My father, Karl Buckley, who has died aged 87, was one of the Windrush generation. He arrived in Britain in autumn 1948 with £5 in his pocket and a determination to make a better life for himself.
He lost his first job as an apprentice carpenter in London as he worked too slowly; Karl said that was because it was so cold, and his hands did not warm up enough to hold the tools until lunchtime. When he was first looking for lodgings, he would see signs saying “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs”.
Fortunately he soon got a job at the engineering firm HW Cullum (now Cullum Detuners) in London. He moved to Derby with them and worked on Rolls-Royce sites for more than 40 years. Karl enjoyed his work and was steadily promoted until his retirement in 1993. He loved his adopted country and was extremely patriotic, supporting the England cricket team even when they played the Windies.
Karl had grown up in rural Jamaica. Son of Caroline (nee Mills) and Clifford Buckley, he was born in Portland, but was raised in Clarendon with his father’s family. At first he was taught at home by an aunt, and struggled to read and write. He eventually learned to read in his teens at night school – although his spelling never improved. He was apprenticed to a tailor at 15 and then to a carpenter. Then he got the idea of moving to Britain, and his mother agreed to let him go when he was 18.
Karl said that on the day he boarded the SS Orbita, he waited in vain for his father to turn up with some money to help him make his new start. He set sail on 18 September 1948 and was seasick for most of the voyage to Liverpool. He kept one of the original pound notes he arrived with for years afterwards.
In 1959 Karl married Anne Willingham, a teacher from Norfolk, whom he met at the Trocadero dance hall in Derby. They were courageous trailblazers for interracial marriage.
Karl discovered golf in his 40s and became an evangelist for the sport – even converting Anne. Karl was immensely proud to serve as captain and president of Derby Golf Club. For many years the club was his second home. His third home was Derbyshire County Cricket Club. In retirement there were cricket friends, golf friends, jazz friends, work friends, church friends and many more.
Anne died in 2005. Karl is survived by me, and by two grandsons, Tom and Jamie.
