History of Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Bangladesh
is are one of the largest immigrant
communities in the United Kingdom
. Significant numbers of ethnic Bengalis
arrived as early as the 17th century, including Sylhetis
, who mostly arrived as lascar seamen working on ships. Following the founding of Bangladesh in 1971, a large immigration to Britain took place during the 1970s, leading to the establishment of a British Bangladeshi
community. Bangladeshis were encouraged to move to Britain during that decade because of changes in immigration laws, natural disasters such as the Bhola cyclone, the Bangladesh Liberation War
against Pakistan
, and the desire to escape poverty
, and the perception of a better living led Sylheti men bringing their families. They initially experienced high rates of racial attacks and unemployment, but have since integrated into British society over the last several decades.
brought over thousands of South Asian
scholars, lascars and workers, who were mostly Bengali and Muslim
, to Britain. Due to the majority of early Bengali immigrants being lascar seamen, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division
of what is now Bangladesh
. One of the most famous early Bengali Muslim immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomet
, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo
and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom. There are other records of Sylhetis
working in London restaurants since at least 1873. By the time World War I
began, there were 51,616 South Asian lascars living in Britain, the majority of whom were of Bengali descent.
Due to the lack of Bengali women in Britain at the time, most early Bengali immigrants settled down and took local white British
wives. As a result, most early British-born Bengalis were usually 'mixed-race
' ('Anglo-Indian
' or 'Eurasian
'), famous examples including Albert Mahomet and Frederick Akbar Mahomed
. Most of these 'mixed-race' offspring also assimilated into British society through marriage with the local white population, thus there was never a permanent British Bengali community until Bangladeshi women began arriving in large numbers from the 1970s, after which a majority of Bangladeshis chose to marry among one another, leading to the establishment of a permanent British Bangladeshi community.
to search for employment during the 1950s and the 1960s. Bangladesh has witnessed a series of political upheavals, starting with the end of British India in 1947 when countries were partitioned
by religious terms. The majority of these people settled in industrial cities and towns such as Birmingham, Luton, Bedford, Oldham, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool, Sunderland and Tower Hamlets
, particularly around Spitalfields
and Brick Lane
. Many of them came from the Sylhet region
- which is located in the north-east of Bangladesh.
In the 1970s, changes in immigration laws
encouraged a wave of Bangladeshis to come to the UK and settle. Job opportunities were initially limited to low paid sectors, with unskilled jobs in small factories and the textile trade being especially common. But when the 'Indian' restaurant business developed, some Sylhetis started to open cafes as businesses. From these small beginnings and developments, a network of Bangladeshi restaurants, shops and banks became established in Brick Lane and the surrounding areas. The influence of Bangladeshi culture and diversity can be seen across London in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Newham
, Camden
and Southwark
(known today as Bangladesh) went to war against West Pakistan
(Pakistan
) for independence, in what was known as the Bangladesh Liberation War
. The Pakistani infantry then started occupy the Sylhet region where many Bangladeshis come from; this led some people to join the Mukti Bahini
in their defense and a battle against the Pakistanis. For example, Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani a Sylheti, who was in command of the Teliapara Tea Estate in Sylhet, who then became the commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces in April 1971, was one of many who were part of the success of the war. He died in 1984 in London where he spent his time diagnosed with cancer, living with his family in the UK. However, even though there were many heroic efforts by Sylhetis during the war, this also led large numbers of Sylhet
is to flee, arriving in the UK during the 1970s.
Bengalis in Britain also took part in the War of Independence. In August 1969, Bangladeshi settlers in Birmingham formed East Pakistan Liberation Front. Its President was Abdus Sabur Choudhury and Secretary was Abdul Aziz Bhuyan. There was a fortnightly called Bidrohi Bangla published by Mr Mustafizur Rahman. Getting the news of Pakistani military action in 25 March 1971 there was a movement in Birmingham Smallheath Park. Over 10 thousand Bangali were present there. In that gathering, East Pakistan Liberation Front was abolished and Bangladesh Action Committee was formed. Justice Abu Saeed Chowdhury was its President and Abdul Aziz Bhuyan was Secretary.
Actions and Movements:
- 5 March 1971 - Demonstration in front Pakistan High Commission in London. Flag burning and memorandum handover to high commissioner for liberation
- 7 March 1971 all Party Gathering in Smallheath Park Birmingham renounce of deceleration of Independence,
- 28 March uplifting Bangladesh Flag in Smallheath Park Birmingham.
