Prince William today paid tribute to one of only two surviving passengers of the Empire Windrush and cricket trailblazer Alford Gardner following his death aged 98.
The Prince of Wales praised the legacy of Mr Gardner who worked to break down racial barriers by setting up Britain’s first Caribbean cricket club in Leeds in 1948 – three months after arriving in the UK from Jamaica on the HMT Empire Windrush.
Mr Gardner had also served in the RAF as an engineer and motor mechanic during the Second World War.
William visited Mr Gardner at his home in Leeds for ITV‘s Pride Of Britain: A Windrush Special documentary last October, before taking him to Headingley cricket ground to a surprise celebration with cricketing stars.
Today, the Prince said in a personal message posted on Kensington Palace’s social media: ‘I was so sorry to hear of the passing of Alford Gardner, one of the last surviving passengers of the Empire Windrush.
In a personal message posted on Kensington Palace’s social media this morning, Prince William said Alford Gardner ‘changed the lives of so many with his courage and positivity’
Alford Gardner meets Prince William at his home in Leeds last October as part of ITV’s Pride Of Britain: A Windrush Special last October, before he was taken to Headingley cricket ground
Alford Gardner bowls at Prince William as they enjoy a game of cricket in October last year
‘I was delighted to spend some time with him last summer and hear his story. As a leading figure in the Caribbean community in West Yorkshire, he changed the lives of so many with his courage and positivity.
‘He leaves behind a legacy for us all to be proud of and will be remembered for his warmth, his courage, and of course his unwavering love of cricket! W
Mr Gardner was among the first to arrive from the Windrush generation – people who travelled to the UK between 1948 and 1971 from Caribbean countries, answering Britain’s call to help fill post-war labour shortages.
He was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants disembarked the ship at Tilbury Docks in Essex on June 22, 1948.
During the ITV documentary, which marked the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation last year, Mr Gardner was joined at Headingley by friends, family and famous cricketing names, including Darren Gough.
Alford Gardner at the opening of a Windrush photo exhibition at Clapham Library in June 2023
He bowled at William, who urged him: ‘Easy ball, easy ball Alford. Be gentle.’
The prince added: ‘Oh, he’s got it.’
Mr Gardner joked: ‘I can’t remember the last time I bowled a ball.’
William quizzed him on how the club had got started, asking: ‘Was there any other cricket clubs up here when you arrived?’
Mr Gardner replied: ‘Yeah, but I wanted a West Indian team. We started working on it. Some lads still in the RAF came up. Lads from Manchester came across … so they get a team together. The main thing was to have fun.’
William asked: ‘Were you a bowler or a batsman, or both?’
Mr Gardner replied: ‘I tried everything. I wouldn’t say I was good at anything.’
The Prince described the club as acting as a ‘hub’ for people in the area, saying: ‘You have such a positive spirit, has that always been you?’
Prince William and Alford Gardner attend the unveiling of the National Windrush Monument at London Waterloo railway station alongside Baroness Floella Benjamin in June 2022Â
William and Kate stand with Alford Gardner by the monument at London Waterloo in 2022
Mr Gardner chuckled: ‘Always been me.’
Mr Gardner was part of the Windrush generation who received an Outstanding Contribution award at the Daily Mirror Pride Of Britain Awards on October 8 last year.
Last year, the King hailed new portraits of the Windrush generation, including Mr Gardner, as pictorial records of a ‘very special’ group of people.
Charles told Jamaican-born Mr Gardner at a Buckingham Palace reception that his portrait by artist Chloe Cox was ‘marvellous’.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Mr Gardner ‘did so much for the black cricketing community in this country’.
Actress and campaigner Baroness Floella Benjamin said Mr Gardner ‘encapsulated joy, dignity and courage’.
And Leeds City Council said it presented him with the Leeds Award in February ‘for his vast achievements and contribution to the city’.
In 2018, 70 years after stepping off the Empire Windrush to start a new life in the UK, Mr Gardner said: ‘If I had to do it again, I would do every damn thing just the same.’
A photo of Alford Gardner which formed part of an exhibition at Clapham Library in 2023
He also said that he was first warned about the possibility that Windrush migrants could be thrown out of the UK almost three decades earlier.
Mr Gardner said he was told by a friend in 1987 that ‘people like me could be thrown out of the country’, adding he responded by applying for British citizenship at a cost of £80.
He said the Windrush scandal, which erupted in 2018 after it emerged that the UK Home Office had kept no records of those granted permission to stay – and had not issued the paperwork they needed to confirm their status, was a ‘disgrace’.
‘It shouldn’t be happening,’ Mr Gardner said in 2018, adding: ‘It’s disgraceful what’s going on. People don’t realise how hard we worked to get this country back on its feet.’
Those affected were unable to prove they were in the country legally and were prevented from accessing healthcare, work and housing and threatened with deportation.
Alford Gardner attends the opening night of ‘Small Island’ at the Olivier Theatre in May 2019
Paying tribute to Mr Gardner yesterday, the ECB wrote: ‘A pioneer and a trail-blazer. A founder of Leeds Caribbean CC, and someone who did so much for the black cricketing community in this country. Rest in peace, Alford Gardner.’
In a social media post, Baroness Benjamin said: ‘I have total respect and admiration for Windrush pioneer Alford Gardner who died aged 98. He encapsulated joy, dignity and courage.’
Leeds North East MP Fabian Hamilton said he was ‘deeply saddened by the passing of Alford’.
Mr Hamilton added in a post on social media: ‘Alford was a pioneering part of the generation that helped to rebuild Leeds and Britain after WW2.
‘His legacy is one of equality and social justice. He will be missed by everyone he met in his many years since arriving on HMS Windrush.’
