Person    | Male  Born 8/5/1926  Died 10/3/2025

John Richards

Categories: Transport

Countries: Jamaica

Windrush Pioneer. Born Jamaica. Aged 19, he travelled to the US to work on Louisiana farms. In 1948 he emigrated on the Windrush to the UK. On arrival he was one of the 256 migrants housed in Clapham South Underground station, where he lived for several weeks before moving to Kensal Rise. He worked for British Rail for 43 years.  Some sources give his birth year as 1929.

At source this photo, showing what a snappy dressy Richards was, is captioned: "John Richards, right, with two other passengers, John Hazel, left, and Harold Wilmot, arriving at Tilbury Docks in London on board the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. Photograph: Douglas Miller/Getty Images". 

Sources include: The Guardian, Windrush Foundation.

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
John Richards

Creations i

National Windrush monument

Unveiled on Windrush day in 2022. The full poem is available at Laura Serrant.

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Other Subjects

Midland Railway Company

Midland Railway Company

Railway company based in Derby.

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1 memorial
Esso UK PLC

Esso UK PLC

Fuel company. The name is a phonetic representation of the initials of the company's predecessor Standard Oil. In 1972 it was generally replaced by the name Exxon. 

Group, Transport

2 memorials
Tough Brothers Boatyard

Tough Brothers Boatyard

The Boatyard of Tough Brothers, Ferry Road,was at the wharf opposite Teddington Lock. In May 1940 Douglas Tough organised and assembled 100 private boats at that location to join in the Dunkirk eva...

Place, Transport

1 memorial
Paul Atterbury

Paul Atterbury

As this is a fairly unusual name, we are presuming he's the same person who is one of the experts on the BBC television series 'Antiques Roadshow'. He has also written about railways.

Person, Transport, TV & Radio

1 memorial
Francis Blakey

Francis Blakey

Aged 34 when he died. Probably worked at London Bridge station for British Rail, or the Underground, or one of the railway companies. Our colleague, Andrew Behan, states that Francis O'Rourke Blak...

Person, Transport, Scotland

1 memorial