From the Carribbean to Britain - a journey on the Empire Windrush - BBC World Service podcast

In 1948, nearly 500 pioneers travelled from the Caribbean on the Empire Windrush. The passage cost 28 pounds, 10 shillings.
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Passenger Sam King describes the conditions on board and the concerns people had about finding a job in England - and what life was like in their adopted country once they arrived.
Sam King MBE went into politics and later became the mayor of Southwark in London, and a campaigner for fellow immigrants from the Caribbean. He died in 2016.
Check out more Witness History videos here: bit.ly/3Dmkw6b
He was speaking to Alan Johnston for this edition of Witness History. You can listen and download the episode here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00h...
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[@Amuro_Tooru]

Dann hätte ich mir doch lieber eine Audio gewünscht, wo im Hintergrund 20 Turbinen laufen und nebenbei noch ein Zug vorbei fährt.

[@siljas.6186]

Englisch 2021 listening wurde wegen ihm zerstört 💔

[@BBCWorldService]

We have more stories from incredible people who've played a pivotal role in black history in the UK here: kzbin.info/aero/PLz_B0PFGIn4dpoUBwNF_cSRb0YHHeRBI4

[@microsoftword9136]

#Abitur2021 was geht? 😂

[@MrWinstonSmith]

I think the key is that a small number of any group will be welcomed, but there’s a tipping point. Therefore, governments should keep immigration levels below that tipping point.

[@wodens-hitman1552]

Exactly. When you become a minority on your own estate of course it will feed far right feelings. I wonder how these middle class white do gooders would feel if their communities were flooded by the diversity they so love?

[@rikardogibola1312]

In 1948, Empire Windrush brought one of the first large groups of postwar West Indian immigrants to the United Kingdom, carrying 1,027 passengers and two stowaways on a voyage from Jamaica to London. 802 of these passengers gave their last country of residence as somewhere in the Caribbean: of these, 693 intended to settle in the United Kingdom.[1] British Caribbean people who came to the United Kingdom in the period after World War II, including those who came on later ships, are sometimes referred to as the Windrush generation In 1948, Empire Windrush, which was en route from Australia to Britain via the Atlantic, docked in Kingston, Jamaica, to pick up servicemen who were on leave. The British Nationality Act 1948, giving the status of citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKC status) to all British subjects connected with the United Kingdom or a British colony, was going through parliament, and some Caribbean migrants decided to embark "ahead of the game". Prior to 1962, the UK had no immigration control for CUKCs, who could settle indefinitely in the UK without restrictions. The ship was far from full, and someone came up with the idea of offering cut price tickets to avoid an empty ship sailing back to Britain. An advertisement was put in a Jamaican newspaper, The Daily Gleaner, offering cheap transport on the ship for anybody who wanted to go and work in the UK. There is a common misconception that there was an invitation for help with the rebuilding of Britain. There was never such an invitation. Many former servicemen took this opportunity to return to Britain with the hopes of finding better employment, including, in some cases, rejoining the RAF; others decided to make the journey just to see what the "mother country" was like. There was no invitation. The arrival of Empire Windrush was a notable news event. Even when the ship was in the English Channel, the Evening Standard dispatched an aircraft to photograph her from the air, printing the story on the newspaper's front page. The ship docked at the Port of Tilbury, near London, on 21 June 1948 and the 1,027 passengers began disembarking the next day. This was covered by newspaper reporters and by Pathé News newsreel cameras.[37] The name Windrush, as a result, come to be used as shorthand for West Indian migration,[50] and by extension for the beginning of modern British multiracial society. The purpose of Windrush's voyage had been to transport service personnel. The additional arrival of civilian, West Indian immigrants was not expected by the British government, and not welcome. George Isaacs, the Minister of Labour, stated in Parliament that there would be no encouragement for others to follow their example. Three days before the ship arrived, Arthur Creech Jones, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote a Cabinet memorandum noting that the Jamaican Government could not legally prevent people from departing, and the British government could not legally prevent them from landing. However, he stated that the government was opposed to this immigration, and all possible steps would be taken by the Colonial Office and the Jamaican Government to discourage it.[51] Despite this, the first legislation controlling immigration was not passed until 1962.

