The Arrival of the SS Windrush Empire as seen by the 21st Century British Public Contrasted with Contemporary News Reports and Hansard
As Taught by Google:
The popular Internet version is that the Windrush passengers were invited to the UK to rebuild Britain:
Black History Month website:
“Rebuild Britain”?
This from the Hammersmith and Fulham council website:
“actively encouraged and indeed invited by the UK Government”?
Contemporary Reporting
But as the newspapers were reporting at the time, these were actually unemployed Jamaicans who had come looking for work.
As the article points out: “For they are the Jamaicans who set sail for the Motherland when they could not get work in their own country” This was not part of any national regeneration plan, for these were simple economic migrants who had come to a place with a housing shortage.
Hansard
Listed below are the occasions when the arrival of the so-called Windrush generation was raised by MPs to ministers. From reading these, it seems that there was at the time widespread poverty in Jamaica and fears of over-population. Far from being invited to the UK, the Windrush arrivals had paid their own fares to the Britain, and both jobs and accommodation had to be found for them, at a time when there was an accommodation shortage in London. Half of them had to be accommodated in an air-raid shelter in Clapham, according to the Minister.
It seems from questions asked later in July 1948 that the Windrush immigrants had no specialist skills which could be put to good use and an MP asked why it wouldn’t be possible to import some women, which Britain could train to be nurses, instead of unskilled males.
By September 1948 it was announced that employment had been found for most of these men, and a government minister confirmed that if any more arrived that the government would do its best to find to find jobs for them as well. An MP replied by asking whether the minister was aware that there were already 300-400 unemployed black people in the East End of London.
When people spoke of a labour shortage in Britain after the war, it was a shortage of British labour they were referring to. Europe, the UK included, was awash with labour in the form of refugees and displaced persons. At the same time British nationals were still being encouraged to fill the colonies, and so many of them were emigrating. What the UK government was trying to avoid was swamping the country with more European nationals and changing the character of Britain.
I July 1948
Mr. Janner
asked the Minister of Labour what progress has been made in finding employment for the West Indians who arrived here from the “Empire Windrush”; and whether there has been any difficulty in finding housing accommodation for them near their work.
Mr. Isaacs
Of the 223 West Indians who landed from the “Empire Windrush” and who were accommodated at Clapham, 148 have been placed in employment. Eleven are under submission and 49 await placing. There have been no difficulties in finding accommodation other than those normally encountered owing to the housing shortage.
Mr. Driberg
Is my right hon. Friend aware that the West Indians concerned, and those hon. Members who have been to the Clapham deep shelter to see them, have been greatly impressed by the patience and hard work of his official, who has worked and lived down that deep shelter day and night for a whole week on end?
Mr. Isaacs
In view of the rather unfair comments that were made about the attitude of the Ministry in certain quarters, I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for what he has said.
13 July 1948
Mr. Harrison
(Nottingham, East)
The British Colonies in the Caribbean have been our responsibility for some hundreds of years. It might be said that our present-day responsibility arises particularly from the traditional economic policy that has been followed in the various islands. Our present extra responsibility is definitely traceable to the traditional policy of the planter economy that has been so long in vogue in the various islands for which we are responsible. The greed that inspired the importation of negro slaves and the indenturing of Indian labourers has reduced those Colonies, generally speaking, to a bankrupt state. Absentee planters or owners of plantations have been to some extent replaced by absentee shareholders today, but it can be said, without the slightest hesitation, that the unchecked development of private enterprise over the years, has left us with some terrific problems to face in the British Colonies in the Caribbean Sea………
I now turn to another matter which I think ought to receive the attention of the Colonial Secretary. That is the question of the recent “Windrush” landings. The steamship “Windrush” brought to this country, I think, about 470 immigrants from the British Colonies in the Carribean. I think that Jamaica was the source of these people. It seemed to me that these immigrants were indiscriminately chosen. I think there were about 470 males altogether, all of them indiscriminately chosen, and requiring, when they arrived in this country, housing and suitable work. If we face this question of population carelessly, and permit such indiscriminate immigration into these Islands, we shall be creating a source of embarrassment for ourselves, and causing a considerable amount of suffering to the immigrants themselves.
