History
Although there are records of some Afro-Caribbean
people in the UK as early as the 12th Century, it
was not until the British Empire was in its peak during
the 17th and 18th Centuries that we saw a major influx
of Afro-Caribbean’s in Britain. With the expansion
of the Empire Afro-Caribbean slaves predominantly
were ferried to other British colonies as free labour
for the Britons or to work on plantations.
Those that were brought into Britain came on the same
ships that carried imperial products such as tea,
sugar, cotton, coffee, rum, fruit, wine, tobacco and
oil, and docked at ports in London, Liverpool and
Bristol. Most Africans were brought over by planters,
military and naval officers and with slavery remaining
legal in Britain until 1807, most ended up working
as butlers or assuming other household attendant positions
in aristocratic families.
Initial locations depended largely upon where and
when each slave was bought, but the many that fled
from slavery ended up in the East End of London in
crowded lodgings. London had several pedestrian thoroughfares
named after African peoples: Black Boy Alleys, Black
Boy Court, Blackamoor's Head Yard, Blackamoor Street,
and many Blackamoor's Alleys. By the 1700’s
there were visible African communities in Bristol,
Liverpool, Cardiff and a number of seaside towns.
It was not until the First World War (1914-1918) that
a significant number of Africans arrived in Britain
to fight. The second (and larger) wave of Afro-Caribbean’s
arrived in Britain during the course of the Second
World War (1939-1945). In all, several thousand workers
migrated as volunteers fight in the RAF and other
branches of the armed forces, and to serve as military
technicians. Many others were also recruited by Britain
to work in its Merseyside munitions plants.
By 1948, the Merseyside with over 8,000 Africans already
had one of the oldest Afro-Caribbean communities in
Britain. Added to this were some nearly 500 people
arrived in Britain on board the Empire Windrush and
over 100 Afro-Caribbeans also entered Britain on the
S. S. Orbita. Most of these immigrants were placed
in agricultural and iron industries as well as on
railways. By 1950, there were over 30,000 coloured
people in Britain, and 5,000 had migrated since 1945.
Most of these subjects originated from West Africa
and the West Indies. Post-World War Two, these immigrants
were requested in Britain to help reconstruct the
British economy. Industries such as British Rail,
the National Health Service and London transport recruited
almost exclusively from Jamaica and Barbados in the
West Indies. Until the mid-1950’s the number
of Afro-Caribbean’s coming over to Britain swelled
due to increasing shortages in the labour force. Although
in 1962 Britain passed the ‘Commonwealth Immigration
Act’ restricting the entry of immigrants, by
the 1970’s an entire generation of Britons with
African heritage existed. Between 1951 and 1981 the
number of British persons born in the West Indies
had increased from 15,000 to 304,000.
