Windrush Day

On the 22nd June every year it is Windrush Day, but what is the story behind it?

The HMT (Her Majesty’s Transport) Empire Windrush arrived in Britain on the 22nd June 1948. Docking at Tilbury Docks, just East of London it came from the Caribbean. The Caribbean is just to the north of South America, near The United States of America.

The passengers came to help Britain recover from the Second World War. They came to do jobs that had no one else to do them, for example helping rebuild Britain after the war and working in the newly created NHS.

But, the Windrush wasn’t the first ship to arrive from the Caribbean. Two other ships arrived before the Windrush. So, why was the Windrush so special?

The British had passed a law in 1948 that made all people living across the British Empire and Commonwealth British citizens. So not only did the Windrush passengers want to come to Britain, they were legally British. As British as anyone born in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

This generated a lot of coverage from the newspapers and everyone was interested in the arrival. No one had really been interested in the earlier ships to arrive. No newspapers were there. No one took any pictures and the passengers had little help when they arrived. This was hard on those people but the Windrush generated a lot of interest. 

Passengers kept coming from the Caribbean until the 1960’s. They came with their food, music, fashion and they were very well known for their sense of humour. They came to help Britain recover from the hardship of the Second World War. Because of that, most people welcomed them and understood why they had come. Some however weren’t very kind to them and treated them unfairly.

Although not the first ship to arrive, the HMT Empire Windrush gave its name to an entire generation of people, who came not just to be British, but to add to its culture and history.

They are known as the Windrush generation. 

Years later in 2010 the government destroyed thousands of landing cards from those who had arrived all those years ago. After these cards were destroyed, many people had no way of proving that they were in the country legally. Because of this many people then suddenly lost their jobs, homes, access to the NHS, and other benefits. Some were even forced to leave the country.

This caused a scandal. Many people were incredibly upset, and rightly so! The scandal caused an official inquiry but the government was so slow to act on its recommendations, including paying compensation to the people affected.

The first Windrush Day was celebrated on the 22nd June 2018, the 70th anniversary of the day the Windrush passengers had arrived in Britain. The day celebrates the contributions the Windrush generation and their descendants have made to British life but also is a time to reflect on the struggles with racism, discrimination and unjust treatment they faced.

On the 75th anniversary of the Windrush arrival a special monument was unveiled at Waterloo Station. It includes a poem written by Professor Laura Serrant OBE, whose parents came from the Caribbean. The poem is called “You called … and we came”.