KITCH’S WINDRUSH GENERATION – 75 YEARS LATER

ON June 22, 1948, a young and bristling Aldwyn Roberts disembarked the HMT Empire Windrush in Port Tilbury, England following a 22-day journey from Jamaica.

With guitar in hand, Roberts, then only 25, proclaimed that “London is the place for me,” and sang for media interviewers, who identified him as a top Caribbean calypsonian.

Roberts, who later became known as Lord Kitchener, stayed 14 years in England, before returning to Trinidad and Tobago, the land of his birth.

In the post-World War 11 era, England needed workers, and the 1,027 passengers (and two stowaways) on the Windrush were among the first residents from the West Indies and other Commonwealth countries to pick up job opportunities.

Of the Windrush passengers, 802 gave their last place of residence as the Caribbean, with 73 from T&T.

The British media reported that the migrants wore “zoot-style suits,” with “very long-waisted jackets, big padded shoulders, slit pockets, and peg-top trousers.”
Most were job-seekers, but others wanted to complete their education and trades training.

The Windrush made an estimated 20 sailings from the West Indies to England, until 1954, when the former troop ship sank in the Mediterranean following an explosion and a fire.

All 1,276 passengers were saved but four engine crew members died.

Until 1971, two other ships – SS Ormonde and SS Almanzora – took passengers in what became known as the Windrush Generation.

Some 540,000 United Kingdom residents were born in a Commonwealth country and arrived before 1971.

Not all were from the Caribbean, of course; 15,000 were from Jamaica.

The migrants started Notting Hill Carnival in 1959, and this T&T-style mas has grown into one of the largest in the world.

The 1971 Immigration Act gave Commonwealth citizens living in the UK indefinite leave to remain.

But the law was changed in 2012, and there were demands for formal papers in order to get medical treatment and other services.

Some were sent to immigration detention centres.

Thousands were misclassified and jailed, while others were deported.

The Teresa May Government subsequently apologised and assured that no one from the Windrush Generation would be forced to leave the country.

Many assimilated into the society and helped in rebuilding Britain, through manufacturing, construction, public transportation, and other fields.

A number of women were employed as nurses.

Recent times have been much smoother, with the British authorities announcing that each June 22 would be Windrush Day for the Windrush Generation and their descendants.

Official functions are held.

As for Kitchener, he spent his early weeks singing in pubs, and later landed on the London nightclub circuit, with his own music band.

He made an impact with his ditties and his social commentaries on life in England.

In 1958, he owned his own club in Manchester, but returned to T&T in 1962, the year of the country’s independence from England.

He won the calypso and road march titles several times and became one of the artform’s greatest exponents.

He died in 2000, aged 77, by which time he was acclaimed as calypso’s grandmaster, with timeless renditions.

The Windrush Generation recently observed its 75^th anniversary, with only two survivors of the initial sailing, but with tens of thousands of descendants who have made an indelible impact on the former colonial country.

King Charles hailed the Windrush Generation, saying it is “crucially important” to recognise their contribution.

The king met 300 descendants in what he called a “small way to honour their legacy.”

A church service was held and relevant paintings were unveiled.

It has been a long journey since that 1948 sailing with Kitchener and his guitar.

Consider that when next you listen to the Grandmaster.