- 3 May 1971 300 MP of British Parliament agreed to support Bangladesh movement
- 21 June 1971 120 Bengali went to Paris to demonstrate against Pakistan Aid Consortium of 12 developed countries. Pakistan did not get any Aid.
- 30 June 1971 Pakistani ship Padma full of arms and ammunitions was in the jetty of Montreal sea port Canada. Bangladesh Action Committee demonstrated in front of Canadian High Commission and finally Canadian government ceased it.
After all those movements and Demonstrations western media, activists and governments went against Pakistan and helped Bangladesh liberation. Bengalis in Britain played a significant role in the independence of Bangladesh.
Bangladeshis first started arriving in the UK in large numbers in the 1970s and mostly settled in and around the Brick Lane area of East London. By that stage, the majority of the people living in the ward were of Bangladeshi origin, with nearly 60% of the resident population. However, some Bengalis had been present in the country as early as the 1920s. Author Caroline Adams records one instance in 1925 when a lost Bengali searching for other Bengali settlers in London was told by a policeman: 'you better go on until you smell curry'. At this time, there were many more Jewish
people in London than there were Bengalis. Some of these were Sylhetis who came to Britain by sea after working as lascars
on ships. One of the earliest Bengali
immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomed, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo
and therapeutic massage in Britain.
Bangladeshis who came to the UK anticipated the country would provide them with great opportunities. However, there were various problems experienced by many of these immigrants. They lived and worked in cramped basements and attics in Tower Hamlets. Centuries earlier, these same properties had housed Huguenot
immigrants who weaved silk and worked for very long hours in badly heated and poorly lit workshops. The Bengalis found they could not interact with the English-speaking population, and therefore could not enter higher education. There has been a decline in business throughout East London, which has led to unemployment among Bangladeshi workers. The garment manufacturing industry was part of this decline. The Bangladeshis instead became cooks, waiters and mechanics, but their progress up the social and economic ladder was a slow one. The men were often illiterate, poorly educated, and spoke little English. They became easy targets for some of their ruthless compatriots who seized control of their housing in Whitechapel
in the 1970s and sold the properties onto other Sylhetis, many of who had no legal claim to the buildings.
By 1970, Brick Lane, and many of the streets around it, had become predominantly Bengali. The Jewish bakeries were turned into curry houses, the jewellery shops were turned into sari
stores, and the synagogues into dress factories. In 1976, the synagogue at the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane became the Jamme Masjid (community mosque)
. The building that now houses the Jamme Masjid represents the history of successive communities of immigrants in this part of London. In 1743, this same building had been built as a French Protestant Church. In 1819, it became a Methodist Chapel, and then in 1898, it was used by Jewish people as the Spitalfields
Great Synagogue. Following the increase in the number of Bengalis in the area, the Jews migrated to outlying suburbs of London, as they integrated
with the majority British population. They sold off the synagogue, which then became the Jamme Masjid or 'Great London Mosque', which continues to serve the Bangladeshi community to this day. A film released in 2007, named after the street of Brick Lane itself, is based on a novel by author Monica Ali
.
In the 1970s, there was a large rise in the number of attacks on Bangladeshis. Racial tensions in the area had been simmering for 40 years, since Oswald Mosley
incited attacks on the older Jewish communities in the 1930s. White power skinhead gangs began to roam the Brick Lane area, where they vandalised property and spat at Bengali children. In Bethnal Green
, National Front
members handed out leaflets on the streets and assembled people at a pub in Cheshire Street
. Bengali children were allowed out of school early, with their mothers walking to work in groups to shield them from potential violence. Parents began to start imposing curfews on their children for their own safety. Later, the Tower Hamlets council fitted their flats with fire-proof letterboxes to protect Bangladeshi tenants from racially motivated arson.
Residents began to fight back by creating committees and youth groups such as the Bangladesh Youth Movement, which was formed by young activists led by Shajahan Lutfur. One 4 May 1978, Altab Ali, a 25 year old was murdered in a racist attack, as he walked home from work. The murder took place near the corner of Adler Street and Whitechapel Road
by St Mary's Churchyard. The killers were three teenage boys, Roy Arnold (17-year old from Limehouse), Carl Ludlow (17-year old from Bow) and un-named mixed race 16-year old boy who killed him, and they left a message on a nearby wall which said, "We’re back". This then led to over 7,000 Bangladeshis including others to take part in a demonstration against racist violence and marched behind Altab Ali’s coffin to Number 10 Downing Street. Then on September 1978, the National Front moved its headquarters from Teddington
in West London to Great Eastern Street, a few minutes' walk from Brick Lane.
