The "Windrush" Nurses
The NHS officially opened on the 5th of July 1948 following campaigning and planning by Aneurin Bevan. It was understaffed from its inception and so the NHS actively sought staff from all over the world, focusing on Commonwealth countries.
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Worldwide call for staff
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People were invited to the UK by the government, and they came from all over the globe, nurses and midwives from Jamaica, Barbados and Malaysia and doctors from India and Pakistan.
On the 22nd of June 1948 the now famous ‘Empire Windrush’ docked at Tilbury bringing the first wave of Caribbean immigrants coming to help rebuild post war Britain and to staff the NHS. 492 passengers travelled on board. Though integral to the NHS, life proved difficult for these migrants. It proved hard to find accommodation and they were not accepted socially.
(left) The National Windrush Monument (Creative Commons image), and (above) the Empire Windrush, originally a German ship captured as a prize of war by the British in 1945. (public domain image)
A pamphlet entitled "A West Indian in England" A West Indian in England - The National Archives was produced in 1950 by The Central Office of Information in order to aid these migrants to adjust to life UK.
The opening page reads; "As you get closer into London, you may begin to notice the effect of the Blitz. Several houses and warehouses beside the railway lines are mere shells, completely burnt out and gutted, mute reminders of the German effort to dislocate the complex railroad system that connects London with the rest of England"
By 1954, there were more than 3,000 women from the Caribbean training as nurses in British Hospitals.
Nurses training at the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary. (UHDB Medical Museum Collection)
Nurses at the Manor Hospital. (UHDB Medical Museum Collection)
One of these "Windrush" nurses was Dorcas Minto, grandmother of Stacey Martin, Registered Nurse at UHDB NHS Foundation Trust.
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Dorcas, originally from Saint Annes in Jamaica, came over to Britain with the promise of developing a Nursing career. This she achieved and Dorcas worked for Derby Hospitals, specialising in Women and Children until she retired in the 1990's.
Dorcas Minto
(UHDB Medical Museum Collection)
Derby West Indian Community
In Derby, the first seed of the Derby West Indian Association was sown in 1955 when a group of West Indians met in a house to discuss unity and survival in a foreign land. Several attempts were made to establish a formal Centre for West Indians but without success. They continued to have meetings in each other's homes, using the local authority premises at Peartree House for larger meetings.
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In 1977, a search for a base for the West Indian Community began in earnest. With the help and advice of the Derby Council for Voluntary Services, an application was made to the Department of the Environment for a grant towards what was called a “Day Centre”, with a hall to provide accommodation for 200 people, a nursery, a room for the elderly West Indians, a library, office, Committee Room, indoor games equipment and furnishings. The application however failed.
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An application in 1977/78 for £49,000 under the Government Urban Programme through Derbyshire County Council was successful. However, by this time most people now felt their problems were over and it was not until 1981 that they were able to move into the first phase of the building. The Derby West Indian Community Cultural Centre (DWICA) was officially opened on 31st July 1982. It is a voluntary run community organisation which exists to provide services for the Black and Culturally Diverse community of Derby.