Windrush75 ‘We laid the foundations

How the Windrush Generation put transport on the right track.

By Sinai Fleary

PASSENGERS ON the Empire Windrush paid approximately £28 to travel to Britain, which is equivalent to £1,000 today.

Many of those eventually found employment working on the transport network across the United Kingdom.

In 1956, ten years before Barbados gained independence from Britain, a formal agreement between London Transport (LT) and the Caribbean country was created — which allowed the direct recruitment of Barbadians.

The direct recruitment programme by LT was the first of its kind in the Caribbean and was the blueprint for other organisations such as British Rail and National Health Service (NHS), who would later adopt similar recruitment models.

The Barbadian government paid for the fare of new recruits to Britain, which the workers would pay back over a twoyear period.

It is estimated LT recruited about 6,000 employees directly from the region until 1970, with applicants also applying for work from Trinidad and Jamaica.

Skills

According to the London Transport Museum, initially the new Caribbean employees worked as bus conductors, station staff and in track maintenance and building work.

Many of the Windrush generation were ex-servicemen and women who were welleducated and had many skills. However due to racism and discrimination, they were often denied promotions and had to do low-paid jobs.

By working long hours, the workers managed to save for tickets to be able to send for children or partners who may have been initially left behind, as the policy of LT at the time was just to employ single people.

There was a smaller black presence in Britain before the arrival of the Empire Windrush.

In 1910, Jamaican-born Joe Clough applied to work at London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) and started work as a spare driver.

He eventually passed his bus driving test and became the first Black London bus driver.

Mr Clough drove the number 11B bus between Liver- pool Street, in central London to Wormwood Scrubs, in west London. He was born in 1887 and became an orphan at an early age. He was an ambulance driver in France for four years during the First World War.

Ralph Straker was a bus con- ductor and was directly recruited from Barbados in 1957.

Equal Pay Act in 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act in 1975, Black women were able to begin training to become Tube and bus drivers.

One of the lesser known forms of employment that the Windrush generation did, was working in the food canteens in the transport sector.

These jobs were usually undertaken by Caribbean women who worked long hours in hot kitchens to feed thousands of transport staff.

Eventually, the women slowly introduced different flavours from ‘back home’ to staff menus.

Five years later, in May 1962, Barbadian Carl Hoyte was also recruited in the same role.

Some Caribbean women also worked as bus conductors, like Nona Roberts who was also directly recruited from the Caribbean and worked on the buses from 1965 to 1994.

Following the passing of the

In many British cities, the Caribbean community faced widespread racism and discrimination in housing and employment.

The Bristol Omnibus Company refused to employ Black and Asian bus workers and crews, which promoted the community to take drastic action.

In April 1963, a boycott started which involved sit-down protests, pickets of bus depots and also blockades across the city in south-west England.

The boycott was organised by Roy Hackett and Paul Stephenson who were supported by Owen Henry, Audley Evans, Prince Brown and Guy Bailey and the West Indian Development Council.

Legislation

After four months, the company was forced to back down and remove its discriminatory colour bar policy.

The Bristol Bus Boycott is believed to have influenced the passing of the Race Relations Acts in 1965 and in 1968.

The Race Relations Act 1965 was the first piece of legislation in the UK to address the prohibition of racial discrimination in public places.

The expanded act in 1968 focused on eradicating discrimination in housing and employment.

Members of the Windrush generation were also responsible for ensuring the trains worked properly and effectively.

In 1952, Wilston Samuel Jackson moved to London to help maintain the trains.

He was born in Jamaica in 1927 and previously worked as a fireman.

Ten years later he became a train driver. Mr Jackson began maintaining trains shortly after moving to London, and became a driver 10 years later. He had a long and successful career on the railway, including driving the famous Flying Scotsman locomotive.

Mr Jackson died in September 2018 at the age of 91 and was honoured with a prestigious blue plaque at London’s King’s Cross station in 2021.

British Railways (BR), which was known as British Rail from 1965, operated most of the overground rail transport in Britain from 1948 to 1997.