The Caribbean ships that reached Britain before Windrush
The Windrush wasn't the first ship to bring Caribbean migrants to Britain. Here's the overlooked story of the SS Ormonde and SS Almanzora.
Image: The SS Ormonde | National Archives
The arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at an Essex seaport in June 1948 is often thought to have sown the seeds of modern multicultural Britain. This ship, originally seized from Nazi Germany during World War II, was now carrying hundreds of Caribbean migrants seeking new lives in the UK.
The Windrush attracted much press attention at the time, and the ‘Windrush generation’ of migrants has since been effusively commemorated. However, contrary to popular belief, this one ship did not bring the first wave of the UK’s Caribbean diaspora.
Many other West Indians had already made the trip across the Atlantic, including on the ex-troopships SS Ormonde and SS Almanzora. What roles did these ships play in Britain’s migration story? Sky HISTORY examines why there's so much more to Britain's Caribbean migration story than the Windrush alone.
Britain’s long relationship with the Caribbean
Britain’s historical ties with the Caribbean have been inescapably tainted by the transatlantic slave trade. British merchants were active players in the trade, which saw Africans seized as slaves and sent to Caribbean islands to undertake brutal work on plantations.
British authorities relinquished their slavery links in the 19th century. However, many Caribbean territories – such as Bermuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica – remained part of the British Empire. Black residents of the British West Indies (as these territories were known) now had much more autonomy.
During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, many members of this demographic already saw the appeal of setting up home in the UK, the ‘mother country’. Those who went ahead and did exactly that include Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole and civil rights activist Harold Moody.
Windrush – not quite the trendsetter you might think
Windrush Day is held every 22nd June, when the Windrush itself purportedly docked at Tilbury back in 1948. This contradicts the ship’s passenger list, which records 21st June as the arrival date. Whichever of these two dates you think is the most likely, the Ormonde and the Almanzora are known to have both turned up months earlier.
In the case of the Ormonde
, it was on 31st March 1947 in Liverpool. It carried 241 passengers in total, of which 108 had hopped on the Ormonde when it stopped in Jamaica. Ralph Lowe was one of those on board. His daughter, Hannah Lowe, would achieve fame as a poet and write about her father’s experiences in her verse.
The Almanzora sailed into Southampton on the following 21st December. This time, the Caribbean passengers numbered about 200, many of them former Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel. During this period, many Caribbean migrants who had served Britain in the war expected to be warmly welcomed on their return there. In many instances, the reality would prove very different…
How the ‘Windrush myth’ took hold
There’s a very particular perception about Windrush that remains prevalent today. So, was it really responsible for multicultural Britain as we know it today? This has come to be branded the ‘Windrush myth’. West Indians have been documented as migrating to Britain since the 18th century. So, why is the Windrush remembered more than the Ormonde or the Almanzora?
Of these three vessels, Windrush did transport the highest number of Caribbean migrants – 802, to be exact. The Windrush also arrived in the same summer that the British Nationality Act 1948 extended UK passport rights to citizens of the country’s overseas colonies. As the war had left the UK with crippling labour shortages, politicians initially encouraged immigration to help plug these gaps.
As the ship docked, press crews took photos and filmed video footage that would later be widely circulated. Conversely, the Ormonde and the Almanzora attracted little publicity. Their West Indian passengers were also not offered the same kind of support as those on the Windrush. When it came to matters like finding suitable accommodation on land, they were left to fend for themselves.
How Caribbean migrants impacted British culture
West Indians who did move to Britain just after the war were soon shocked to find anti-immigrant attitudes running rampant. The best jobs were often off-limits to ‘coloured’ people, who could also be subjected to racist abuse.
Such experiences led members of the British Caribbean community to bond with each other at events celebrating their cultural heritage. The Notting Hill Carnival is just one notable example – and has attracted large crowds year after year in London in its current form since 1966.
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