Greek Britons

Infobox Ethnic group
group = Greek Britons
"Έλληνο-Βρετανούς"


caption = Notable Greek Britons:
Alex Kapranos·Peter Andre·Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh·George Michael·Marie Spartali Stillman·Marina Sirtis
flagicon|Greece flagicon|Cyprus flagicon|United Kingdom
poptime = Greek/Cypriot
Est. 400,000 +/-100,000
up to 0.7% of the British population
popplace = Throughout the United Kingdom, in particular, London·Birmingham·Liverpool·Manchester·Glasgow·Cardiff
langs = English·Greek·Languages of Greece
rels = Christianity

Greek Britons or Bogo(s) are people of Greek or Greek Cypriot ancestry who were born or were raised in the United Kingdom.

Early Greek settlement

Pytheas ( _el. Πυθέας) is the first known Greek to come to Britain, and "Pretannia", to become "Britannia", is Diodorus's hellenised version of the name already used by some of the local peoples of the time to describe themselves, "Pretani". Many Greeks later arrived with the Roman legions as soldiers and traders.

Following the death of the previous holder of the post, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus was appointed Head of the Anglican Church as Archbishop of Canterbury in 669 AD, playing an important part in the early history of England, building churches and monasteries and establishing theological studies. According to the Venerable Bede, Theodore contributed to the bringing of a greater unity to English Christianity, and in 672 presided over the first council of the entire English Church, at Hertford. The structure of dioceses and parishes he put in place is still substantially in place today.

Greeks later came to the island as sailors, merchants, missionaries, as mercenaries (especially after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453) and subsequently as students during Ottoman rule.The first documented organised Greek Orthodox Community was established in London in the 1670s, with the first Greek Orthodox Church in London being erected in 1677 [ [http://www.stsophia.org.uk/stsophia.htm History of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Divine Wisdom) ] ] , in Soho, on the corner of Charing Cross Road and Greek Street . The church was dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin and was consecrated by the Metropolitan of Samos, Joseph Georgerinis. Oxford also became home to a Greek community centred on what is now Worcester College, which was known as 'Greek College' for much of the 17th century. The Greek College was founded by Lord Paget, then ambassador to Constantinople, though recruitment of Greek students was halted in 1705 because " 'the irregular life of some priests and laymen of the Greek Church living in London has greatly disturbed the Greek Orthodox Church. Therefore the Church has also prevented those who wish to go and study at Oxford.'" [ [http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2001-02/v14n1/05.shtml The Greek College ] ]

In the 19th century, Greeks settled mostly in the port cities of London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. Britain gained control over Cyprus on 4 June, 1878 as a result of the Cyprus Convention and formally annexed it in 1913. Whereas prosperous Greek merchants began to settle in London's Bayswater, still home to the Greek Cathedral of Aghia Sophia, in the early 1800s, Greek Cypriots began to settle in London only from the 1930s Fact|date=June 2007. The earliest migrants came to the area around Soho, and many more arrived at the end of the Second World War. As rents in the West End increased, Camden and Fulham became popular areas for Greek-Cypriot migrants. Women initially worked from home in industries such as dressmaking. By the 1960s, a Greek language school and Greek Orthodox church, St Nicholas, had been established in Fulham.

Population numbers

Greece and Cyprus born

According to the 2001 UK Census 35,007 current British residents were born in Greece and 77,156 current British residents were born in Cyprus. Since Cyprus has a nominal Greek Cypriot population of 82%, approximately 63,000 of these British residents at the time of the Census may have been of Greek origin (assuming a negligible number of British ex-pats and servicemen giving birth abroad). Roughly 1/3 of Greek Greeks reside inside Greater London and 2/3 of Cypriots reside in Greater London.

The 2001 Census shows a 9.4% decline in the Cypriot born population in London between 1991 and 2001 and a 1.32% decline in the overall Cypriot born population in the UK, indicating that first generation Greek Cypriot Britons are either returning to Cyprus or migrating outwards to the rest of the UK with their families and the population is not being augmented with new net immigration. A 142.11% increase in Greek born British residents between 1991 and 2001 is explained by increasing numbers of Greek students, financial & medical professionals and academics.

