Greek Britons

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Greek Britons
Έλληνο-Βρετανοί

Notable Greek Britons: Alex Kapranos · Peter Andre · Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh · George Michael · Marie Spartali Stillman · Marina Sirtis
Total population
Approx. 400,000[1]
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 (including Greek Cypriots) ancestry who were born or were raised in the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Early Greek settlement 2 Population numbers 3 Notable people 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Early Greek settlement

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Pytheas (Greek: 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.

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, the capital of the 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^[2], 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.'"^[3]

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^{[citation needed]}. 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.

[edit] Population numbers

According to "History of London's Greek community" by Jonathan Harris, Ph.D,^[4] the Greek population of London numbered several thousand by 1870 AD whereas in 1850 AD it numbered just a few hundred.

According to the 2001 UK Census 35,169 current British residents were born in Greece and 77,673 UK residents were born in Cyprus, although the latter includes Turkish as well as Greek Cypriots.^[5] Recent estimates suggest that up to 400,000 ethnic Greeks may reside in the UK.^[1]

The 2001 Census recorded 12,360 Greek-born people living in London, with particular concentrations in the Hyde Park, Regent's Park, Chelsea and Kensington Census tracts.^[6] There are also large Greek communities in Sunderland, Moss Side in Manchester, Birmingham and Colchester.^[6] Generally, clusters Cypriot-born people are found in the same locations as Turkish-born people, with 60 per cent living in areas of London with notable Turkish communities.^[7] The Census tracts with the highest number of Cypriot-born people in 2001 were Palmers Green, Upper Edmonton, Cockfosters, Lower Edmonton, Tottenham North and Tottenham South.^[7] Many Greek-Cypriots reside in Wood Green, Green Lanes and Palmers Green, the latter habouring the largest community of Greek-Cypriots outside Cyprus, resulting in these areas bearing local nicknames whereby the Green is replaced by Greek – as in Greek Lanes and Palmers Greek.^[8][9][10]

According to a City of London Corporation sponsored report^[11], there are between 28,600 and 31,000 Greek speakers in Greater London.

A considerable number of Greek students study in the UK. According to official UK Higher Education Statistics Agency statistics, 16,050 Greek students were attending UK universities in 2006/07, making Greece the fourth most common country of origin amongst overseas students in 2006/07, after China, India and the Republic of Ireland.^[12]

[edit] Notable people

[edit] See also

• British Cypriots
• British-Greek relations

[edit] References

[edit] 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
• HHJ Karamanis T.C.

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