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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Unique Windrush photographs to join National Railway Museum

A collection of unique photos featuring the latest Windrush migrants arriving at Waterloo Station are set to join the permanent collection of the National Railway Museum.

The 37 prints taken by photographer Howard Gray will officially become part of the national collection of more than 1.75 million photographs held in the museum’s archives and will appear as part of a new exhibition in the station hall.

Howard Gray, 20, drove to Waterloo Station in May 1962, shortly before the introduction of the Government Immigration Act, which ended the automatic right of settlement in Britain for citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States.




About 150 people came to Waterloo from Southampton, where they were greeted by friends and family queuing at the station, but Howard was the only photographer there.

Despite the use of three film reels, the images were blurely exposed and remained invisible until 2014, when new scanning technology and a documentary on TV cases allowed Howard to recover the lost images.

Howard said: “It was amazing to see the pictures I took in the 1960s finally come to life. When the negatives did not develop at first to produce prints, I just put them on and did not think about them but to look at them now and see them tell the stories of the period is wonderful.




“I’m happy to bring these pictures to the National Railway Museum. When they are displayed, I hope visitors are inspired to learn more about these people’s stories and this important part of our history.”

Although they recovered in 2014, relatively little is still known about the people in Howard’s photographs and the museum hopes to work with partners and other archives to find out more about what happened to them once they arrived in the UK.

A selection of Windrash photographs will be displayed as part of a new permanent exhibition of the station’s hall, ‘Passes through’, And will help illustrate how stations are used for passengers to start or end travel, switch places and change relationships.




The photos will appear alongside exhibits and other artifacts from the collection such as ‘Waterloo Station’ by Terence Cuneo, a former bookstore at WH Smith Station, and the museum’s collection of five original royal carriages.

Ed Bartholomew, chief curator at the National Railway Museum, said: “Howard Gray’s photographs of the Windrush migrants give us a unique glimpse into this important moment in history and illustrate the many ways railroads can affect people’s lives. Of the train and we can not wait for a selection of them to be displayed in the station hall. “

The National Railway Museum’s station hall is a former railway goods warehouse and is scheduled to receive a renovation plan as part of the museum’s vision for the “Vision 2025” museum. It will include roof repairs and a new permanent exhibition supported by Friends of the National Railway Museum and scheduled to be completed by 2023.





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