German migration to the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
German migration to the United Kingdom has been taking place for hundreds of years. Today, there are many Germans
living in the United Kingdom
, and many Britons have German ancestry, including the British royal family
. While the German-born are one of the UK's largest foreign-born groups
, many are British nationals
, rather than German nationals
, who were born in Germany
to British military
personnel based there.
were partly from what is now Germany, and created the notion of England as a Germanic country. Likewise, the English language was descended from their dialects. The Anglo-Saxons arrived in what later became England from the 440s. Examples include the Hanseatic
merchants of the Middle Ages
and also the sixteenth-century Protestant refugees who emigrated to Britain to flee the instability caused by the religious wars following the Reformation
. By the end of the seventeenth century, a significant German community had developed, consisting mostly of businessmen, mainly from Hamburg
; sugar bakers and other economic migrants.
In 1709-1710, thousands of Germans from the Palatinate, which had been invaded by French forces and suffered a severe winter, also migrated to England. Queen Anne's government had invited them, with the plan to settle Germans in the North American colonies. Some stayed in the London area. In 1714, George I
, a German-speaking Hanover
ian prince of mixed British and German descent, ascended to the British throne, founding the House of Hanover
. Every subsequent British monarch until Edward VII
in the Twentieth century would take a German spouse. While Edward VII did not take a German spouse, his wife was a Danish princess of pure German ancestry. His son would marry a British noble woman of pure German ancestry, and his great-granddaughter would marry a Greek prince of predominantly German ancestry. The British Royal family retained the German surname Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until 1917 when, in response to the anti-German feelings of World War I
, it was legally changed to the English-sounding 'Windsor
'. Even today, the Royal family is sometimes parodied as being 'German'.
In terms of religion, St Georges, a Lutheran Church dating from 1762-3, is the oldest German church in the UK. The congregation was founded by Dederich Beckmann, a wealthy sugar boiler and cousin of the first pastor. It served as a religious centre for generations of German immigrants who worked in the East End
sugar refineries, and meat and baking trades until the First World War. During the Nazi period in Germany, St George's pastor Julius Rieger set up a relief centre for Jewish refugees from Germany, who were provided with references to travel to England. The leading theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer
was also associated with the work of St George’s when Bonhoeffer was pastor at the nearby St Paul’s church between 1933 and 1935.
and Pakistanis. A large proportion of these people are thought to be the children of British military based in Germany at the time of their birth, who have since returned to the UK with their families. Wiltshire
, Colchester
, North Yorkshire
and Aldershot
, which are all home to significant army populations, had a combined German-born population of 12,000. The Office for National Statistics
estimates that in 2009, there were 295,000 German-born people living in the UK but only 112,000 German nationals. Other than in areas with army bases, German-born population clusters are found in west London
, particularly around Richmond, where there is a German school.
German Britons and German speakers have contributed to numerous areas in British life, especially in establishing powerful family dynasties. There are also areas and buildings named after famous Germans, such as Holbein Place in Central London, named after the Renaissance
painter Hans Holbein the Younger
, as well as the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, an independent museum
in Bath dedicated to the life and works of the famous astronomer
William Herschel
, who discovered the planet
Uranus
in 1781. In music, George Frideric Handel
, one of the greatest composers of the Baroque
era in the 17th century, was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II
. He became a subject of the British crown in 1727. In business & commerce, Germans have also been highly successful. Backes & Strauss
, the world's oldest Diamond
company was founded in 1789 by German businessmen Georg Carl Backes and (later on) Max Strauss. In 1818 Johann Heinrich Schröder
founded with his brother, the London-based firm Schroders
, today one of the world's largest investment banks. In 1851 Paul Julius Reuter founded the Reuters
news agency, now one of the large financial media organisations in the world.
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg
was the founder and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners
. As far as influential families go, the Freuds
(present in the UK today via Lucian
, Clement
and Matthew
) can trace their roots back to Germany and have the Freud Museum
named in honour of family patriarch Sigmund
. John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
, founded the Astor dynasty
in England. The Battenberg family
's roots go back to Prince Louis of Battenberg
who became a British subject, and whose immediate descendants were his youngest son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
, and his grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
and husband of Queen Elizabeth II
.
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
living in the United Kingdom
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...
, and many Britons have German ancestry, including the British royal family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. While the German-born are one of the UK's largest foreign-born groups
Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom
The foreign-born population of the United Kingdom includes immigrants from a wide range of countries who are resident in the United Kingdom. In the period January 2010 to December 2010, there were 19 foreign-born groups that consisted of at least 100,000 individuals residing in the UK The...
, many are British nationals
British nationality law
British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom that concerns citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex because of the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.-History:...
, rather than German nationals
German nationality law
German citizenship is based primarily on the principle of jus sanguinis. In other words one usually acquires German citizenship if a parent is a German citizen, irrespective of place of birth....
, who were born in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to British military
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
personnel based there.
History
Germans have resided in the United Kingdom throughout its history. The Anglo-SaxonsAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
were partly from what is now Germany, and created the notion of England as a Germanic country. Likewise, the English language was descended from their dialects. The Anglo-Saxons arrived in what later became England from the 440s. Examples include the Hanseatic
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...
merchants of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
and also the sixteenth-century Protestant refugees who emigrated to Britain to flee the instability caused by the religious wars following the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. By the end of the seventeenth century, a significant German community had developed, consisting mostly of businessmen, mainly from Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
; sugar bakers and other economic migrants.
In 1709-1710, thousands of Germans from the Palatinate, which had been invaded by French forces and suffered a severe winter, also migrated to England. Queen Anne's government had invited them, with the plan to settle Germans in the North American colonies. Some stayed in the London area. In 1714, George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
, a German-speaking Hanover
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...
ian prince of mixed British and German descent, ascended to the British throne, founding the House of Hanover
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...
