'He came to do a job': pioneer of Windrush generation dies at 98

Alford Gardner, one of the last remaining Windrush passengers who once said he "didn't expect to be a part of history", has died. He was 98.

- Geneva Abdul

Gardner, who was born in Jamaica, became a pioneering member of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants who marked the symbolic beginning of a multicultural Britain.

His son, Howard, said yesterday that Alford had died on Tuesday at his Leeds home. He had been unwell after being diagnosed with bowel cancer this summer.

"It's very hard to know what to say at this time. 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.

"He never thought of himself as a pioneer. He came to do a job twice during the war and he came again on the Windrush to help rebuild the country."