Windrush: A Voyage through the Generations
A photo-story by Jim Grover
The arrival at Tilbury in June 1948 of HMT Empire Windrush, bringing some 800 passengers from the Caribbean, and the estimated half a million (the 'Windrush Generation') that followed in its wake up to 1971, made an indelible mark on the UK and its future success. The contribution of that first generation of migrants was immense, and on so many fronts. It included bringing a distinctive culture to these shores along with strong family values, distinctive foods and flavours, unique styles of music, domino clubs, and long-held traditions such as the Jamaican funeral rites of 'Nine Night'.
Windrush: Portrait of a Generation, which honoured Windrush’s 70th anniversary in 2018, focused on how members of that first generation were living their lives in south London over 50 years later, true to the culture and traditions that they had brought with them. As that generation was followed by another, and then another, and then another, and even another, the community with Caribbean heritage has grown.
75 years on from when Empire Windrush arrived, the population with Caribbean heritage in England and Wales, including those with mixed heritage, totalled 1.1 million according to the 2021 census. And it is a distinctively young population with 29% of the population aged 17 or under, as compared to 21% for the total population. We are now on the cusp of a fifth generation, great-grea- grandchildren of some of those first migrants.
So how are these subsequent generations leading their lives today? And, in particular, what is becoming of the distinctive traditions that the first generation brought with them And what do they mean for the young generation of today?
Windrush: A Voyage through the Generations has been created to honour the 75th anniversary, in 2023, of the arrival of Empire Windrush and explores these questions. It invites important conversations around the the passing down, from one generation to the next, of heritage, cultures and traditions. It shines a light on individuals, many of them women, groups and organisations doing so much to seek to keep the Caribbean culture alive, and to thereby create continuity from one generation to the next.
It also reveals 'what came next' for some of those first generation migrants featured in Windrush: Portrait of a Generation as well as some of the roles they are playing to ensure their stories are told and held for the future. It has been a tumultuous five years for all humankind and, inevitably, the stories span the full range of human emotions, from joy to sadness.
Finally, and importantly for me, the 'voice of the young' generation is represented in the story through 75 mobile phone photographs that have been taken by Caribbean heritage children, aged 16 or under, of precious 'family treasures' that relate, in one way or another, to their Caribbean heritage.
It has been a true privilege to spend time with this community, a community I hugely respect, admire and enjoy being with. And I could not have created this work without so many welcoming me into their lives, and with such openness; I am indebted to every one of them for their warm welcome, their support, their encouragement, and their many kindnesses.
Just like Windrush: Portrait of a Generation, this is their story. I am just so grateful to have the opportunity to share it.
Jim Grover
Clapham, south London
June 2023