The impact of the Second World War and new Commonwealth immigration

Colonial Support in WWII

• y 1945, government recognised migrant workers and colonial soldiers as crucial to the war effort.

• Many Empire subjects viewed Britain as “the mother country” and believed it needed their help.

• Others enlisted to escape poverty, as military service offered steady pay and prestige

Black Workers in Wartime Britain

• aSmall numbers of black workers were invited to fill labour shortages:

• ~1,000 West Indians (around 1,200 Caribbean men) recruited for munitions factories in Lancashire and Merseyside.

• 6,000–10,000 Caribbean men employed as RAF ground crew.

Colonial Troops

• ~500,000 black African men served in British forces.

• Indian Army reached 2 million men by 1945 — the largest multi‑ethnic volunteer army in history.

• Some racial prejudice occurred, but mainly from white American servicemen, not British people.

• Colonial contribution led to the revocation of the Alien Orders (1942).

• Many black people — mostly sailors and some stowaways — used this to enter Britain legally.

New Opportunities After WWII

• After the war, education and training were offered to all ex‑servicemen, and many recent immigrants used this.

• The state publicly rejected discrimination, even though it refused to outlaw it.

• Government officials welcomed Learie Constantine’s legal victory against the Imperial Hotel, confirming black Britons had the same legal rights as white Britons

Post‑War Labour Shortages & Recruitment

• Post‑war economic recovery had a greater impact on immigration than the war itself.

• Full employment + demand for cheap labour → government recruited workers from Europe.

  • 100,000 Poles (mostly ex‑servicemen + dependants) via the Polish Resettlement Corps.

  • 85,000 European Voluntary Workers, mainly displaced Eastern Europeans and Italians.

• Still insufficient to meet labour needs

• Serious labour shortages led employers (NHS, northern textile firms, London Transport) to advertise jobs across the New Commonwealth.

• London Transport sent recruiters to the Caribbean; 140 men from Barbados recruited in 1956.

• Black Caribbean men became familiar as bus drivers and conductors in the 1950s.

British Nationality Act (1948

• Made all Commonwealth citizens British citizens, giving them the legal right to settle in the UK.

• Combined with labour shortages, this triggered large‑scale migration and increased the black and Asian population.

Windrush & Early Migration

• 22 June 1948: 492 West Indians arrived at Tilbury Docks on the SS Empire Windrush — often seen as the start of mass migration.

• Followed by 108 Jamaican immigrants on the SS Orbita (Sept 1948).

• Next five years: around 3,000 black immigrants settled annually.

• Chain migration developed: people from the same Caribbean islands settled in the same UK areas (e.g., Nevisians in Leicester).