. Every subsequent British monarch until Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
in the Twentieth century would take a German spouse. While Edward VII did not take a German spouse, his wife was a Danish princess of pure German ancestry. His son would marry a British noble woman of pure German ancestry, and his great-granddaughter would marry a Greek prince of predominantly German ancestry. The British Royal family retained the German surname Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until 1917 when, in response to the anti-German feelings of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, it was legally changed to the English-sounding 'Windsor
House of Windsor
The House of Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom...
'. Even today, the Royal family is sometimes parodied as being 'German'.
In terms of religion, St Georges, a Lutheran Church dating from 1762-3, is the oldest German church in the UK. The congregation was founded by Dederich Beckmann, a wealthy sugar boiler and cousin of the first pastor. It served as a religious centre for generations of German immigrants who worked in the East End
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
sugar refineries, and meat and baking trades until the First World War. During the Nazi period in Germany, St George's pastor Julius Rieger set up a relief centre for Jewish refugees from Germany, who were provided with references to travel to England. The leading theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and martyr. He was a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plans by members of the Abwehr to assassinate Adolf Hitler...
was also associated with the work of St George’s when Bonhoeffer was pastor at the nearby St Paul’s church between 1933 and 1935.
Population and distribution
The 2001 UK Census recorded 266,136 German-born people, making them the fourth-largest foreign-born group after Irish, IndiansBritish Indian
The term British Indian refers to citizens of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in India. This includes people born in the UK who are of Indian descent, and Indian-born people who have migrated to the UK...
and Pakistanis. A large proportion of these people are thought to be the children of British military based in Germany at the time of their birth, who have since returned to the UK with their families. Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
, Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
and Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
, which are all home to significant army populations, had a combined German-born population of 12,000. The 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 that in 2009, there were 295,000 German-born people living in the UK but only 112,000 German nationals. Other than in areas with army bases, German-born population clusters are found in west London
London
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...
, particularly around Richmond, where there is a German school.
German British influence
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...
painter Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger was a German artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He also produced religious art, satire and Reformation propaganda, and made a significant contribution to the history...
, as well as the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, an independent museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
in Bath dedicated to the life and works of the famous astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
William Herschel
William Herschel
Sir Frederick William Herschel, KH, FRS, German: Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel was a German-born British astronomer, technical expert, and composer. Born in Hanover, Wilhelm first followed his father into the Military Band of Hanover, but emigrated to Britain at age 19...
, who discovered the planet
Planet
A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
Uranus
Uranus
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. It has the third-largest planetary radius and fourth-largest planetary mass in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus , the father of Cronus and grandfather of Zeus...
in 1781. In music, George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
, one of the greatest composers of the Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
era in the 17th century, was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
. He became a subject of the British crown in 1727. In business & commerce, Germans have also been highly successful. Backes & Strauss
Backes & Strauss
- History :Founded in 1789, by German immigrant businessmen Georg Carl Backes and Max Strauss, the company is the oldest diamond company in the world.By the early 19th century Georg Carl Backes was a successful goldsmith in the city of Hanau...
, the world's oldest Diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
company was founded in 1789 by German businessmen Georg Carl Backes and (later on) Max Strauss. In 1818 Johann Heinrich Schröder
Johann Heinrich Schröder
Johann Heinrich Schröder was the founder of Schroders, one of the United Kingdom's largest investment banks.-Career:Having been admitted to his older brother's firm, J. F...
founded with his brother, the London-based firm Schroders
Schroders
Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company with over 200 years of experience in the world's financial markets. The company employs 2,905 people worldwide who are operating from 32 offices in 25 different countries around Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East...
, today one of the world's largest investment banks. In 1851 Paul Julius Reuter founded the Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
news agency, now one of the large financial media organisations in the world.
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg
Ekkehard von Kuenssberg MB ChB CBE PRCPG FRCOG FRCP , was a German-born pioneering Scottish medical doctor...
was the founder and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of General Practitioners
The Royal College of General Practitioners is the professional body for general practitioners in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including licensing, education, training, research and clinical standards. It is the largest of the medical royal colleges, with...
. As far as influential families go, the Freuds
Freud family
The family of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psychoanalysis, lived in Austria and Germany until the 1930s before emigrating to England, Canada and the United States...
(present in the UK today via Lucian
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
, Clement
Clement Freud
Sir Clement Raphael Freud was an English broadcaster, writer, politician and chef.-Early life:Freud was born in Berlin, the son of Jewish parents Ernst Ludwig Freud and Lucie née Brasch. He was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of artist Lucian Freud...
and Matthew
Matthew Freud
Matthew Freud is head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
) can trace their roots back to Germany and have the Freud Museum
Freud Museum
The Freud Museum, at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead, was the home of Sigmund Freud and his family when they escaped Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. It remained the family home until Anna Freud, the youngest daughter, died in 1982. The centrepiece of the museum is Freud's study, preserved...
named in honour of family patriarch Sigmund
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
. John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever DL was a British military officer, statesman, a newspaper proprietor, and a member of the prominent Astor family...
, founded the Astor dynasty
Astor family
The Astor family is a Anglo-American business family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding family members:...
in England. The Battenberg family
Battenberg family
The Battenberg family was a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Germany. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg with the style Illustrious Highness in 1851, at her...
's roots go back to Prince Louis of Battenberg
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven
Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, GCB, GCVO, KCMG, PC , formerly Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg, was a German prince related to the British Royal Family...
who became a British subject, and whose immediate descendants were his youngest son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
, and his grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
and husband of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.