File
'Empire Windrush' with the Jamaican immigrants en masse being welcomed June 22, 1948.

ON THE 27th of May, 60 years ago, the Empire Windrush sailed from Jamaica for Trinidad at the start of a voyage that was to lead to one of the greatest social transformations of British history.

As hundreds Jamaicans responded to the newspaper advertisements for available berths aboard the Empire Windrush to sail to England, the colonial administration in Jamaica did their best to, if not dissaude them, warn that Britain was unlikely to be a bed of roses.

Indeed, a government statement, published in The Gleaner newspaper in May, 1948, warned that 'the prospects of employment in England for unskilled labourers are very slight'.

Yet, nearly 400 people paid their £28 for the passage and sailed to England later that month.

The welfare of the Jamaicans and other West Indians who took the trip, and what they found in the UK, piqued the interest of Jamaicans at home. On June 23, 1948, The Gleaner published an article, previously carried by the Manchester Guardian, looking at the reception the immigrants and their prospects for engagement in British society.

The following gives a glimpse of the early perceptions of these West Indian pioneers.

Jobs hard to get in Britain

A large number of unskilled Jamaican workers, mostly men, propose to travel to the United Kingdom in the troopship Empire Windrush leaving Jamaica towards the end of the month, in search of work.

The Government of Jamaica desires to inform these travellers that the prospects of employment in England for unskilled labourers are very slight, and advises them to secure a definite offer of employment before leaving the island.

The authorities propose to issue a press release on this matter within the next couple of days, as a follow-up on the warning which the Labour Department gave some time ago.

Indications are that applications, ranging between 350 and 400 in number, have been made by workers both to the Finance Board and the shipping company concerned for permits to take out Bank of England notes in small amounts and bookings to travel in the ship.

The Labour Department has taken the precaution of asking these prospective travellers to England in search of work, who have not got offers of employment, to notify the department of their qualifications and the sort of job they would expect to find.

It is made clear, however, to these men seeking to go on the Empire Wind rash (Rush) in search of employment in England, that the seeking, of information by the Labour Department does not mean that any guarantee can be given that they will get the employment they seek. The object of the query is simply to send advanced information to England In (in) the hope that places may be found for them.