Devon raises flag to honour Windrush generation on 77th anniversary

The Devon Windrush Flag was raised outside County Hall to mark 77 years since the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury, carrying 492 passengers from the Caribbean who would go on to help rebuild post-war Britain.

The flag-raising ceremony, held on Thursday ahead of Windrush Day on Sunday, June 22, brought together members of the Celebrating Windrush in Devon group, Devon Development Education (DDE), local councillors, honorary aldermen, the Lord Mayor of Exeter, Devon County Council Chair Caroline Leaver, and Chief Executive Donna Manson.

The event served as both a celebration and a moment of reflection, honouring the immense contributions of the Caribbean community to the UK, while acknowledging the hardship, prejudice, and systemic racism the Windrush Generation faced upon arrival.

“We’ve been raising the flag for the Windrush Generation. It’s really important because it’s an opportunity for us to really remember and think about why people came from the Caribbean to Britain,” said Caroline Leaver, Chair of the Council.

“They were asked to come here by our government to help rebuild after the war. They came with full expectation that they would be treated with respect and kindness and with honour, and actually what they found was there was racism, there were barriers put in their way, and they were treated with a lack of dignity. That is not a part of British history we should be proud of.”

The Empire Windrush, which docked in the UK on 22 June 1948, marked the beginning of a wave of immigration from Caribbean nations including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent, and Guyana. Between 1948 and 1971, many arrived in response to the UK government’s call to help rebuild a country devastated by war. They found work in emerging institutions such as the NHS, London Transport, and British Railways.

Devon’s population today includes the descendants of these pioneers. According to the 2021 Census, just under three per cent of Devon’s population - around 23,000 people - identify as Black or Asian, reflecting the region’s increasing diversity over the past 15 years.

Dave Samuels, whose father emigrated from Jamaica and became the first Black bus driver in Bristol, shared the personal and political significance of Windrush Day.

“It’s really important on days like this to see this flag raised and to celebrate the contribution that people like my dad, and his struggles about him becoming the first Black bus driver in Bristol,” he said.
“This is the 60th year since the Race Relations Act was passed and it is important that the contribution made by those who came to rebuild Great Britain are recognised and remembered.”

His father was also involved in the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963, a pivotal campaign against racial discrimination that directly influenced the passing of the Race Relations Act 1965, which made racial discrimination in public places illegal.

The ceremony also heard from Ricky Croal, whose mother came from Guyana as a teenager, and Des Kumar, Chair of DDE and a retired Devon police officer, who was born on a plantation near the Demerara River in Guyana.

“Of course that’s a terrible question to ask any more,” Kumar said when reflecting on often being asked, “Where do you come from?”
“However, I’ve always been very happy to answer it. There was one chap, he asked ‘do you come far?’. It sounded like a loaded question but before I had a chance to answer he looked at me and said: ‘Oh, you come from Cornwall then?’ It made me laugh! He was a lovely man.”

The emotional heart of the event came through a performance by Neville Connor, who delivered an excerpt of his one-man show Farewell Jamaica. The piece tells the story of a man leaving the Caribbean to build a life in Britain and was originally created to educate young people about diversity and inclusion.

As Devon continues to grow as a more inclusive and multicultural region, events like this flag-raising highlight the county's commitment to honouring the past while striving toward a more equitable future.

Windrush Day was established in 2018, following the exposure of the Windrush Scandal, in which hundreds of long-standing UK residents were wrongfully detained or deported. Since then, June 22 has become an annual moment to honour the resilience, history, and enduring legacy of the Windrush generation.