John Henry Smythe

John Henry Clavell Smythe was born in Freetown in the British colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa in 1915 into a Creole (Krio) family, descended from freed slaves sent to the country by the British.

At the beginning of the Second World War he joined a local defence force, becoming a sergeant. In May 1943 Smythe received an emergency commission as a pilot officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteers Reserve (RAFVR) and was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer six months later. He joined number 623 Squadron. On Smythe’s 27th flight and on his 5th mission he was shot down, wounded and captured, spending 18 months as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft 1, a prisoner of war camp in Barth in the east of Germany.

 In May 1945, a week after the Second World War ended, Smythe was promoted to the rank of flight lieutenant. After the war, he was seconded to the Colonial Office and given responsibility for the welfare of demobilised RAF personnel who had served from Africa and the Caribbean. 

In 1948, he was a senior officer on the Empire Windrush, supporting the migration of former Royal Air Force personnel from UK to the Caribbean. He played a crucial role in the decision to bring many of the men back to the UK to seek work, which led to the inception of the Windrush Generation.

Smythe was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire) in 1951 and qualified as barrister in the Inns Of Court before returning to Sierra Leone where he served as Attorney General and would help to write the laws for Independence for his country. He retired to live in Oxfordshire and died in 1996”.