The History and Legacy of the Empire Windrush

THE TELEGRAPH HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1855-2016

THE TIMES DIGITAL ARCHIVE, 1785-2019

DAILY MAIL HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1896-2016

BRITISH LIBRARY NEWSPAPERS

SUNDAY TIMES HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1822-2021

THE MIRROR HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1903-2000

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1887-2013

THE ECONOMIST HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1843-2020

THE LISTENER HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1929-1991

ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS HISTORICAL ARCHIVE, 1842-2003

THE CRUISE LINER, 1934-1938

The first reference we have to the Empire Windrush, then the MV Monte Rosa, is an advert from the Times on February 26^th 1934. Costing 32 pounds and 10 shillings, about £1,400 in 2017, patrons could enjoy a “glorious spring cruise” to Egypt and Palestine, including rail tickets from London and back¹.

Only a few months after this advert, news reached the press that the Monte Rosa had run aground. The Aberdeen Journal ran a small piece on the incident, stating that “a number of ships have gone to her assistance”. It mentions another disaster on the coast of Norway, further pointing out the seriousness of the incident2. Both the Daily Mail³ and the Daily Mirror⁴ run similar stories but reassure readers that everything is in good order and that they are working to refloat it.

Later, on the same day, the Derby Evening Telegraph reported that the ship had successfully refloated after an 18-hour ordeal and that her cruise to Norway had resumed. It gives us a count of the passengers and crew, totalling around 1,480⁵. The Evening Telegraph also reports this, saying that no danger was present to those onboard⁶.

Thankfully, this would be the end of the drama for the Monte Rosa, at least before the onset of the Second World War. Many more advertisements appear around the ship and its voyages, including in the Daily Mirror⁷ and the New York Herald Tribune⁸. A later advert in the interwar period called it the “Cruise of the Year”, with fares reduced to £15 (around £850 today) for tours of Norway and Hamburg⁹.

WORLD WAR TWO AND ITS AFTERMATH, 1939-1947

The Second World War ended the Monte Rosa’s role as a luxury liner. By 10^th August 1943, the German Kriegsmarine had repurposed it as a troopship. The Daily Mail added a small report that “several large liners” are now ferrying German troops between Oslo and Aarhus, stating that the Monte Rosa made three “double trips” within a week¹⁰.

Two later stories in 1944 mention the Coastal Command Beaufighters successfully torpedoed the ship. The Dundee Courier¹¹ and the Daily Mail¹² report that it had survived the attack, but the damage had been enough to slow its return journey to Germany. 

Aside from these small stories, there was little news about the Monte Rosa during the conflict. After the stories about the bombing, the next mention we see of the ship is in the 12^th June 1947 issue of the Times on the movement of liners¹³. Here appears the first mention of the name “Empire Windrush”.

For context, Britain had taken possession of the Monte Rosa after the defeat of Germany, renaming it the Empire Windrush and keeping it as a troopship in the aftermath of the conflict.

THE WINDRUSH GENERATION, 1948

The first article from the Daily Mail is an opinion piece titled “Carib Crisis” by Noel Monks, published on the 10^th of June 1948. He posits that high unemployment in Jamaica is due to the rapid population increase and the spread of “a pest called Panama”, further mentioning that the 9,000 men and women who came to the UK to serve during the war returned home to nothing. He says the “Five hundred Jamaicans” heading for Britain had alarmed the Minister of Labour¹⁴. The Jamaicans he refers to are the passengers of the Empire Windrush.

The Derby Daily Telegraph and the Gloucester Citizen both report that hundreds more migrants are to follow the initial 450 (down from 500 previously mentioned), all in search of British jobs. At the time of the article in the Derby Daily Telegraph, the Empire Windrush was in Bermuda, where their reporter got the statements of the emigrants¹⁵. The Gloucester Citizen mentions in a brief piece that many of the 450 Jamaicans are veterans of the Second World War¹⁶.

On the 18^th of June, the Daily Telegraph revealed that an official delegation from the Colonial Office and the Minister of Labour was to welcome the ship, highlighting the government’s interest in this group of migrants. It further states that many of the West Indians will immediately start work, having friends and families to lodge them when they arrive¹⁷.

