National Assistance Board on the arrival of Jamaican Workers on the SS Georgic, arriving in August 1951. Catalogue ref: AST 7/1125
- What route did these Jamaican passengers take to Britain?
- What arrangements were made for their accommodation and employment in the county?
- Why did another group of 100 Jamaicans come to Britain at the end of August?
- What do these notes infer about the attitude of the Ministry of Labour towards Jamaicans seeking work in Britain?
Transcript
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE BOARD
Extract from Items of Interest August 1951
- Migrant workers from Jamaica
A party of 117 men and 33 women from Jamaica arrived at Southampton in the S.S. Georgic on the evening of Friday, 3rd August. They had come to look for employment in this country and had paid their passages her, travelling by air from Jamaica to New York, by Pan-American Airways planes at specially reduced fares, and then by the Georgic, also at reduced rates. The total cost of their country to this country was about £100 each. The boat was met at Southampton by representatives of the Ministry of Labour, the Colonial Office, and the Local Welfare Authority; the Board’s Southampton Area Officer was also present. The Ministry of Labour had found employment and accommodation for 30 men in the Southampton district, but only 14 were willing to accept the work; they stayed only one night in Southampton, however, and the next day travelled up to London where, as in the case of the great majority of the offers, their tickets entitled them to go. The remainder, apart from a few who went to Cardiff district from Southampton, caught the boat train to London and arrived there about mid-night. Officers of the Colonial Office and of the Board met them at Waterloo Station and by prior arrangement with the L.C.C. directed the men who had no accommodation to go to, or could not reach their destination that night, to the Camberwell Reception Centre. A number of the women were offered accommodation in the Clapham Deep Shelter; which has been used for Festival visiting parties, but they left there after a few hours and presumably found other accommodation. Altogether 87 men (including the 14 who travelled from Southampton the following day) were admitted to the Camberwell Reception Centre at considerable inconvenience to the officials there and the other inmates, and, of those 38 who were immediately found work by the Ministry of Labour but had nowhere to stay were allowed were allowed to remain at the Centre until they could get accommodation of their own; the remaining 49 went off, either to relatives or friends, to other parts of the country or to accommodation they found for themselves.
A further party of 114 persons left Jamaica very soon after the hurricane disaster and arrived at Southampton on the morning of Friday, 31st August. It is felt by Government Departments other than the Colonial Office that previous parties arriving here have been given too much reason to think they that they are welcome guests of His Majesty’s Government, for whom the path will be eased in every way, and some endeavour is now being made to correct the impression, in particular on this last occasion the Board and Ministry of Labour did not make contact with the party at Southampton, and the whole party came straight to London, reaching Waterloo in the afternoon. The number admitted to Camberwell was 61, of whom only 25 were still there on Monday; three women admitted to another institution of the London County Council left almost at once.
There seems no reason to doubt that these parties come with the intention of getting work, and as mentioned in the July notes, a recent census by the Ministry Labour and National Service showed that very few coloured men were unemployed.