The King is celebrating Windrush pioneers with a series of portraits commissioned for the Royal Court Collection.
Marking the 75th anniversary of HMT Empire Windrush docking in Essex, a BBC documentary will follow the project, in which 10 leading artists created portraits.
Charles III writes in a book accompanying the portraits: “It is crucially important that we should truly see and hear these pioneers who stepped off the Empire Windrush at Tilbury in June 1948.”
He adds that Britain should “recognise and celebrate the immeasurable difference that they, their children and their grandchildren have made to this country”.
He goes on: “Those pioneers, who arrived in a land they had learned about from afar, left behind all that was familiar.”
Among those first arrivals was Geoff Palmer, now a professor, a Sir and an OBE. He recalls when, aged 14, his aunts told him he was leaving for England the next day, to join his mother there.
After docking in Liverpool, he asked directions to Paddington station in London, where a woman grabbed him by the shoulder and said ‘Boy, come, I’m your mother.’
Sir Geoff, 83, says: “I wouldn’t have recognised her, but a mother recognises her children.” He was wrongly labelled “educationally subnormal” but got a cricket scholarship to grammar school.
Later employed as a lab technician, a professor helped him get into Leicester University.
A career in botany followed and he now lives in Penicuik, near Edinburgh, with his wife Margaret, 80. Of being painted, Sir Geoff says: “It was a great honour.”
* Windrush: Portraits of a Generation, June 22, BBC2, 7.45pm. The exhibition is at Edinburgh’s Holyrood Palace, today to mid-Sep, then London’s National Portrait Gallery, London, in October.
ALFORD GARDNER, 97, Leeds
Born in Jamaica, at 17Alford joined the RAF. He helped found the Caribbean Cricket Club in Leeds.
Artist: Chloe Cox
CARMEN MUNROE OBE, 90, London
Carmen came to the UK from British Guiana in 1951 and became an actor, best known for Desmond’s.
Artist: Sonia Boyce OBE
EDNA HENRY, 92, Cardiff
Edna came from Jamaica andworked at Ely Hospital as anursing assistant. She spent 23 years working for the NHS.
Artist: Amy Sherald
GILDA OLIVER, 91, Birmingham
Arriving from Jamaica in 1955, Gilda was an NHS healthcare support worker. She tried to identify and meet the Black community’s needs.
Artist: Clifton Powell
DELISSER BERNARD, 94, Wolverhampton
Jamaican-born Delisser lied about his age to get into the RAF at 16 in 1944. His four kids are an Olympian, entrepreneur, nurse and firefighter.
Artist: Honor Titus
JESSIE STEPHENS MBE, 95, London
Jessie came in 1955. She was a volunteer liaison officer after hearing of police harassing Black boys.
Artist: Sahara Longe
LACETA REID, 92, Newport
Laceta left school at 13. Following one of his brothers, he left Jamaica in 1957 and worked odd jobs.
Artist:Serge Attukwei Clottey
LINDA HAYE OBE, 90, London
Arriving in 1958, Linda helped set up the DofE awards and was on the Police Complaints Authority.
Artist: Shannon Bono
SIR GEOFF PALMER OBE, 83, Edinburgh
Geoff came from Jamaica in 1955 and went on to become a scientist, human rights activist and the first Black professor in Scotland.
Artist: Derek Fordjour
'BIG' JOHN RICHARDS, 97, London
A photo of Big John, with two other men, is used to depict Windrush. He campaigned against racial injustice.
Artist: Deanio X
