Windrush Day takes place on the 22nd June, the day when approximately 500 migrants
from the Caribbean arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex in 1948.
The Museum of Croydon is proud to share some of their amazing stories to
celebrate the contribution of the Windrush generation and their descendants.
In 1948, Britain was just starting to recover from World War II. Thousands of buildings had been bombed, loads of houses were destroyed and it all needed to be rebuilt.
In the Caribbean, lots of young men and women had served in the British armed forces because at the time, many Caribbean countries were still under British rule and not yet independent. After the war, some of these people answered an advert to come to Britain where there were many different jobs available. Others just wanted to see Britain, which they had heard so much about. They boarded a ship called the HMT Empire Windrush, which left the Caribbean to travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic.
This was the first time so many Caribbean people had come to live in Britain. Many more arrived in the following years.
The immigrants were later referred to as "the Windrush generation".
Joyce Daniels
Joyce worked at Cane Hill hospital: Cane Hill hospital cared for people with mental health problems. It opened in 1882. Up to 2000 patients could live at Cane Hill.
Cane Hill Hospital
Joyce talks about working at Cane Hill Hospital:
"Some patients were there a lifetime. There were some, they hadn't seen a relative for 30 odd years, but their relatives were still alive, because at the time of death they'd come and they'd be claiming this and that and the other, like belongings and money if they thought they had money." "It used to be very distressing as well as annoying to know all these years they haven't seen them. Those were the cases that really used to ache one's mind."
When the patients died, you had to lay them out. You washed the body, lay them out straight, you had an indelible pen and you note their names, the time of their death and their number written on the soles of their feet. But they weren't just dumped and rolled. We had to lay them out, put the shroud on, and fit it properly, even put a flower in their hand. Doing the best for the last"
Sislin Fay Allen
Sislin Fay Allen came to England from Jamaica in 1962. She was the first black woman to work for the Metropolitan police.
There were less than 600 policewomen working in Britain by the late 1960s.
Sislin first worked as a nurse at Queen's Hospital in Croydon. She decided to apply to become a policewoman and completed her training whilst bringing up a young daughter. On her first week at work Sislin had to stay indoors, because there was so much publicity around her starting work starting work in the police force. She was sent many letters some of them complimentary, some abusive.
Sislin talks about her experiences working in Croydon: (Hear Sislin down below)
"On the selection day there were so many people there, the hall was filled with young men. There were ten women and I was the only black person. I can remember one friend said, 'Oh they wouldn't accept you, they don't accept black people in the force,' and so I said, 'Well my dear, I've got news for you,' and I showed her the letter." Sislin goes on to say: “The first day on the beat in Croydon was daunting, but it wasn't too bad because I went out with an officer. People were curious to see a black woman there in uniform walking up and down, but I had no problem at all, not even from the public. On the day I joined I nearly broke a leg trying to run away from reporters. I realised then that I was a history maker. I didn't set out to make history, I just wanted a change of direction."
Police Document
Gee Bernard
Gee Bernard came to England from Jamaica. In 1966 she split up with her husband and became a single mother, which made life very challenging.
Gee says “Christ went into the wilderness and I think it was important for me to be in my own wilderness. I wanted no friends, I wanted me, my children and nobody else. It's clear in my head I must go into further education. And because I had children I had to start at evening classes. My first evening class was photography but I was still working in catering, and I looked at people who were top chef, assistant chef , supervisors. I see a different level of people there and I need to get into one of those categories. So I did courses on roasts, cold buffets, sauces entrees and Hors d’oeuvres which did help me move into a higher category of employment in catering and secure better wages.”
Hear Gee continue down below…
Gee in the Croydon Council Chamber
Gee Bernard was Croydon’s first black councillor and represented the West Thornton ward from 1986 - 2002.
Gee started her career in England when she qualified as a social worker while living in Thornton Heath. Here she talks about combating racism:
"I was talking about how best you can use the brain within the Black community to work for the Black community. That's when I learnt that white people did not know Black people, that we were sold to the white indigenous population as a problem. A lot of people would say to you, 'There is no racism in this school because they had a lot of black children in the school' but what they didn't look at is that the materials they were using to educate the black child would be destroying the black child.”
In 1981 she became a councillor for the Inner London Education Authority. She was then elected to Croydon Council where she sat on a range of committees, including: education (1986-2002), licensing and consumer services, housing, social services, community health and grants and awards.
In 1993, Gee founded the community charity Croydon African and Caribbean Family Organisation. The charity had two aims - to start a school to assist children excluded from education, and a club for elderly residents providing mental and physical activities such as day trips.
She was a devoted member of the community and following her retirement she went on to become an Alderwoman.
Find out more about Gee Bernard.
Dahlia Plummer
Dahlia lived with her grandparents and her sister in West Croydon until her grandfather died in 1975. His dying wish was that his wife should take the grandchildren to live on the family farm in Jamaica. Dahlia moved from West Croydon to Jamaica when she was a child: “I'd grown up in Croydon and seen quite a few black people, but 99% of the people were white. And then it was the opposite, It was me and my sister we were these two little white girls among this vast majority of black people, you know."
“When we were in high school I would go up on the stage and I could pick out my sister easy, she was the only white kid in this whole auditorium of black kids. All these people speaking in this really fast funny language and me trying to repeat it with an English accent they just cracked up laughing”
Hear Dahlia below:
Around 3500 people moved from the United Kingdom (UK) to the Caribbean Commonwealth in 1976. Dahlia Plummer's move from Croydon to Jamaica was one of those journeys. After twelve years Dahlia moved back to London. Stories of migration into the UK tend to get much more publicity.
Dahlia with her family
Windrush Day 75th Anniversary
22nd June 2023 will mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the ship HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948, bringing more than 800 passengers from the Caribbean to Britain. We have put together a special activity in recognition of the amazing people from the Windrush generation and their descendants, who shared their stories with the Museum of Croydon and donated objects to our collection. Click on the image below to download our Windrush Day Activity.
