Recognising The Contributions Of The Windrush Generation and those before them

An article from Sheila Nursimhulu – Co-Chair BAME Staff Network

June 22 marks the 75^th anniversary of the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, a passenger liner and cruise ship that set sail from the Caribbean to Britain with 800 Caribbean migrants on board in 1948.

The Windrush generation, as we often refer to it, in fact, applies to those who migrated from the Caribbean between 1948 to 1971. After the Home Office scandal in 2018, the word ‘Windrush’ has come to symbolise the abhorrent treatment of the Caribbean immigrants who came to this country during these earlier years. The Windrush celebration is now a permanent fixture in the landscape of British history as a way to pay homage to those great Caribbean immigrants who made big sacrifices to rebuild Britain after the second world war.

The anniversary of the arrival of any immigrant to their adoptive country is one that many see as a time of reflection, with both a mixture of joy and melancholy. As immigrants, we leave a lot of cherished memories of our youth behind in search of a better life in our new adoptive land.

The Windrush generation made many such sacrifices to come to the UK. Most of the Windrush immigrants would have left everyone and everything behind, with only a few belongings in a suitcase. Many children would have stayed behind with grandparents and other relatives whilst their young parents sought a better life abroad to ensure a secure future for them. The prospect of a reunion in a not-so-distant future was what would have kept many parents and children living this unbearable life away from the safety of family life with some level of optimism, while irreparable incidental loss and pain befalling all those affected in the process.

The Caribbean immigrants who embarked on their long journey to the UK had every belief that the ‘Mother Country’, as they saw it, was waiting for them with open arms. Despite their own history and that of their forefathers under colonial rule, for many, there was a sense of patriotic duty as Britain still held a great sentimental and symbolic importance. So, when the British government called for workers to come to the UK to help rebuild the country after World War II, like any able young man and woman the world over, these people were too happy to sacrifice what they had to secure a job and, in the process, helping with the enormous task of rebuilding Britain, something that the previous generation and future ones of any denomination have to be thankful for.

The initial cohort of the Windrush immigrants were among the first arrivals after the British Nationality Act came into effect which provided citizenship to members of the British Empire. On their arrival, however, life was not as many have hoped. It was a harsh terrain in every sense of the word. The immigrants had to get used to a new culture, new food, the cold weather, and to the antagonism and abuse from their fellow British counterparts. The words ‘no blacks’ and ‘no dogs’ often found themselves in the same sentence. Despite being subjects of the mother country, many native white British did not see the immigrants as British enough. But, the reality is, they were in every way British and not just in names. The only difference was their skin colour. It is, in fact, their hard labour from the colonies that helped build the foundation of this country and made it the country that it was then and it is now. 

The contribution of the Caribbean people to the ‘Mother Country, of course, did not start after the second world war. It started well before then. Whilst the Europeans who fought for freedom are well documented, much less was known about the 16,000 men and women from the Caribbean who voluntarily enlisted during the 1914-1918 conflict. The irony is, even in times of war, prejudice was rife. Britain was reluctant to let West Indian soldiers fight as equals alongside their white Europeans in those days. Most of those serviced during the first world war were employed in lower pay roles in the Labour Corps, engaging in backbreaking work that was often carried out within range of German artillery and snipers, resulting in numerous deaths. A common task was extinguishing fires in burning, sometimes already exploding, ammunition dumps. By the time the war ended in 1918, the British West Indies Regiment had lost around 1200 men, with 81 being given medals for bravery. The death toll for black merchant seamen during the second world war was very high too. Thousands perished, while others died serving with the Royal Air Force and the Army. In the words of Ex-Servicemen's Association chairman Pagget Messiah,

“Blacks were begrudgingly accepted into the war effort, but their support was absolutely essential," says. "Without it, the outcome would have been very different. The history of the Caribbean's contribution is also the history of our social struggles for acceptance as part of the human race. The war heralded a major step towards the freedoms we enjoy today, a slackening of colonial reins and our people's ascent into various administrative roles in their homeland."

As a ‘people’ with their own unique history and contributions to the United Kingdom, it is not time for the Windrush generation and their offspring to lament the past. Instead, it is time to take pride in the sacrifices made and the devotion and strength shown in the face of adversity. The way forward is to make sure young people of all denominations understand the sacrifices made by these great immigrant contributors to carve this path for us. This is the history of every British citizen as much as it is the history of the Caribbean migrants to this country. Knowing our history as a nation is the only way to help build cohesion and the respect we should have for one another.