Upon the ship’s arrival on the 22^nd of June, 1948, the Daily Mail welcomes what they can an “emigration-in-reverse”. It reports that the launches were crowded with sightseers shouting and waving greetings to the Jamaicans who had climbed the rails to wave back. Many of the 492 Jamaican passengers had already arranged for work, with 52 ready to volunteer for the RAF and the Army and 201 with employment prospects from friends. The remaining 236 were to stay in Clapham Common to be interviewed by the Ministry of Labour¹⁸. In this paper, we see the first image of the Empire Windrush and its passengers.

A small story in the Evening Telegraph corroborates this, mentioning that the Jamaicans had to organise their own disembarkation because of the dock strikes at Tilbury that day¹⁹.

The day after, the Daily Telegraph reported on the ongoing search for “stowaways” onboard the ship. The journalist learnt that the Empire Windrush would be the first of many carrying 2,000 Jamaican immigrants and that several arrests happened that day, including three stowaways who had attempted to escape to the shore during the ship’s stay overnight. Both immigration officials and military police were present to check the passengers’ boarding passes.

The article further explores some of the professions of the Jamaicans, including several barbers, carpenters, boxers, tailors, chemists and machinists, a complete band, half a dozen artists, three policemen, and a man who described -himself as "retired." The strangest was a man who described himself as a “Rain Forcer”. Interestingly, it started to rain when the man disembarked the ship.¹⁹

A letter to the Times says that the West Indians know of the severe worker shortage in the UK and, with the lack of work in the Caribbean, have decided to come en masse to make the Ministry of Employment act. The author explains the reason is because of the UK’s preference for European migrants, saying West Indians were unfairly treated after the war²⁰.

After three days, the authorities sent the stowaways to prisons, including one in Chelmsford. The Chelmsford Chronicle were furious at the treatment of fifteen people imprisoned in the Chelmsford Goal (now HM Prison Chelmsford). They report many of these men were outstanding citizens and model prisoners, many ex-servicemen, all deserving of better treatment. It further explains that they were appalled at the prospect of being deported back to Jamaica, a place they believed held no future²¹.

Many papers published stories about the passengers in the days after their arrival. Often the stories were small, acting as small curiosities for the reader and not deserving more space and time. While many were jovial, or the very least indifferent, about the migrants from the West Indies, an article in the Economist takes on a more pessimistic view. It explains that migration to Britain would do little to alleviate the country’s population issue, as many people in Britain were still leaving for new prospects aboard, but later added that the attraction of Britain for West Indian migrants is “full employment and social security and […] racial toleration”²².

CONFLICT, 1949-1953

The Economist would be one of the last papers to publish on the topic for several years. At the time, few people were aware of the cultural change that was about to take place. The sail of the 492 Jamaicans and hundreds more West Indians would not be the last story of the Empire Windrush. As a troopship, it would play a part in dozens more news stories that show the gradual end of Britain’s colonial empire.

Sporadic shipping news reports dotted through the next few months on the comings and goings of the Empire Windrush, amongst many others. It wouldn’t be until the 8^th of May, 1949, that it would reappear in the papers. Reporting on the ship, the Sunday Times reveals that 150 young soldiers were stopped on their way to the Middle East and Malaysia after the minimum training requirement changed from 10 to 12 overnight²³.

By the 23rd of June, the Empire Windrush became of many troopships tasked with transporting soldiers to Hong Kong in the wake of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Both the Daily Telegraph²⁴ and the Western Daily Press²⁵ explained that it would be the one of an advance party carrying troops from the 3^rd Commando Brigade. The papers would continue to track its progress until they arrived in Hong Kong on the 26th of July.

After a quiet period in the papers, the Empire Windrush would re-emerge in a story by the Gloucester Echo on the 31^st of December. It was to become the last ships to take soldiers away from Greece after a 5-year occupation after the end of the Second World War²⁶. The New York Herald Tribune reports that the 1^st Battalion of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the last to board²⁷. The Sunday Times earlier reports that the Greeks cheered “Long Live Great Britain” as the 1^st Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry readied to leave²⁸, and the Dundee Courier writes about the youngest child, 45-day-old Christopher John Atkins, boarding with his British father and Greek mother²⁹.

By June of 1950, the Korean War had begun. The Empire Windrush would become the troopship for the 1^st Gloucestershire regiment, and both the Gloucester Citizen and Gloucester Echo would report heavily on their departure. In The Citizen, we learn that the ship’s namesake was the River Windrush from the paper’s home county. The scene at the docks was jolly, “They cheered, they sang, they cracked Jokes with passers-by”³⁰. Only days after, a story appeared in the papers of Bandsman Frank Sidney Wagstaff, a recruit who was discharged from his battalion just as he boarded the ship. The War Office explained that “Bandsmen are not being sent to Korea”³¹.

