Kamal Chunchie was a Methodist Christian minister. He was born in Kandy, Ceylon and by 1920 was living in the East End of London. The young Chunchie was a prominent cricketer at Kingswood College, Kandy, and after moving to England, he continued to play the sport. He was appalled by the way black and Asian people were treated, and wanted to improve the social aspects of their lives. He worked in race relations in Canning Town, where he founded The Coloured Men's Institute.