Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Pamela Duncan, Lucy Swan and Paul Scruton

Windrush 75th anniversary: the arrivals from the Caribbean who helped reshape Britain

From left; Mona Baptise who came to the UK in 1948 on Empire Windrush, A man fashionably dressed in a zoot suit walking in 1968, and Three year old Terence, and Maureen (four and a half years) Johnson, who came to the UK on Empire Windrush
From left; Mona Baptiste who came to the UK in 1948 on Empire Windrush; a man fashionably dressed in a zoot suit in 1968; and Windrush generation members Terence and Maureen Johnson. Composite: Guardian

On 22 June 1948, the Empire Windrush approached the docks in Tilbury in Essex. Most of the people onboard – 1,025 known passengers and two stowaways – listed a previous address in one of the Caribbean islands, British Guiana or Bermuda, all then part of the British empire.

But while the journey must have been personally pivotal for many of them, none could have imagined that Windrush would become a byword for a generation arriving from the Caribbean, who would help shape their new homeland.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.