Allan Wilmot

Allan Wilmot

Allan Wilmot, who died in 2021 aged 96, was one of the oldest surviving Caribbean second world war veterans. Allan was unusual as a black serviceman during the conflict because he served in both the Royal Navy and the RAF.

Now You Know

biography

a performance by kat francois

Bio performance

Allan Wilmot

In his 2015 autobiography Now You Know, Allan wrote: “Growing up, I soon became aware of the poverty that many other Jamaicans families experienced.”

1925

1941

1954

Born in Jamaica

Came to London

Became a member of the soulful Southlanders singing group .

He helped set up the West Indian Ex-Servicemen’s Association, which originally met at the YMCA in central London’s Tottenham Court Road in the early 1970s, and then moved to its own building at Clapham, in south London. It’s now known as the West Indian Association of Service Personnel.

BIO Performance

This performance by the artist Kat Francois is specially commissioned by IWM to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush. It gives Kat's response to the extraordinary lives of real people.