Deanna Walsh: analysing The Lonely Londoners

For her final assignment, Deanna Walsh analysed Sam Selvon’s 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners. Here she introduces this significant text. You can read her full essay here. 

Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners (1956)

Introduced by Deanna Walsh

When reflecting on Black history, and in particular Black British identity, we often look to the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in 1948. While there had already been a significant black presence in Britain for at least 500 years (see, for example, Peter Fryer’s 1984 work Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain), the arrival of Empire Windrush marked an important moment in the nation’s history, carrying an influx of Caribbean migrants and with them a whole new generation with dreams of great success, aptly named the Windrush Generation. The Windrush Generation were returning to their ‘motherland’, having been invited to Britain following the Labour Government’s 1948 Nationality Act, which granted British citizenship to all Commonwealth subjects. After the Second World War, the British West Indies faced an almost doubled surge in cost-of-living alongside a scarce labour market, leaving many in dire straits. The opportunity for Caribbean migrants to ‘live like a king in London’ (Selvon, 1956; 2006, p.73) was alluring, as reflected by Lord Kitchener’s calypso ‘London is the Place for Me’ (Kitchener,1948, n.p). Unfortunately, the migrants did not receive the warm welcome they expected or deserved. Instead, the Windrush generation were thrust into a cold society that did not meet their expectations. With rampant racism, a lack of job opportunities and housing, they were met with a hostile and unforgiving environment, leading many to poverty and social unrest. 

Aboard the Empire Windrush, alongside Lord Kitchener, was Sam Selvon. As part of the Windrush Generation, Selvon faced these challenges first-hand, an experience that directly influenced the canonical text The Lonely Londoners (1956). The Lonely Londoners intimately grapples with the complex issues that the Windrush Generation lived through, giving voice to those who had been pushed aside and silenced. Selvon takes us through the disillusionment and rejection that they faced, as his protagonists come to learn that British citizenship does not equate to respect. While Selvon’s narrative sometimes challenges the racism in post-war London with humour—shown through the manipulation of racist rhetoric by Big City who ‘would put a notice on all the boards: “Keep the Water Coloured. No Rooms for Whites.”’ (Selvon, 1956; 2006, p.87)—he also confronts a deeply tragic issue through the character Sir Galahad. Galahad arrives in great spirits and an ‘old grey tropical suit’ (Selvon, 1956; 2006, p.12), but as the novel progresses Galahad becomes troubled, battling with his Blackness. After numerous racist encounters, Galahad’s identity becomes fragmented as he separates Blackness from his self: ‘colour, is you that causing all this […] is not he who causing botheration in the place, but Black’ (Selvon, 1956; 2006, p.76). 

The Lonely Londoners presents a rich, complex map of competing modes of survival for Caribbean migrants trying to become Londoners, dipping into the ups and downs of their everyday struggles. Selvon takes us into the ‘real grim’ margins of London, where ‘the people who living in London don’t really know [how London could] be so desolate and discouraging’ (Selvon, 1956; 2006, p.35). Thus, The Lonely Londoners is a significant text that engages with post-war London to highlight and confront the issues that the Windrush Generation faced, whilst documenting the beginnings of the immense social unrest that followed in its footsteps.