The marriage gives Winsome safety and comfort in the early and overwhelming days of her new life in the UK. Despite Winsome’s protestations and the hostile racism they in the south of England, Clovis stubbornly insists that the family move to the countryside, where he finds work as a stevedore and spends his nights at the bar. When Winsome later gives Clovis an ultimatum, Clovis agrees to move back to London. Clovis never finds out about Winsome and Lennox’s affair.