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Greek Britons
Έλληνο-Βρετανοί

File:Alex Kapranos by Robert Hardy.jpg Notable Greek Britons: Alex Kapranos · Peter Andre · Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh · George Michael · Marie Spartali Stillman · Marina Sirtis
Regions with significant populations
Throughout the United Kingdom, in particular, London · Birmingham · Liverpool · Manchester · Glasgow · Cardiff
Languages
English · Greek · Languages of Greece
Religion
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

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Pytheas (Template:Lang-el) 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.

The earliest Greek presence in London can be attributed to the two brothers, Andronikos and Alexios Effomatos- described in contemporary records as "Grekes"- who were known to have been resident in London in 1440. They were from Constantinople, then the capital of the moribund Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire. - - In 1445, the king of England, Henry VI (1421-1471), granted the brothers permission to remain in London and to practise their trade of gold wire drawing. They made a costly type of thread in which thin strands of gold were intertwined with silk, and which was then used in expensive luxury fabrics and in sacerdotal vestments, a craft for which Constantinople had been famous in its heyday. Thanks to this royal grant, the brothers remained in London for many years. They lived first in the area of Cripplegate, much of which is now covered by the Barbican Centre, and later they moved to Broad Street, in what was then the Italian quarter of London. Andronikos, the elder, died in about 1472, but Alexios was still there in 1484, over forty years after his first arrival. - - That set the pattern for Greek settlement over the next two hundred years. Some came as visitors for a short period. In about 1545, Nikandros Noukios of Corfu spent time in London and left an interesting account of his impressions. Nikodemos Metaxas, a printer by trade, worked in London for a time in the 1620s. Some came as refugees, seeking asylum or financial help as a result of misfortunes suffered under Ottoman rule. One of them was Gregorios Argyropoulos, the owner of an estate near Thessaloniki. When a Turkish soldier was accidentally killed on Argyropoulos' land, the Ottoman authorities held him responsible and forced him to flee overseas and eventually to London in 1633. A charitable collection was made for him in London churches, and he was presented with £48 before he departed the following year. A few individuals settled permanently, such as a native of Rhodes called Constantinos Benetos, who was recorded as living in Clerkenwell between 1530 and 1578. These visitors, refugees and occasional long- term residents did not, as yet, constitute a community. They were too few, too obscure and too transitory, and above all they lacked the one thing that would have given them cohesion and a common identity: a church where they could practise their Orthodox faith. - - By the late seventeenth century, matters had changed somewhat. A number of Greeks now occupied prominent positions in London life. Constantinos Rodocanachi of Chios had become one of the physicians to King Charles II (163 I -I 685) (PI. 1). Georgios Constantinos of Skopelos had established the Grecian coffeehouse in Devereux court, just off the Strand, and could count Sir Isaac Newton and other members of the Royal Society among his clientele. Numbers had also increased. The expansion of Britain's overseas trade with the Levant brought many more merchant ships to the port of London, some of them crewed by Greeks. The time was therefore ripe to press for the establishment of a Greek Church.

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, 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.'"

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 . 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. Cyprus has a nominal Greek Cypriot population of 82%, and Turkish Cypriot population of 18%. The number of British servicemen and their families living in Cyprus is negligible.

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.

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 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, 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, 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.

In the 1950s 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). Another wave of immigration followed after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. These Greeks since their arrival have fathered several generations, 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 . This leaves up to 200,000 Greeks living in the rest of the UK.

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. A considerable number Greeks from Greece also live in the Greater London area, and in the areas around Birmingham, the Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester area. These numbers probably include a high proportion of people of combined Greek and Greek Cypriot ancestry, but the majority of Greek Britons today are of Cypriot ancestry.

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. Other estimates vary by abour 100,000 either way 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 descent

Since Greeks have lived in the UK for so long it is highly likely that a large proportion of the UK population are of mixed Anglo-Greek descent.

Regional distribution

The UK regional percentages of people claiming Greek ancestry can be derived from tables published by the BBC:

Cyprus

Greece

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

List of notable Greek Britons

See also

• Cypriot British
• Greece-United Kingdom relations
• Greek American

References

1. History of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia (Divine Wisdom)
2. The Greek College
3. 2001 Census
4. UK Higher Education Statistics Agency results
5. Philip Baker & John Eversley, Multilingual Capital, commissioned by City of London Corporation, published by Battlebridge 2000.
6. http://www.stsophia.org.uk/greekcommunity.htm
7. http://www.stsophia.org.uk/greekcommunity.htm
8. Greek Americans
9. The National Federation of Cypriots in the UK and the Greek Orthodox Church in the UK.
10. http://www.lgr.co.uk/About-LGR-Radio.html
11. RIK (Radiofoniko Idrima Kyprou) news 2008
12. The National Federation of Cypriots and The Greek Orthodox Diocese of Thyatira and Great Britain
13. 2001 UK Census
14. Hmerologion tis Arhiepiskopis Thyteiron kai Megalis Bretanias

External links

• A short history of the Greek presence in pre-20th century London
• Greek wine festival
• London Greek Radio
• Greek London online magazine
• Union of Greek students in london
• The Hellenic Centre, promoting Hellenic Culture in the UK
• London Festival of Greek Drama
• Parikia - Newspapers for the UK Greek community
• Parikia Directory - Promoting Greek and Cypriot Businesses in the UK
• The Archdiocese of Thyatira and Great Britain

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• Greek minorities
• British people of Greek descent
• Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom