Britalian
Encyclopedia
Italians in the United Kingdom also known as British Italians or Britalians are British citizens or residents of Italian ethnic or national origin. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom
of Italian
descent, someone who has themselves emigrated from Italy to the United Kingdom or someone born elsewhere (e.g. the United States
) who are of Italian descent and have migrated to the UK. More specific terms used to describe Italians in the United Kingdom include: Italian English, Italian Scots and Italian Welsh
.
were the first Italians to settle in the British Isles
who came as far back as AD 43
, when Emperor Claudius
invaded.
in the fifteenth century initially consisting of ecclesiastics, humanists, merchants, bankers, and artists." In the aftermath of the English Reformation
, amongst other religious refugees from the Europe
an continent, many Italian Protestants found Tudor
England to be a hospitable haven, and brought with them cultural Italian ties. The fifteenth century also saw the birth of a pivotal Italo-Englishman in the form of John Florio, a famed language
teacher, lexicographer, and translator. The Titus
family is another significant group that settled in England in the time of the Renaissance
.
The arts flourished under the Hanoverian
dynasty and this attracted many more Italian artists and musicians to Britain.
, the unescorted Arandora Star was torpedoed by the and sank within 30 minutes. One historian describes it as the "most tragic event in the history of the [British] Italian community... no other Italian community in the world has suffered such a blow." On the 19 July the Home Secretary, wrote a letter to Lord Halifax
, the Foreign Secretary, in which he made it clear that he realised mistakes had been made in selecting Italians for the Arandora Star. Lord Snell was charged with conducting a government inquiry into the tragedy. He recognised that the method of selecting dangerous Italians was not satisfactory and the result was that among those earmarked for deportation were a number of non-fascists and people whose sympathies lay with Britain.
, where over 50,000 people of Italian birth live http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/italy.stm, Manchester
, where 25,000 Italians live http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3223776.stm, Bedford
, where there are over 14,000 people of Italian origin living, has the highest concentration of Italian immigrants in the UK and Peterborough
. This is mainly as a result of labour
recruitment in the 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of Puglia
and Campania
. By 1960 approximately 7,500 Italian men were employed by London Brick in Bedford and a further 3,000 in Peterborough. In 1962 the Scalabrini Fathers
, who first arrived in Peterborough in 1956, purchased an old school and converted it into a church named after the patron saint
of workers San Giuseppe
. By 1991 over 3,000 christenings
of second-generation Italians had been carried out there.
recorded a total of 107,244 Italian-born
people resident in the United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics
estimates put the equivalent figure for 2009 at 106,000. Italian
is the first language of 200,000 people in the UK.
Italian expatiate sport is becoming increasingly popular in the UK especially in London. Expatiates in addition to Britalians are represented in football and in the Olimpiadi Gioventù Italiana (Italian youth Olympics). By far the most popular sporting club is London Italian Rugby Club. The club is growing from strength to strength each year.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
of Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
descent, someone who has themselves emigrated from Italy to the United Kingdom or someone born elsewhere (e.g. the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) who are of Italian descent and have migrated to the UK. More specific terms used to describe Italians in the United Kingdom include: Italian English, Italian Scots and Italian Welsh
Welsh Italians
Welsh Italians are British citizens residing in Wales whose ancestry wholly or partly originates in Italy. Most Italian immigration to Wales took place in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the largest number of migrants settling in Glamorgan and Newport.-Migration history:Italian immigrants...
.
Roman Britain
The RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
were the first Italians to settle in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
who came as far back as AD 43
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
, when Emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
invaded.
Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries
According to historian Michael Wayatt, there was "a small but influential community" of Italians "that took shape in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the fifteenth century initially consisting of ecclesiastics, humanists, merchants, bankers, and artists." In the aftermath of the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
, amongst other religious refugees from the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an continent, many Italian Protestants found Tudor
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
England to be a hospitable haven, and brought with them cultural Italian ties. The fifteenth century also saw the birth of a pivotal Italo-Englishman in the form of John Florio, a famed language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
teacher, lexicographer, and translator. The Titus
Titus (disambiguation)
Titus is a common Roman praenomen of unknown etymology , which could refer to any of the following:-Ancient Rome:* Emperor Titus , Titus Flavius Vespasianus...
family is another significant group that settled in England in the time of the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
.
