On 22 June, we will once again mark Windrush Day, commemorating the anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks.
This year is the landmark 75th anniversary, three quarters of a century since 1,027 passengers (and two stowaways) made the journey across the Atlantic from Jamaica to Essex.
Southeast London has a strong and direct connection to the arrival of the Windrush, because 200 of the passengers who did not already have accommodation, found their way to the Clapham Common Deep Shelter to find temporary accommodation. From there, they came to Brixton to find employment at the Labour Exchange on Coldharbour Lane and settled in the local area.
Those passengers, and many who came after them on subsequent voyages under the British Nationality Act of 1948 made an immeasurable contribution to rebuilding the UK in the aftermath of the Second World War.
Amongst them were mechanics, welders, carpenters, engineers, cabinet makers and some who had already served in the British armed forces during the war. They included Sam King, an RAF fighter pilot who became the first Black Mayor of Southwark who was loved and respected across the borough.
Southwark Cathedral to host Windrush 75th Anniversary Service
The Windrush pioneers enriched the community and cultural life of the UK in so many ways, despite facing many hardships and injustices in a country where racism was so prevalent that many landlords openly displayed shameful signs which read ‘no Blacks, no Irish, no dogs’.
Every year on Windrush Day, I reflect on the close relationship between the Windrush pioneers and our NHS which was founded just a few weeks later in 1948. King’s College Hospital is at the other end of Coldharbour Lane from the Labour Exchange. Nurses, doctors, porters, cleaners, cooks and many others who came from the Caribbean and other Commonwealth countries in the early years of the NHS played an essential role in delivering the expansion of healthcare services which was needed to establish a truly national health service free at the point of need.
Windrush Day is not a sentimental or rose-tinted day. It is a day to acknowledge with gratitude everything the Windrush pioneers and their descendants have contributed and continue to contribute. But it must also be a day to recognise all that they have suffered and endured, including the terrible trauma of the Windrush Scandal, which saw so many denied their status as British citizens, which should never have been in doubt.
As we reflect again on these injustices, we must commit again to the actions that are still needed, including handing the Windrush Compensation Scheme to a body independent of the Home Office so that it can deliver the redress that victims of the Windrush Scandal deserve.
I look forward to attending many events to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush in the coming weeks and to acknowledging once again the remarkable place of the Windrush pioneers in our national story.
