FROM THE SS WINDRUSH TO CROYDON: THE LIFE OF ALEX ELDEN

The late Alex Elden made a rich contribution both to London’s black community and Croydon

Alex Elden,a member of the Royal Airforcefrom1944,andapassengeron theSSEmpireWindrushonitsfamous voyage to England in 1948. AlexwasborninJamaicaon9thJuly1926 and baptised Emanuel Alexis as a Roman Catholic.His father was a civil engineer who was responsible for most of the buildings constructed in the country at that time,and helaterlearnt that hisgreat-grandfatherhad been a pirate who retired in the Bahamas. Alex was educated at Calabar School and St.Simon College. Young Alex was captivated by aircraft, andparticularlyinspiredbywatchingmovies with Errol Flynn flying and shooting down jets’.His enthusiasm led him to enlist in the RAF in Kingston on 29th September 1944. He travelled to Britain for training,arriving inGlasgowon theSSdeCuba,wherehewas warmly greeted and a reception was held in his honour.He then trained at Filey and Yatesbury,becoming a runway controller at RAF Cramwell. The women stood up for the black men and fought with their stiletto heels. According to thevaluablerecordavailable in the book The Windrush Legacy: Memories of Britain’s Post-War Caribbean Immigrants: “promotion in the RAF very much depended on theofficerincharge,but alsoAlexdidwell in his exams and won promotion.The white officersbehavedasif theyweresuperior,but Alex always met these aggressions head-on. On some occasions the officers resorted tosarcasmandintimidatoryantics,but he always confronted the issue which gained him much respect”. “There was not much of a social life and theblackservicementendedtoorganisetheir own.CaribbeanservicemenmetupinLondon and enjoyed the limited night life available. Blackmencoulddanceandswingtheirhoops which the white women loved.This caused jealousy and fights.The women stood up for theblackmenandevenfought with their stiletto heels.Without the support of these women,the black men would have suffered more harassment and humiliation.” “Most of theoutingsinLondonwhileon leave ended at Clapham Common air raid shelter,wheretheystayedforprotectionfrom the bombs.” When black cinema goers were told that they could only watch from the back,a big fracas broke out. When the war ended,Alex joined a specialist teamlookingfordeserters.In1948 he supervised the return of servicemen to the Caribbean on board the Lady Rodney. Not being able to find work in Jamaica,he thencamebacktoBritainontheSSWindrush. WhentheshipstoppedinBermuda,some of the passengers,including ex-servicemen, wanted to watch a movie at the cinema. They were informed that they could only do sofromtherearofthecomplex.Anargument ensued,andAlexremembersthatabigfracas broke out.They were eventually allowed front seats. TheeffortsoftheWindrushers,supported by theWindrush Foundation,have ensured that itsvoyagehasbecome thesymbolof the West Indian migration to Britain to assist with rebuilding the country after the war. TheWindrush is also symbolic of the defeat ofNazism,towhichsomanymenand womenfromtheempirecontributed.Theship

had originally been built by a businessman to provide Baltic holidays for members of theHitlerYouth.It hadbeencapturedduring the war by the British and used as a troop ship,then afterwards as a passenger ship. Alex Elden married Joan,his first wife,in 1949.He was officially discharged from the RAF in January 1950.He and Joan lived in Carshalton and had three children:Bonnie, DeniseandGlen.Having trainedinscientific glass blowing and glass technology,he workedforJ.ArthurRankatCrystalPalaceuntil 1952,makingTV tubesandotherlaboratory equipment.Then,in 1956,he became the secondblackpersonever togain thefamous ‘knowledge’and work as a London cabbie. Heplayedcricket forCarshalton,the West Indian Student Union and the Caribbean Cricket Club.As a supporter of the League of Coloured Peoples,his children took part in its celebrations.From 1970 he helped the Melting Pot Foundation,for example by teaching driving skills to young underprivileged adults. For the last twenty-two years of his life, Alex became a Croydonian. Having met her in the 1960s,he married his second wife Jayne in 1976.They had two sons,GaryandDon.In1980hesetuptheGreen BadgeTaxiSchoolat theWindrushFoundation andreceivedgrantsfromLambethCounciland then the government to train unemployed young people.The school also gave training in literacy and numeracy skills,in acquiring the‘knowledge’,andinhelpingthecommunity. Hundredssuccessfullyqualified.Asamember of theWest Indian Association of Service Personnel (as it is now called),he was its vice-chair in 1995. Alex’s Croydon connection began the same year when he and Jayne moved to Norbury,and he spent the last twenty-two years of his life in the borough.They were rich and rewarding years:by 1998 he had six grandchildren,and in 2016 saw his son Gary awarded the OBE for achievement and service to diversity in business.

Written by Sean Creighton

A former employee of and freelance project worker with community and voluntary organisations, Sean is active with Croydon Assembly, and Love Norbury Residents Associations Planning & Transport Committee. He is Chair of the Norbury Community Land Trust. He is a historian of Croydon and South-West London, and of British black, social action and labour movement history. He co-ordinates the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Croydon Radical History Networks.

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