[@akaboudi]

Digga hat dieser Typ eine Zunge? Danke Abitur English für nichts. Ich dachte es geht um English verstehen aber dieser Typ spricht halt keine Wörter, das hört sich eher an wie ein Exorzismus

[@Alexander-ns6xh]

Cope

[@danahakeem2197]

tbh wir hätten die Untertitel bekommen sollen...

[@msg4141]

What are you talking about, dummy. They are subtitles.

[@arkroyalrifemoonbasealpha6101]

The windrush passengers were not invited by the British government in fact they made clear there disapproval

[@historyonthego]

They didn’t need invitation…

[@wodens-hitman1552]

@@historyonthego hopefully the next lot are going to rwanda

[@msg4141]

Lies! The government went to the islands and invited the islanders to come and help build Britain after the war.

[@robertpewsey8931]

​@@msg4141wrong. They were invited to travel back to the UK on an empty cargo ship, by the captain. In effect illegal immigrants. Definitely not needed or wanted in the uk.

[@johno4521]

@@msg4141 Utter nonsense. London Transport and some local health authorities DID set up recruitment offices over there but this was a decade later, and at the request of the Barbados Government to ease chronic unemployment there (potential bus drivers were given the incentive of free passage to England to be repaid from their wages over two years) between 1958 and 1971. Nothing to do with the British Government or "rebuilding Britain after the war"...

[@bbyoda0338]

Eng Abi direkt aufgegeben danach...

[@willsterofleicester]

I came on the Calypso from Africa in 79. I was raised educated etc. in England. I was then told to f off back to Africa to get my birth certificate when applying for new passport. 3 years of hell and help from MP to get it. Bonus point is I am white and will be getting Zero compensation.

[@beyourself2444]

You missed other important points. All the Anglophone islands were British colonies, we used pounds, sang the British Anthem, England was the motherland. England also ASKED West Indians to come to rebuild after the bombings and it was legal to bring your young children relatives along with you on 1 passport. Those people were British colonials hence they were British.

[@elkpaz560]

@@beyourself2444 Yes, it was the ideology of the British Empire that all were equal subjects of the Empire and no legal distinction was made between those who were ancestors predated Empire. It was an oversight and the Labour government of the time knew it was such. The West Indians didn't come to rebuild Britain - they came to help themselves - jobs and higher wages. If they were so great surely they could have helped rebuild their own countries post war - all that initiative, enterprise and energy.

[@PenzancePete]

West Indians were never asked to come and help re-build Britain. It was and is a myth. The only people who were asking was London Transport who were desperate for staff. The people who arrived on the Empire Windrush had paid their fares to the shipping company to come to Britain to try and improve their lot.

[@historyonthego]

@@PenzancePete I guess you watch Simon, their were more employers who came to Caribbean, plus all the West Indian found work. We wasn’t wanted here but England needed more workers. Most of the men on the Windrush were skilled men. My father came much later as a skilled carpenter, he was so skilled he ended up doing work in Parliament.

[@EvanEvans9]

The British people were never asked.

[@historyonthego]

No they was not, but do you know the government invited German pow to work and live in Britain , some were SS. Think about that my friend…

[@randomguy-hn2ny]

Noone asked for the British Empire either.

[@EvanEvans9]

@@randomguy-hn2ny apologies for civilising you, giving you the rule of law, system of education, government, railways, medicine....

[@msg4141]

Why should you be asked. The people who came were British citizens just like you. #Jack@$$

[@msg4141]

​@@historyonthego They're not bothered about that. Their concern is the fact that they don't want Black people in Britain.

[@jimthompson9370]

We weren’t asked. This was a mistake with a war sized consequence. A price we’re still paying today. It seems the cost is so great it will destroy us.

[@msg4141]

You'll are destroying yourselves.

[@thomasreed49]

@@msg4141 No we are being destroyed because we felt sorry for you and let you in and when you got in you couldn’t behaviour selves.

[@msg4141]

Whats with all these Germans commenting?

[@Amuro_Tooru]

We got this as a listening comprehension test in our graduation exam. Many teenagers couldn't understand him. I participated in that graduation exam and I am happy to announced that I passed with a good grade! This listening was hard but pretty much acceptable and somewhat understandable.

[@kevindurand3237]

Both our countries are in pieces due to mass immigration. I guess folks are looking into which is worse.Due to Angela Merkels stunt (welcoming over 1M+ immigrants, mainly Africans) of which there's 400k + they can't get rid off.