The SS Empire Windrush heads to Tilbury, Essex, June 1948
© TopFoto.co.uk
On June 22, 1948, the SS Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in Essex. Its arrival marked an important moment in the history of modern England.
The steamship had stopped in Jamaica to pick up some of the
thousands of servicemen who had been recruited to serve in the armed
forces during the second world war. They were joined on their
life-changing Atlantic voyage by some 500 other Caribbean men and women
keen to visit England. Over the years “the Windrush generation” and
their families have become integral to our society.
As a symbol of the variety of different communities who have come
to England and enriched England’s cultural life over the centuries, the
Empire Windrush is unparalleled. But what was the experience of the men
and women who came over?
Find out more about the SS Empire Windrush
Biography
Relive the voyage of the SS Windrush from the Caribbean to Tilbury, and join us as we look back over the millennia at the history of immigration to England, and what has happened in the years since 1948
Features
What was life on board the Windrush like? Find out here. Novelist Andrea Levy talks about her book 'Small Island', and we learn about calypso music and some of its modern offshoots.
