Immigration

Many different influxes of foreign immigrants have shaped modern British life – from Jewish businessmen to French Protestant craftsmen fleeing persecution and West Indians leaving their homes in the British Commonwealth to help rebuild England after WWII. The following facts show that ethnic variety is indeed the spice of life:

· Jews fleeing Eastern Europe in the late 19th century started businesses that have become high street names, such as Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

· We have the son of a Hungarian immigrant to thank for our Odeon cinemas - in 1928, his ‘palaces for the people’ hit the high street.

· French Huguenots escaping the persecution of Louis XIV in the 17th century helped found the Bank of England.

· In about 1720, Lord Pembroke smuggled Huguenot craftsmen from France in empty wine casks in order to use their weaving skills at the Wilton carpet factory. Wilton is still a carpet-making centre and descendants of the original Huguenots live in nearby Dorset.

· The first large group of Muslims in the UK arrived about 300 years ago – they were sailors recruited to work in India for the East India Company and so it’s not surprising that the first Muslim communities were found in port towns.

· By the end of the 1700s, there were about 20,000 black people living in London. After a long struggle, slavery in the British Empire was finally banned in 1883.

· The first recorded mosque in Britain was in Cardiff in 1860.

· When the Empire Windrush sailed into Tilbury Docks on June 22, 1948, it brought 500 Jamaican passengers who would be recruited to work for the National Health Service, London Transport and the British Hotels and Restaurants Association.

· When immigrants came from Pakistan to the UK in the 1950s and 60s, they could earn 30 times as much in the UK as they could in their home country.

· In 1972, 60, 000 Asians were expelled by President Amin from Uganda, many of whom were allowed to settle in Britain.

· Over 66% of independently-owned ‘corner shops’ are run and owned by people whose families are from another country.

· The majority of UK ‘Indian restaurants’ are run by people of Bangladeshi, not Indian, origin.