It is very sad to report that John Richards, one of the passengers on the Empire Windrush when it docked at Tilbury in May 1948, passed away on 10th March at the age of ninety-eight. John featured in a number of iconic images, not least the one above. John is on the right and, as you can see, he was a very snappy dresser!
The other two men in the photo are John Hazel (on the left), a boxer who settled in Liverpool, and Harold Wilmot, a member of the Southlanders vocal group and father of the entertainer Gary Wilmot.
We were privileged to meet John several times and he was a courteous and modest man, a real gentleman. He will be sadly missed by all those who knew him.
The Windrush Foundation have produced a short documentary film and an e-book about his life, both can be obtained via the Foundation’s website: https://windrushfoundation.com/john-richards-no-regrets/