Another angle of the matter is that if housing has to be found for these people, we shall be very hard put to provide such accommodation without seriously inconveniencing the mobility of any particular section of our own community which happens to be suffering from underemployment. I could quote examples of present temporary under-employment in the large cities—particularly Liverpool—and I am sure that housing is one of the chief factors in that set of circumstances. I am also quite sure that if immigration of such a character is permitted in future, it will definitely be a source of pain to the immigrants and a source of embarrassment to the people of this country. There is not only the question of housing and the finding of jobs for indiscriminately chosen folk…….
21 September 1948
Mr. Gammans
asked the Minister of Labour how many of the Jamaicans who came to this country on the “Empire Windrush” are still registered as unemployed.
The Minister of Labour
(Mr. Isaacs)
Of the 242 Jamaicans who were accommodated at Clapham, 23 left of their own accord and the remaining 219 were placed in employment.
Mr. Gammans
Can the Minister say what is the policy of the Government regarding labour from the West Indies? Do they encourage it or discourage it?
Mr. Isaacs
With respect, I think that does not arise out of the Question, but I can tell the hon. Member that provided we are notified of the arrival of any of these people, we will do our very best to place them, as we did in this instance.
Mr. John Lewis
Is my right hon. Friend aware that in the East End of London there are 300 to 400 coloured people unemployed?
Mr. Isaacs
I was not aware of that.
4 February 1949
Mr. Gammans
Lastly, I should like to refer to the other point made by the hon. Gentleman—emigration to this country. The other day we had the case of the “Empire Windrush.” It was not a very dignified affair. Those men paid their own fares to come to this country. Of course, all that could be done for them was done, but that sort of haphazard emigration is unsatisfactory, and, I think, dangerous. There is supposed to be a shortage of labour here. There is, I believe, a shortage of hospital nurses and ward maids. What about offering facilities for girls from Jamaica to come to this country to do such work? It would help us and they would get some first-class training. I hope that there are some such schemes in view.
See also:
West Indian immigration – underdevelopment and unemployment
The Bus Drivers
“In the British West Indies there were fewer jobs for the growing population
and a strong migratory tradition prompted many to go abroad to study or work. In 1956, the Barbados Government invited London Transport to start direct recruitment. The fares for passage to the UK were covered by Barbados Government loans. Recruits had to pay the money back over two years from their London Transport wages”
So this was at the request of the Barbados Government, not the UK government or anyone in London
https://pastview-assets.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/org/8/other/PDFs/WR%20London%20Transport.pdf
As this Hansard entry reflects, Barbados had more people than jobs “The other day I posed a question to which the Minister did not give me a satisfactory answer. Recently the Barbados Legislative Council set up a committee to consider this terrible problem of population and to devise means for meeting the enormous increase.” 12 July 1950 Mr Tomas Reid MP for Swindon.
“The other colonial question relates to certain islands in the British West Indies. The two of which I am thinking are Barbados and Jamaica. Barbados is the same size as the Isle of Wight and has double the population. There is only one hope for maintaining a reasonable standard of living there, and it is some form of emigration. That is equally true, although not quite so seriously, of Jamaica”
Mr Gammans MP for Hornsey on 13 June 1950
The manpower shortage was elsewhere in the Empire:
Nurses
There was a high demand for nurses in the post was period. This was in part due to the expansion of the NHS, but even in 1951 there were only 25,000 of them. The second reason was that nurses usually left the profession on marriage, and in some cases were required to. This was also the case in the colonies. Yes we trained nurses over here, and we likewise trained African nurses for the colonies there. It was though in the expectation that they would return to their own countries.
Hansard 12 December 1950
