SS Empire Windrush
After serving their King and country with valour during the Second World War these brave souls thought they would be most welcome in England. After all they were all British and had as much right to be in their Mother country as any other person did. There was not much of a welcome on the mat this time.
This advert appeared in the Jamaican Daily Gleaner in April 1948. It was advertising opportunities to sail to the Mother Country onboard the troopship SS Empire Windrush which was on route from Austrailia. 492 ex West Indian servicemen and their families took this oppurtunity and arrived at Tilbury docks on 22nd June 1948. After a month on board they set foot in the Mother Country once again.
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If you ask any West Indian today how long they intended to stay in England they would say five years. In five years they would of paid pack the price of the fare and enough money to build a house back home in the Caribbean. The majority of people aboard Windrush had the same idea. Sixty years on a lot of these pioneering souls are still in England. Despite the racism they experienced, the cold and harsh climate and lonlieness of being away from home they persevered. They laid the foundations for other generations to follow in their footsteps. West Indian communities were established across the country. One of those communities grew up in Preston.