The name Altab Ali became associated with a movement of resistance against racist attacks, and remains linked with this struggle for human rights
to this day. His murder was the trigger for the first significant political organisation against racism by local Bangladeshis. Today’s phenomenal identification and association of British Bangladeshis with Tower Hamlets still owes much to this campaign. A park on Whitechapel Road is named after Altab Ali. The park is the main destination for demonstrations for the local people as of today. At the entrance to the park there is an arch created by David Peterson, developed as a memorial to Altab Ali and other victims of racist attacks. The arch incorporates a complex Bengali-style pattern, meant to show the merging of different cultures in East London.
(BNP) where a few Bangladeshi students were severely injured. Racial violence started to occur again against the Bangladeshis and other ethnic groups, when during 1993 when the BNP party — regarded as a racist party, won a seat in the Isle of Dogs
, Tower Hamlets. The party started to sell their newspapers in Brick Lane, and later that year, some party members attacked young Bangladeshi students. Both were seriously injured and were in a coma. Demonstrations later started to occur against the party, calling for a shut down, and led the party to abandon their normal paper-sell proceedings. One of the two Bangladeshis attacked was Quaddas Ali on September 1993, a 17 year old who was a student at Tower Hamlets College
. In February 1994, Muktar Ahmed aged 19, was savagely beaten by a group of 20 white youths in Bethnal Green
. This was followed by an attack by white youths the next day who were armed with iron bars and dogs, attacked students from Tower Hamlets College who were taking their lunch break in the nearby park. The next day another 14 year old Bengali boy was stabbed in the face by four men on Bethnal Green Road.
council officially renamed the 'Spitalfields
' electoral ward to Spitalfields and Banglatown. Surrounding streets were redecorated, with lamp posts painted in green and red, which are the colours of the Bangladeshi flag
.
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
is are one of the largest immigrant
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
communities 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...
. Significant numbers of ethnic Bengalis
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
arrived as early as the 17th century, including Sylhetis
Sylheti language
Sylheti is the language of Sylhet, which is also known as the Surma Valley and is located in the north-eastern region of Bangladesh, and also spoken in parts of the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripura...
, who mostly arrived as lascar seamen working on ships. Following the founding of Bangladesh in 1971, a large immigration to Britain took place during the 1970s, leading to the establishment of a British Bangladeshi
British Bangladeshi
A British Bangladeshi is a person of Bangladeshi origin who resides in the United Kingdom having emigrated to the UK and attained citizenship through naturalisation or whose parents did so; they are also known as British Bengalis...
community. Bangladeshis were encouraged to move to Britain during that decade because of changes in immigration laws, natural disasters such as the Bhola cyclone, the Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
against Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and the desire to escape poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, and the perception of a better living led Sylheti men bringing their families. They initially experienced high rates of racial attacks and unemployment, but have since integrated into British society over the last several decades.
Early history of Bengalis in Britain
Throughout the 17th to early 20th centuries, the British East India CompanyEast India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
brought over thousands of South Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
scholars, lascars and workers, who were mostly Bengali and Muslim
Islam in the United Kingdom
Islam has been present in the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707, though it was not legally recognised until the Trinitarian Act in 1812. Today it is the second largest religion in the country with estimates suggesting that by 2010 the total Muslim population had reached 2.869 million.The...
, to Britain. Due to the majority of early Bengali immigrants being lascar seamen, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division , also known as Greater Sylhet or Sylhet region, is the northeastern division of Bangladesh, named after its main city, Sylhet...
of what is now Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
. One of the most famous early Bengali Muslim immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomet
Sake Dean Mahomet
Sake Dean Mahomed was a Bengali traveler, surgeon and entrepreneur who introduced the Indian curry house restaurant in Britain, and was the first Indian to have written a book in English. He also established "shampooing" baths in Great Britain, where he offered therapeutic massage,The word...
, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom. There are other records of Sylhetis
Sylheti language
Sylheti is the language of Sylhet, which is also known as the Surma Valley and is located in the north-eastern region of Bangladesh, and also spoken in parts of the Northeast Indian states of Assam and Tripura...
working in London restaurants since at least 1873. By the time 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...
began, there were 51,616 South Asian lascars living in Britain, the majority of whom were of Bengali descent.
Due to the lack of Bengali women in Britain at the time, most early Bengali immigrants settled down and took local white British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
wives. As a result, most early British-born Bengalis were usually 'mixed-race
British Mixed-Race
Mixed is an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census. Colloquially it refers to British citizens or residents whose parents are of two or more different races or ethnic backgrounds...
