HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in Essex on 21 June 1948 after scheduled overseas stops in Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, Cuba and Bermuda. Arriving in the United Kingdom hoping to start a new life, the ship’s passengers disembarked the following day, the date of which is now marked annually through Windrush Day.

Many of the ship’s British Caribbean–born passengers sought work in the ‘mother country’ during a time when the UK faced a decimated economy and severe labour shortages. The ship has since become symbolic of its passengers and their subsequent generations who have played a pivotal role in shaping modern British culture and society since the Second World War.