In Pictures

In Pictures: The pioneering Windrush generation, who arrived 70 years ago

  • 16 April 2018
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Pioneers from the Caribbean arrived in Tilbury, Essex, 70 years ago, marking the beginning of large-scale West Indian immigration.

The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arrives at Tilbury Docks, Essex, from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The ex-troopship Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 22 June 1948, carrying 482 Jamaicans emigrating to Britain.
Immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' reading a newspaper Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The journey to Britain cost £28 and 10 shillings.
Immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Those from Jamaica were leaving a country that had a struggling economy and had been devastated by a hurricane.
RAF officials from the Colonial Office welcomed Jamaican immigrants when HMT 'Empire Windrush' landed at Tilbury. Image copyright PA
Image caption RAF officials from the Colonial Office welcomed the Jamaican immigrants at Tilbury.
Immigrants from Jamaica are seen on the streets of Clapham, London Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Some of the arrivals stayed in temporary accommodation, like the Jamaican immigrants seen here standing on the streets of Clapham, south London.
Immigrants Kenneth Murray, Eric Dryndale and Aston Robinson are seen in an ex-air raid shelter in 1948 Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Kenneth Murray, Eric Dryndale and Aston Robinson are seen settling in to their temporary bedroom in a former air raid shelter in Clapham in 1948.
A family arrives in Britain from Jamaica around 1950 Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption In the decade after the first group of immigrants boarded Empire Windrush, about 250,000 West Indians followed, including this family arriving from Jamaica in about 1950.
A man arrives in Birmingham from Jamaica in January 1955 Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Those who arrived were tasked with finding work and lodgings, like this man in 1955.
Rue Gordon, a bus conductor, seen in Birmingham in 1955 Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Rue Gordon, seen here in Birmingham in 1955, emigrated from Jamaica in 1953 and became a bus conductor.
Keith Edwards and Queenie Marques, immigrants from Jamaica, are seen in a bedroom in 1954 Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Keith Edwards and Queenie Marques posed for a photographer in Britain in 1954 after arriving from Jamaica.

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