The arts flourished under the Hanoverian
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
dynasty and this attracted many more Italian artists and musicians to Britain.
Second World War
The sinking of the steamship on 2 July 1940 resulted in the loss of over 700 lives—including 446 British-Italians being deported as undesirable. Italians comprised almost half of the ship's 1564 passengers; the rest were British soldiers, German POWs and Jewish refugees. Sailing for Canada from LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, the unescorted Arandora Star was torpedoed by the and sank within 30 minutes. One historian describes it as the "most tragic event in the history of the [British] Italian community... no other Italian community in the world has suffered such a blow." On the 19 July the Home Secretary, wrote a letter to Lord Halifax
E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, , known as The Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and as The Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s, during which he held several senior ministerial posts, most notably as...
, the Foreign Secretary, in which he made it clear that he realised mistakes had been made in selecting Italians for the Arandora Star. Lord Snell was charged with conducting a government inquiry into the tragedy. He recognised that the method of selecting dangerous Italians was not satisfactory and the result was that among those earmarked for deportation were a number of non-fascists and people whose sympathies lay with Britain.
Post-War to Present
The region of the country containing the most Italian Britons is LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where over 50,000 people of Italian birth live http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/uk/05/born_abroad/countries/html/italy.stm, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, where 25,000 Italians live http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3223776.stm, Bedford
Bedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
, where there are over 14,000 people of Italian origin living, has the highest concentration of Italian immigrants in the UK and Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
. This is mainly as a result of labour
Workforce
The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...
recruitment in the 1950s by the London Brick Company in the southern Italian regions of Puglia
Apulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
and Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
. By 1960 approximately 7,500 Italian men were employed by London Brick in Bedford and a further 3,000 in Peterborough. In 1962 the Scalabrini Fathers
Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo
The Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo or Scalabrinian Missionaries are a Roman Catholic religious order of brothers and priests founded by Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Bishop of Piacenza in Italy, in 1887...
, who first arrived in Peterborough in 1956, purchased an old school and converted it into a church named after the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of workers San Giuseppe
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
. By 1991 over 3,000 christenings
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
of second-generation Italians had been carried out there.
Population
The 2001 censusUnited Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
recorded a total of 107,244 Italian-born
Italian diaspora
The term Italian diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian economic miracle in the 1960s...
people resident in the United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
estimates put the equivalent figure for 2009 at 106,000. Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
is the first language of 200,000 people in the UK.
Distribution
Italians and British born people of Italian descent reside across the entire UK. Also unlike many ethnic groups in the country, there are actually substantial numbers of Italians outside of England (i.e. the numbers of Asians, Blacks etc. in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are much less than those in England, population and percentage wise). Locations with significant Italian populations within the UK are listed below.- LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
- 39,000 Italian born people only - ManchesterManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
- 25,000 Italians and British born Italians - BedfordBedfordBedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
- 14,000 (20% of town's population is of Italian origin) - GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
- A large percentage of the 35,000+ Italian Scots
Italian expatiate sport is becoming increasingly popular in the UK especially in London. Expatiates in addition to Britalians are represented in football and in the Olimpiadi Gioventù Italiana (Italian youth Olympics). By far the most popular sporting club is London Italian Rugby Club. The club is growing from strength to strength each year.
See also
- Romano-British culture
- Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
- Lists of U.K. locations with large Italian populations
- Italy – United Kingdom relations
- List of Italian Britons
- Italian diasporaItalian diasporaThe term Italian diaspora refers to the large-scale migration of Italians away from Italy in the period roughly beginning with the unification of Italy in 1861 and ending with the Italian economic miracle in the 1960s...
- Accademia ApuliaAccademia ApuliaAccademia Apulia UK is a non-profit organization founded in April 2008 in London, offering a creative platform and a network of support to anyone wishing to further their career in the United Kingdom. The Accademia provides a dynamic forum so members can stay in touch and share professional...