Howard Grey

In May 1962, a 20-year-old photography student called Howard Grey captured a series of historic photographs - but he wasn't able to develop them until recently. Read on to hear more about his amazing story, as told to The Observer.

At the beginning of 1962, the immigration laws in the UK were due to change.

The changes would make it much more difficult for people living in the West Indies (a group of islands including Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Barbados) to come to the UK to live and work, so there was a rush of people wanting to make the journey.

Many wanted to join family members who were already in the UK.

In May 1962, the young photographer Howard had heard that a train was due to arrive in London bringing people who had come to the UK on the last ship carrying passengers from the West Indies, which had recently docked in Southampton.

He grabbed his cameras and rushed to Waterloo station.

I read that there was a train coming into London full of people from the West Indies who wanted to live and work in this country. Because most of the islands in the Caribbean were British Colonies at the time, they didn't have to have a visa to travel here. But the British government was about to change this arrangement, so these particular people on the train were the last to arrive before this change became law. I thought immediately I should go down to the station as see if I could get some very historic photographs Howard Grey , talking to Newsround

In an interview with the Observer, the photographer - who is now 77 years old - explained how there were three or four hundred people all excitedly waiting for their relatives to arrive.

About 150 people got off the train and Howard started to capture what was going on.

He didn't like using a flash, so he snapped away and got through three rolls of film in 20 minutes - hoping that his pictures would come out.

"When I eventually got to the station I remember the day was so dark that I knew couldn't get usable photographs. But still I clicked away," he told Newsround.

As he suspected might happen, the pictures didn't develop properly as they were too dark.

Howard put away the rolls of film in an envelope in his studio and accepted that the photos would never see the light of day.

"There was nothing I could do. It was just a pity," he said.

Howard Grey Howard says that he does not have the details of the people in the photographs, but he hopes that somebody might recognise themselves or their relatives, and come forward

However, in 2014, he saw a TV programme which talked about new technology which might make it possible to develop his pictures from all those years ago.

He dug out the film, got to work - and the photos came to life, more than 50 years later.

"I was absolutely astounded and wanted the whole photographic world to know about what I had achieved," he told Newsround. "It meant that by cleverly applying a smart bit of digital technology to my 'useless' analog negatives, I could at last see what I couldn't see 52 years before.

"These photos mean lots of things to me. Firstly, I had at last rescued my failed photo-shoot, which I never envisaged I'd be able to do.

"Secondly, with all the concern around the world about immigration and the politics behind it all, I am delighted that now - with my 'new' photographs and story - I can perhaps make a difference, however small, to the various issues surrounding the global movement of people."

You can see a selection of the photographs below.

Howard Grey

Howard Grey

Howard Grey

Howard Grey

Howard Grey

Howard Grey

Howard Grey