Together the Greek and Greek Cypriot born population of the UK totals approximately 98,000. About 58,000 reside in Greater London and 40,000 reside outside of Greater London, a ratio of 3:2.

Included in these figures is a considerable number of Greek students from Greece studying in the UK. According to official UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results [ [http://www.hesa.ac.uk/press/pr108/pr108.htm UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results] ] for the 2005/2006 academic year, there were just under 18,000 Greek undergraduate and prostgraduate students in the UK (a drop from previous years). This was third only behind Chinese and Indian students.

According to a City of London Corporation sponsored report [Philip Baker & John Eversley, Multilingual Capital, commissioned by City of London Corporation, published by Battlebridge 2000.] , there are between 28,600-31,000 Greek speakers in Greater London. This obviously refers to Greek spoken as the main language at home since there are considerably more Greeks living in Greater London than this.

The study also reports that out of a total 896,743 London schoolchildren, 0.71% (24,467) come from a Greek-speaking home. Again this must mean Greek spoken as the main language.

There is currently no census of persons of Greek origin who use English as the home language, or of Greek Orthodox persons.

Historical development

According to "History of London's Greek community" by Jonathan Harris, Ph.D, [http://www.stsophia.org.uk/greekcommunity.htm] the Greek population of London numbered several thousand by 1870 AD whereas in 1850 AD it numbered just a few hundred.

Major Greek immigration occurred after the Greek struggle for independence which began in 1821. During the late 1800s and early 1900s approximately 500,000 Greeks are known to have migrated to America, therefore we can expect a considerable number must have also come to Great Britain on their way and settled, enough to have been able to afford to donate £50,000 to build St Sophia's Cathedral in London.

There was also considerable Greek and Greek Cypriot immigration into Great Britain between the two world wars.

Together these waves of immigration resulted in a population of about 90,000 Greeks and Greek Cypriots living in the UK by 1950 when another wave of migration, mainly from Cyprus began, after Britain invited the Commonwealth to provide it with workers and the anti-Greek pogroms in Constantinople (Istanbul). This major wave of Greek immigration and the one which followed after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 resulted in a further 80,000 (98,000-18,000) Greeks coming to the UK who declared themselves as born in Greece or Cyprus in the 2001 Census. These Greeks since their arrival have fathered at least 2 more generations as have the 90,000 descendents of the original Greek migrants who came to the UK in the 1800s and early 1900s, resulting in a current Greek population of up to 500,000 living in the UK. According to London Greek Radio, 300,000 Greeks live in London [http://www.lgr.co.uk/about_us/] . This leaves up to 200,000 Greeks living in the rest of the UK, interpolating from the 2001 Census results. Compare this to the current Greek American population of the US of about 1,500,000 which is mainly descended from 500,000 original immigrants who remained in America when immigration was clamped down on in the 1930s.

Today North London (in particular areas with large Greek populations like Southgate, Palmers Green and Harringey) is often referred to as 'Little Cyprus' since there are nearly as many Greek Cypriots living there as in the capital of Cyprus, Nicosia (Lefkosia), or approximately 270,000 people who constitute the highest number of Cypriots living outside Cyprus. An estimated 40,000 Greeks from Greece (excluding students) also live in the Greater London area, and about 50,000 people of Greek origin live in Birmingham, the Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester area. These numbers probably include a high proportion of people of combined Greek and Greek Cypriot ancestry since the 2001 UK Census shows that the ratio of Cyprus born Britons to Greece born Britons is 2:1. Probably 50% of Greek Britons have both parents Greek Cypriots, 25% are of mixed Greek and Greek Cypriot ancestry, and 25% have both parents Greek from Greece.

