Justice for Chinese Seafarers’ Families
Judy Kinnin (centre), daughter of a deported Chinese seafarer at a meeting in the House of Lords with Lord Sonny Leong and Sarah Owen MP
Liverpool is proud to be the home of the oldest Chinese community in Europe, a community built from long-standing maritime trade links connected to Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other ports of the Far East by the Alfred Holt and Company shipping conglomerate founded in the mid-nineteenth century.
The community quickly grew into the thousands and established Chinatown in the heart of the city, and in the heart of my Liverpool Riverside constituency, with many making Liverpool their hoped-for permanent home, marrying and starting families.
By the end of the second world war, the Home Office estimated that around 2,000 decommissioned Chinese seamen were residing in Liverpool. Despite the UK’s debt of gratitude to these seafarers who had risked their lives for the Allied war effort, wheels were put in motion behind closed doors in the corridors of power to remove their unwelcome presence.
In October 1945, a secret meeting was called in Whitehall, which sparked the opening of a new file titled ‘Compulsory repatriation of undesirable Chinese seamen.’ The Home Office decreed that its contents were not to be discussed in the House of Commons, the Lords, or with the press or to be acknowledged to the public.
The following July, the Liverpool Constabulary carried out these orders from the British government to indiscriminately round up and forcibly repatriate thousands of Chinese seamen in Merseyside.
Records of these actions were sealed, not to be released for 50 years, meaning the wives and children left behind believed they had been willingly deserted. The opening of the files told the racist truth. Following representations from some of the children, who had until then been denied knowledge of what happened to their fathers, I gained an Adjournment Debate in the House of Commons on 21 July 2021 to raise their heartbreaking and scandalous stories. Contributions for Kim Johnson - Hansard - UK Parliament
The response from the then Immigration Minister, Kevin Foster MP, was to commission a report into the forced deportations, which resulted in this report, Constituency\20220722 - Chinese seamen repatriation report FINAL with names (1).pdf which acknowledged the coercion, including the threat of Deportation Orders and lack of employment, which were applied to persuade seamen to depart involuntarily, alongside those forcibly deported.
This acknowledgment is a huge step forward for the families who have spent decades feeling abandoned by their fathers without knowing the truth about this blatantly racist act. I continue to campaign for a formal apology for the distress caused to the families – the wives, partners, and children – which has blighted the lives of their and subsequent generations.
On 10th July 2023, I co-hosted a meeting with Lord Sonny Leong in the House of Lords to highlight the injustices experienced by the families, attended by MPs Sarah Owen and Stephen Kinnock, our Shadow Immigration Minister. There they heard from Judy Kinnin, daughter of one of the seafarers, who told the heartbreaking story of how her father disappeared overnight, how other women came to her mum’s house the next day to tell a similar tale of men who hadn’t come home, and how the impact lives on down the generations. If it was you, she asked Stephen Kinnock, wouldn’t you want to know what happened to your dad?
Through the support of the East & South East Asians for Labour, who have given fantastic support to the campaign throughout, we have been put in touch with a leading immigration barrister to see how best to approach the issue of an apology. Support from Stephen Kinnock MP is there, and we will be holding another meeting – with the support of SME4Labour and S&SEAsians4Labour, at this year’s Labour Party conference to build awareness and drive the campaign for an apology for the descendants and a permanent memorial to the Chinese seafarers who played such a pivotal role in both World Wars and our shipping economy.
I am grateful to the following journalists and film-makers who have taken up this story and contributed to getting this scandalous episode in Liverpool’s history more widely known, in the hope that the children and grandchildren can find some answers:
Simon Morris: Deported Chinese sailors: An unfinished story decades in the making - CGTN
Nathan Williams, HistoryHit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxUXcFiOfYo
TOP: Judy Kinnin with her parents- this is the only record she has of her father.
BELOW: Mr and Mrs Foo, parents of Peter Foo, one of the children who has campaigned for justice.