' ('Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indian
Anglo-Indians are people who have mixed Indian and British ancestry, or people of British descent born or living in India, now mainly historical in the latter sense. British residents in India used the term "Eurasians" for people of mixed European and Indian descent...
' or 'Eurasian
Eurasian (mixed ancestry)
The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....
'), famous examples including Albert Mahomet and Frederick Akbar Mahomed
Frederick Akbar Mahomed
Frederick Henry Horatio Akbar Mahomed was an internationally known British physician from Brighton, England, in the late 19th century.-Family:...
. Most of these 'mixed-race' offspring also assimilated into British society through marriage with the local white population, thus there was never a permanent British Bengali community until Bangladeshi women began arriving in large numbers from the 1970s, after which a majority of Bangladeshis chose to marry among one another, leading to the establishment of a permanent British Bangladeshi community.
Causes of immigration
The reasons why Bangladeshis immigrated to the United Kingdom include the need to find work, earn a better living and to escape conflict. Large numbers of Bangladeshi men emigrated to 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...
to search for employment during the 1950s and the 1960s. Bangladesh has witnessed a series of political upheavals, starting with the end of British India in 1947 when countries were partitioned
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
by religious terms. The majority of these people settled in industrial cities and towns such as Birmingham, Luton, Bedford, Oldham, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool, Sunderland and Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
, particularly around Spitalfields
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...
and Brick Lane
Brick Lane
Brick Lane is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of...
. Many of them came from the Sylhet region
Sylhet Division
Sylhet Division , also known as Greater Sylhet or Sylhet region, is the northeastern division of Bangladesh, named after its main city, Sylhet...
- which is located in the north-east of Bangladesh.
In the 1970s, changes in immigration laws
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:...
encouraged a wave of Bangladeshis to come to the UK and settle. Job opportunities were initially limited to low paid sectors, with unskilled jobs in small factories and the textile trade being especially common. But when the 'Indian' restaurant business developed, some Sylhetis started to open cafes as businesses. From these small beginnings and developments, a network of Bangladeshi restaurants, shops and banks became established in Brick Lane and the surrounding areas. The influence of Bangladeshi culture and diversity can be seen across London in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Newham
London Borough of Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough formed from the towns of West Ham and East Ham, within East London.It is situated east of the City of London, and is north of the River Thames. According to 2006 estimates, Newham has one of the highest ethnic minority populations of all the...
, Camden
London Borough of Camden
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...
and Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
Bangladesh Liberation War
During 1971 East PakistanEast Pakistan
East Pakistan was a provincial state of Pakistan established in 14 August 1947. The provincial state existed until its declaration of independence on 26 March 1971 as the independent nation of Bangladesh. Pakistan recognized the new nation on 16 December 1971. East Pakistan was created from Bengal...
(known today as Bangladesh) went to war against West Pakistan
West Pakistan
West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh...
(Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
) for independence, in what was known as the Bangladesh Liberation War
Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
. The Pakistani infantry then started occupy the Sylhet region where many Bangladeshis come from; this led some people to join the Mukti Bahini
Mukti Bahini
Mukti Bahini , also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by Bengali regulars and civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on...
in their defense and a battle against the Pakistanis. For example, Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani a Sylheti, who was in command of the Teliapara Tea Estate in Sylhet, who then became the commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces in April 1971, was one of many who were part of the success of the war. He died in 1984 in London where he spent his time diagnosed with cancer, living with his family in the UK. However, even though there were many heroic efforts by Sylhetis during the war, this also led large numbers of Sylhet
Sylhet
Sylhet , is a major city in north-eastern Bangladesh. It is the main city of Sylhet Division and Sylhet District, and was granted metropolitan city status in March 2009. Sylhet is located on the banks of the Surma Valley and is surrounded by the Jaintia, Khasi and Tripura hills...
is to flee, arriving in the UK during the 1970s.
Bengalis in Britain also took part in the War of Independence. In August 1969, Bangladeshi settlers in Birmingham formed East Pakistan Liberation Front. Its President was Abdus Sabur Choudhury and Secretary was Abdul Aziz Bhuyan. There was a fortnightly called Bidrohi Bangla published by Mr Mustafizur Rahman. Getting the news of Pakistani military action in 25 March 1971 there was a movement in Birmingham Smallheath Park. Over 10 thousand Bangali were present there. In that gathering, East Pakistan Liberation Front was abolished and Bangladesh Action Committee was formed. Justice Abu Saeed Chowdhury was its President and Abdul Aziz Bhuyan was Secretary.
