Windrush in Waltham Forest

802 West Indian migrants stepped off the HMT Empire Windrush at the Port of Tilbury on 22 June 1948, the first of what became known as the Windrush Generation in Britain and the birth of the UK’s modern multiracial society.   

Fuelled in part by British government campaigns to address domestic labour shortages, nearly 500 thousand people moved from the Caribbean to Britain in the following two decades. Nonetheless, issues stemming from societal racism, including systemic disadvantages in employment, housing, and education, leading up to the 2018 Windrush scandal, remain a key factor in the legacy of Windrush.  

Today, Waltham Forest’s 25,000-strong Afro-Caribbean community is a vibrant and valuable part of our cultural fabric. The legacy of the Windrush Generation will surely loom large in Waltham Forest for many years to come.