All in all the Greek population of the UK, consisting of Greeks from Cyprus, Greece and other parts of the east Mediterranean and people of mixed Greek ancestry estimated to reside in Great Britain is close to 400,000 +/-100,000. Other estimates vary depending on the criteria. It is accepted that the majority live in the Greater London region, in particular Southgate and Palmers Green. The sharpest increase in numbers has been Greeks arriving to fill banking and executive jobs in the financial sector of the City of London, in the medical professions and in academia.

Anglo-Greek decent

Since Greeks have lived in the UK for so long it is highly likely that up to 500,000 members of the UK population are of mixed Anglo-Greek decent.

Regional distribution

The UK regional percentages of people claiming Greek ancestry are:

*Assuming 82% of Cyprus born British residents in the 2001 Census are Greeks.

Locations of communities, churches and congregations

Significant Greek Orthodox communities, churches or congregations exist in the following places

Greater London: Battersea SW11, Camberwell SE5, Dartford DA16, Enfield EN3, EN5, Euston NW1, Finsbury Park N4, Forest Gate E7, Golders Green NW11, Hackney E8, Harrow HA3, Holloway N7, Hornsey N8, Kentish Town NW5, Kingston upon Thames KT2, Leyton E10, Leytonstone E11, Lower Edmonton N9, Muswell Hill N10, Paddington W2, Shepherds Bush W12, Stockwell SW9, Sutton SM1, Upper Norwood SE19, West Norwood SE27, Wood Green N22. West Norwood is also the site of a significant Greek Orthodox cemetery.

England: Aylesbury, Bath, Bedford, Birmingham B1, B23, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol BS5, BS8, Bury St. Edmunds, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Chester, Colchester & Clacton-on-Sea, Coventry, Derby, Eastbourne, Falmouth, Folkstone, Gillingham, Great Yarmouth, Hastings & St. Leonards-on-Sea, King's Lynn, Lake District (South), Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Luton, Maidstone, Manchester M7, M9, Mansfield, Margate, Middlesbrough & Stockton-on-Tees, Milton Keynes, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Peterborough, Plymouth, Preston, Reading, Rugby, Sheffield, Shrewsbury, Southhampton, Southend-on-Sea, Stockport, Stoke-on-Trent ST4, ST7, Telford, Torquay, Walsingham, Weston-Super-Mare, Wigan, Windsor & Slough, York

Cymru/Wales: Caerdydd/Cardiff, Lampeter, Llanelli, Rhuddlan, Saundersfoot, Swansea

Scotland: Aberdeen, Ardross Castle, Dundee, Edinbrough, Fort Augustus, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, St. Andrews, Fife, Stirling

Channel Islands: Jersey [Hmerologion tis Arhiepiskopis Thyteiron kai Megalis Bretanias]

Everyday life

Traditional Greek restaurants (known in the UK as Tavernas) have become part of mainstream British culinary life. As far as cultural events go, the Dionysos Greek Wine Festival & Culture (founded in 2003 to promote the Greek wine and food industry and raise funds for charities) attracts in excess of 12,000 visitors and is growing each year.

List of notable Greek Britons

See also

* Cypriot British
* Greek American

References

External links

* [http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/news/ART38889.html A short history of the Greek presence in pre-20th century London]
* [http://www.greekwinefestival.co.uk/ Greek wine festival]
* [http://www.lgr.co.uk/ London Greek Radio]
* [http://www.greeklondon.co.uk/ Greek London online magazine]
* [http://www.sefl.org.uk/ Union of Greek students in london]
* [http://www.helleniccentre.org The Hellenic Centre, promoting Hellenic Culture in the UK]
* [http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Classics/LFGD/ London Festival of Greek Drama]
* [http://www.parikia.com/parikiamedia/index.html Parikia - Newspapers for the UK Greek community]
* [http://www.parikia.co.uk Parikia Directory - Promoting Greek and Cypriot Businesses in the UK]
* [http://www.thyateira.org.uk/ The Archdiocese of Thyatira and Great Britain]