Windrush at 75

Reporters, cameras, speeches, and even songs publicised the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush when it docked at Tilbury on June 22, 1948. The ship carried 1,027 people on board, including many passengers from the Caribbean, invited to help rebuild Britain after World War II.

In this episode, we’re marking the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush through the lens of several unique records held at The National Archives, including the official passenger list. Hosting this episode is Chloe Lee, a Migration and Citizenship Researcher, and she is joined by specialists Iqbal Singh, Lisa Berry-Waite and Vicky Iglikowski-Broad.

Download the full episode transcript here.

This episode is part of a season of events and activities to mark the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush on its 75th anniversary. To find out more, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/windrush-75

Documents from The National Archives used in this episode: BT 26/1237/91, CO 876/89, AST 7/1125.

For more information about the records covered in this episode, look at our research guides to passengers and Individuals from the Caribbean. For help navigating our catalogue, you can watch our top-level tips on using Discovery.

Listeners, we need your help to make this podcast better! We need to know a bit more about you and what themes you’re interested in. You can share this information with us by visiting smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ontherecord/.