For the next two years, the Empire Windrush would transport troops to and from conflict zones in the East. A few stories document the Transport Minister visiting the ship, commenting on its long bunks³², and the arrest and transport of a Dutch Seaman accused of killing two people in a knife flight³³.

SINKING OFF ALGIERS, 1954

On the 29^th of March 1954, many national papers ran stories on what would be the demise of the Empire Windrush. On the front page of the Daily Mail, the article posits that the sinking may have been due to sabotage and that an enquiry is to be held by authorities at Port Said, the ship’s last place of stop. It explained that “there was an explosion in the engine room which killed four men […]. Soon the flames licked through the deck and threatened the whole ship.” With a reporter on the scene, we get an intimate look at the event as it unfolded, from Captain William Wilson to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Scott, with the latter applauding the calm of the passengers in the face of the disaster, writing “the women and children on board were wonderful. The families just lined up to get into the boats; far from being panicky, we had to try to hurry them up”³⁴.

Alongside confirming that 170 people burned in the disaster, the Mirror writes that the rescue crew from the Dutch ship Mentor explained “We have to let down our ladders. The people were all in good humour when they came aboard. “Most were in pyjamas, though a few had no clothes at all. We gave them hot coffee, bread and cakes”³⁵.

The story of the Empire Windrush and its sinking continued to be one of the major news stories for most papers, including the Telegraph³⁶, the New York Herald Tribune³⁷, and the Times³⁸. Unlike the Mail, they do not lead with the story of sabotage, instead leading with the number of passengers that needed rescuing.

For days after, many papers reported stories of individual bravery and shared photos of the tragedy. The Daily Mail reports that the HMS Triumph is caring for 27 babies and continues to allude to the possibility of sabotage by rebels in Port Said³⁹.

Throughout the following days, dozens of stories fill the tabloids, documenting people on their way home to the United Kingdom. The Illustrated London News publishes images of the disaster and the rescue effort⁴⁰.

In June of the same year, news reports began to appear, all discussing the numerous safety hazards of the ship. Both the Mail⁴¹ and the Telegraph⁴² reported on the enquiry, with Mr Naisby Q.C. demanding the Ministry of Transport to state if they followed the rules. Many scandals came from the investigation, including reports on previous ship fires and its general disrepair.

For months after, the story of the Empire Windrush’s demise appeared in the news, documenting the lives of the survivors and their journey home. Many officers and civilians onboard the ship became minor celebrities, including Army Nurse Audrey Mary Jones. In one of the last stories on the disaster, published on the 8^th of October, the Times writes that she was awarded a place as an Associate of the Royal Red Cross for her bravery, refusing to leave her station until all her patients were safe on a lifeboat⁴³.

LEGACY, 1955-PRESENT

The published stories of the Empire Windrush during its last days far surpassed the number we got when it first arrived in Tilbury Port six years before. After the enquiries were over and all parties were satisfied, the Empire Windrush faded into obscurity. It wouldn’t be until 1959 that we would get our first mention of the ship, not because of its dramatic sinking, but for its passengers in 1948, now ten years ago. The article for the Times Literary Supplement, reviewing the book White and Coloured by Michael Banton, mentions how fitting that ship was as the first to bring this new wave of immigrants and that by that time, their numbers had increased to close to 50,000⁴⁴.

By 1968, 20 years after the event, the stories about the “Windrush Generation” were resurfacing. Many detailed articles began to appear across the pages of the papers that had once merely reported on it, including this in-depth analysis by the Times that explores the drama behind the event, only briefly mentioning its sinking⁴⁵.

In 1974, the Listener reported on the ship, saying that the arrival of the passengers brought Jamaica and its people to UK shores. It speaks warmly of the Windrush generation, seeing them as genuine British citizens. Its history became interwoven with the people to whom it had brought hope⁴⁶.

The legacy of the Empire Windrush and the “Windrush Generation” would continue to be told, with the anniversary of their arrival remembered as the start of a new, multicultural age in Britain. In 1998, 50 years after it arrived in Tilbury, the Independent reflected on the profound changes to our society, changes for the better for all. “[…] fifty years ago the picture was very different and we would not have had, within a single year, three British prime ministers, the Queen and Prince Charles describing this country as a proudly multicultural nation. That must count for something”⁴⁷.