Windrush Anniversary
22 June 1948
A brief history
A Joyous Jamaican Journey
A Joyous Jamaican Journey
The arrival of the ship HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks in 1948, bringing 500 passengers from the Caribbean, is a moment that shaped modern Britain.
On 22 June 2023 we marked its 75th anniversary.
Windrush Day has become a key symbolic moment in the story of the Black British contribution to this country and the broader post-war migration from across the Commonwealth and beyond that helped create the modern Britain that we share today.
The 75th anniversary year offers an unparalleled opportunity to deepen the public conversation about the past, present and future of modern Britain
when was the windrush built
when was the windrush built
Empire Windrush was built in Germany and launched in Hamburg on 13 December 1930. However, the ship was not originally called the Empire Windrush. Instead, it was called the MV Monte Rosa.
Monte Rosa was originally built as a cruise ship, taking German travellers to Europe and South America on Nazi-approved holidays.
As late as 1936, the ship was carrying passengers between Hamburg and London. Historian and author Paul Arnott reveals in his book Windrush: A Ship Through Time that the cruise ship made more than 20 such package holiday journeys: tourists bound for London would disembark in Greenwich, close to where the Cutty Sarkis now.
However, with the outbreak of war the Monte Rosa was requisitioned by the Nazis and initially used to transport troops during the German invasion of Norway. Later in 1942, according to Arnott, the vessel was one of a number of ships used for the deportation of Norwegian Jews.
“For this vile purpose the Windrush was transformed from troop carrier to prison ship,” Arnott writes. “The below decks areas had been cleared of tables and chairs and become a series of huge cages, where the prisoners would be divided by sex and age. The food on board was little more than thin soup and oatmeal.
“On arrival in Hamburg, the transportees were made to board wagons at gunpoint. These were hitched to a steam engine destined for Auschwitz.”
Credit: https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/windrush-histories/story-of-windrush-ship
when was it called windrush
Why was it called windrush
MV Monte Rosa was captured as a prize of war by the British in 1945. A year later the ship was renamed the Empire Windrush.
The ‘Empire’ part of the name follows the pattern of other merchant ships controlled by the British government during and after the Second World War. ‘Windrush’ meanwhile was named after the River Windrush in the Cotswolds.
In 2019 Goldsmiths, University of London recreated the passenger cards using the National Archives passenger list.
The free database contains names, nationality, occupations, and planned destinations for all passengers on board. Search the Windrush passenger records here.
Who was onboard the windrush
1027 passengers were on board the Empire Windrush when it arrived in Britain. The ship’s original passenger list is held by the National Archives, although the individual passenger cards were destroyed by the Home Office in 2010.
The free database contains names, nationality, occupations, and planned destinations for all passengers on board. Search the Windrush passenger records here.
