HMT Empire Windrush Records

The request was successful.

Dear National Archives,

Please could you supply a list of documents you hold on those who arrived on HMT Empire Windrush, including those covered by the 70 year rule or other means of secrecy.

It appears the Home Office have destroyed their records of the individuals arriving, which has been consequential for the immigration status of those settlers still living. I therefore hope you might have a duplicate of the boarding cards or some other records, unavailable in the public catalogues, which could assist those who need to evidence their immigration status.

Yours faithfully,

Anthony Ellis

foienquiry, National Archives

Freedom of Information Request: Reference F0052332

Dear Anthony Ellis,

Thank you for your enquiry of 18 April 2018, in which you asked for the following information.

Please could you supply a list of documents you hold on those who arrived on HMT Empire Windrush, including those covered by the 70 year rule or other means of secrecy.
It appears the Home Office have destroyed their records of the individuals arriving, which has been consequential for the immigration status of those settlers still living. I therefore hope you might have a duplicate of the boarding cards or some other records, unavailable in the public catalogues, which could assist those who need to evidence their immigration status.

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000. The FOI Act gives you the right to know whether we hold the information you want and to have it communicated to you, subject to any exemptions that may apply.

I can confirm that The National Archives holds some information relevant to your request. We are pleased to be able to provide this information to you below.

• In our BT 26 series, we hold inward passenger lists for the HMT Empire Windrush covering the period 1947 to 1953. These are listed here on our catalogue Discovery: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk...

All of these passenger lists are open and available to search and download from Ancestry.co.uk: https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db....

The relevant passenger list for the famous journey in June 1948, from Jamaica to London, carrying West Indian immigrants is BT 26/1237/91: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk...

• We also hold policy files identifiable by reference to HMT Empire Windrush, for the period 1948 to 1949, which can be found here on our catalogue Discovery:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk...

All of these records are open and available to access in our reading rooms at Kew.

• We do not hold any duplicate landing cards as requested in your final paragraph.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or the decision that has been reached, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests must be submitted within two months of the date of this response and should be addressed to:

Quality Manager
Programme Management Office
The National Archives
Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU
[email address]

Please mark your complaint clearly. You have the right to ask the Information Commissioner (ICO) to investigate any aspect of your complaint. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect internal complaints procedures to have been exhausted before beginning her investigation.
Yours sincerely,

FOI Assessor
Freedom of Information Centre
Programme Management Office
The National Archives

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