Moving to London - London Transport films and Caribbean recruitment
Introduction
To combat labour shortages at home, London Transport (LT) recruited staff from Barbados, a British colony in the Caribbean, from 1956 to 1970.
This direct recruitment scheme also later extended to Jamaica and Trinidad, running at a time when governments in the Caribbean were seeking jobs for their growing populations.
In partnership with the Barbadian government, a system of interviews and tests was established, and applicants who passed a preliminary test were given a talk on the living conditions in the UK.
They were warned about the weather and cramped living quarters, and were given a booklet with general information about life in Britain and advice for ‘intending emigrants’.
In contrast to this measured, slightly cautionary tone, they were also shown an official London Transport promotional film portraying a wholly positive view of London and the cheerful, efficient and modern LT organisation they hoped to join.
As citizens of the British Empire they were more than familiar with Britain, its history and culture, but less so with the details of its public transport systems. In later years successful applicants criticised the lack of specific information about the content of the work itself.
See two of these promotional films - Moving Millions and All That Mighty Heart in our collection below.
Moving Millions
In 1956, recruits were treated to Moving Millions, a black-and-white film covering London and its transport made nearly ten years before by the British government’s official mouthpiece, the Central Office of Information.
Its 1940s narrator’s clipped upper-class accent and propagandist style were intended to convey the bewildering complexity of London and LT’s expertise in handling it, not to introduce the organisation to prospective staff.
All That Mighty Heart
In 1963, Moving Millions was replaced by a more modern take on the subject, All That Mighty Heart.
Although it’s a much better film, and is now considered a classic, it was possibly even less successful as an introduction to life as an LT employee than its post-war predecessor.
It uses theme music and continuity announcements from BBC Radio that would have been as unknown to Caribbean recruits as they are to modern viewers.
It focuses on tourist sites rather than everyday London, and travellers rather than staff, including a young couple from Stevenage travelling into town to see a West End show.
One contemporary writer commented: “As an aid to accurate information on the organization, it was misleading and to that extent damaging: the Thames glinting in the moonlight - in colour - is far removed from the problems of dealing with drunks at Piccadilly Circus on a Saturday night and going home to one or two rooms in Stoke Newington.”
Imagine watching these films in a government office in Bridgetown, Barbados, thinking about moving 4,000 km away, and eager to know more about LT, one of London’s biggest employers.
Discover more about London Transport's Caribbean recruitment
Open now, Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce exhibition celebrates the huge contribution people of Caribbean heritage have made to transport history and British culture.
After the Second World War, London Transport experienced labour shortages. To maintain a sufficiently large workforce, the organisation increasingly needed to look beyond London. Read more about London Transport’s direct recruitment from the Caribbean.
- Exhibitions
How we made our new exhibition Legacies: London Transport's Caribbean Workforce
Find out how we developed our exhibition, Legacies: London Transport's Caribbean Workforce, working closely with an Advisory Board made up of people of Caribbean heritage, in this blog by Senior Curator Laura Sleath.
