Windrush 'pioneer' Alford Gardner who 'didn't expect to be part of history' dies aged 98

Alford Gardner, who was 98, arrived in the UK via Essex's Tilbury docks aged 22 in 1948, and went on to settle in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where he founded Leeds Caribbean CC

A Windrush “pioneer”, Alford Gardner, who once told how he “didn’t expect to be part of history” has died aged 98.

Jamaican-born Alford, a Pride of Britain winner, was from a generation of Caribbean workers, who helped rebuild post-war Britain. They were invited to the UK to work in sectors such as the NHS and on transport networks and between 1948 and 1971, more than 500,000 men and women created a new life here.

Last year Alford, who was only one of two surviving passengers on the original Windrush voyage in 1948, received a Pride of Britain award on their behalf. The Windrush legend, who set up Britain's first Caribbean cricket club after arriving in the UK, was left stunned when Prince William turned up on his doorstep to announce the news.

The Prince of Wales then took him to Headingley cricket ground for a surprise involving four generations of his family alongside some of the world’s biggest cricketing legends of the last 50 years. William told him: “I think hopefully you’ve seen how much you mean to everyone round here. They’ve all come out to say thank you.

"And I wanna say thank you as well to you and all the Windrush generation who started so many things off when you first arrived all those years ago.” It had been an amazing year for Alford, who’d also met Prince William’s father, after the RAF veteran became one of ten Windrush survivors whose portraits have been painted for the Royal Collection.

The great great grandfather met the King at a royal reception before they went on display. "Imagine me, a little country boy, in Buckingham Palace! Me in it?" he said after the event. Alford was born in 1926 growing up with nine siblings in Montego Bay and Springfield, Jamaica.

He dreamed of following in the footsteps of his policeman father, who had fought in the First World War. So when a recruitment campaign for men to join the Royal Air Force RAF came to his village in 1943, he signed up aged 17. He returned to Jamaica after the war and arrived in Tilbury docks in Essex aged 22 in 1948 before settling in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

“When we arrived many had anticipated racism, we had read about the reaction many West Indians received in London, but initially we were met with open arms,” he recalled. “Of course there were tough times, but I always took people how I saw them and so many people were good to me.”

He once told The Guardian how he borrowed money from his dad to pay for the voyage: “I just settled in and didn’t let anything bother me. I worked hard, played hard and enjoyed life. “ He added: “Every now and again someone sees me on the bus and says ‘Oh Hello Mr Gardner. Oh I saw you on the tell’. It’s really, really funny, it isn’t me at all, it’s history and I didn't expect to be a part of it.

Alford settled in his beloved Leeds he'd visited years earlier and went on to marry his wartime sweetheart Norma, with whom he had nine children. "I left home as a boy - I came to England and grew up as a man," he said. Norma died in 2013 after the couple had divorced but he found love again with Jean after they bonded at the bingo hall.

His son, Howard, confirmed the death on Wednesday, said he had died on Tuesday in his Leeds home. Alford had been unwell for some time after being diagnosed with bowel cancer this summer, according to his son. “It’s very hard to know what to say at this time, to be honest.

"As a family we’re all very sad about his death,” said Howard, 73 who co-authored his father’s memoir, Finding Home: A Windrush Story, published in June 2023. The England and Wales cricket board also wrote on social media, describing him as: “A pioneer and a trailblazer."

"A founder of Leeds Caribbean CC. and someone who did so much for the Black cricketing community in this country. Rest in peace, Alfrod Gardner.” The Jamaican Society in Leeds also reacted to his death and wrote on X: “Leeds's last surviving Caribbean WW2 veteran & Windrush passenger, Alford Gardner has passed at 98.

“A proud Jamaican, and part of a generation who helped to rebuild postwar Leeds and Britain we owe him more than a tweet can say. Thank you Mr Gardner. For everything.”