
Images showing West Indian migrants arriving at London’s Waterloo station in May 1962
- Made:
- 1962-05 in United Kingdom
- maker:
- Howard Grey



37 photographic prints taken by Howard Grey showing West Indian migrants arriving at London’s Waterloo station in May 1962 on the boat train from Southampton to Waterloo. The light conditions had meant that the original negatives had not developed properly but were recovered 50 years later using digital technology.
Includes posed and unposed images of passengers looking out of railway carriages and disembarking onto the platform; crowds of people including women with children; images show ticketing equipment and refreshment stands; piles of luggage on platforms; luggage being selected, secured, and carried; passengers talking to station staff; families who appear to be waiting for passengers on platforms; people embracing; a news crew recording footage
In May 1962, a then 20-year-old photographer, Howard Grey, went to Waterloo railway station to capture photographs of the last group of West Indian migrants arriving in Britain before the British government’s Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1962 came into force. The Act ended automatic settlement rights in Britain for Citizens of the UK and Colonies (CUKCs) and Commonwealth citizens, who had been encouraged to move to Britain to address labour shortages in the aftermath of the Second World War. People who moved from the West Indies to live and work in Britain during the period 1948-1971 have since been known as the 'Windrush generation', named after the ship, the Empire Windrush, which carried the first large group of West Indian migrants from Kingston, Jamaica to Tilbury, Britain.
Details
- Category:
- Photographic Collections (Railway)
- Object Number:
- 2022-21
- Measurements:
-
overall: 270 mm x 300 mm
- type:
- photography