Actions and Movements:
- 5 March 1971 - Demonstration in front Pakistan High Commission in London. Flag burning and memorandum handover to high commissioner for liberation
- 7 March 1971 all Party Gathering in Smallheath Park Birmingham renounce of deceleration of Independence,
- 28 March uplifting Bangladesh Flag in Smallheath Park Birmingham.
- 3 May 1971 300 MP of British Parliament agreed to support Bangladesh movement
- 21 June 1971 120 Bengali went to Paris to demonstrate against Pakistan Aid Consortium of 12 developed countries. Pakistan did not get any Aid.
- 30 June 1971 Pakistani ship Padma full of arms and ammunitions was in the jetty of Montreal sea port Canada. Bangladesh Action Committee demonstrated in front of Canadian High Commission and finally Canadian government ceased it.
After all those movements and Demonstrations western media, activists and governments went against Pakistan and helped Bangladesh liberation. Bengalis in Britain played a significant role in the independence of Bangladesh.
First Bangladeshi settlers
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
people in London than there were Bengalis. Some of these were Sylhetis who came to Britain by sea after working as lascars
Lascars
See also Lashkar, LaskarA lascar and was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian Subcontinent or other countries east of the Cape of Good Hope, employed on European ships from the 16th century until the beginning of the 20th century...
on ships. One of the earliest Bengali
Bengali people
The Bengali people are an ethnic community native to the historic region of Bengal in South Asia. They speak Bengali , which is an Indo-Aryan language of the eastern Indian subcontinent, evolved from the Magadhi Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী...
immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomed, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo
Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of oils, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair...
and therapeutic massage in Britain.
Bangladeshis who came to the UK anticipated the country would provide them with great opportunities. However, there were various problems experienced by many of these immigrants. They lived and worked in cramped basements and attics in Tower Hamlets. Centuries earlier, these same properties had housed Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
immigrants who weaved silk and worked for very long hours in badly heated and poorly lit workshops. The Bengalis found they could not interact with the English-speaking population, and therefore could not enter higher education. There has been a decline in business throughout East London, which has led to unemployment among Bangladeshi workers. The garment manufacturing industry was part of this decline. The Bangladeshis instead became cooks, waiters and mechanics, but their progress up the social and economic ladder was a slow one. The men were often illiterate, poorly educated, and spoke little English. They became easy targets for some of their ruthless compatriots who seized control of their housing in Whitechapel
Whitechapel
Whitechapel is a built-up inner city district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, London, England. It is located east of Charing Cross and roughly bounded by the Bishopsgate thoroughfare on the west, Fashion Street on the north, Brady Street and Cavell Street on the east and The Highway on the...
in the 1970s and sold the properties onto other Sylhetis, many of who had no legal claim to the buildings.
By 1970, Brick Lane, and many of the streets around it, had become predominantly Bengali. The Jewish bakeries were turned into curry houses, the jewellery shops were turned into sari
Sari
A sari or sareeThe name of the garment in various regional languages include: , , , , , , , , , , , , , is a strip of unstitched cloth, worn by females, ranging from four to nine metres in length that is draped over the body in various styles. It is popular in India, Bangladesh, Nepal,...
stores, and the synagogues into dress factories. In 1976, the synagogue at the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane became the Jamme Masjid (community mosque)
Brick Lane Mosque
Brick Lane Jamme Masjid formerly known as the London Jamme Masjid , is located in the area of Spitalfields alongside the street of Brick Lane and Fournier Street in east London, England...
. The building that now houses the Jamme Masjid represents the history of successive communities of immigrants in this part of London. In 1743, this same building had been built as a French Protestant Church. In 1819, it became a Methodist Chapel, and then in 1898, it was used by Jewish people as the Spitalfields
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...
Great Synagogue. Following the increase in the number of Bengalis in the area, the Jews migrated to outlying suburbs of London, as they integrated
Social integration
Social integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of societies...
with the majority British population. They sold off the synagogue, which then became the Jamme Masjid or 'Great London Mosque', which continues to serve the Bangladeshi community to this day. A film released in 2007, named after the street of Brick Lane itself, is based on a novel by author Monica Ali
Monica Ali
Monica Ali is a British writer of Bangladeshi origin. She is the author of Brick Lane, her debut novel, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003...
.
1970s and Altab Ali
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
incited attacks on the older Jewish communities in the 1930s. White power skinhead gangs began to roam the Brick Lane area, where they vandalised property and spat at Bengali children. In Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
, National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
members handed out leaflets on the streets and assembled people at a pub in Cheshire Street
Cheshire Street
Cheshire Street is a street in east London linking Brick Lane with Bethnal Green and Whitechapel.It has had various names in its history, such as Hare Street, and today forms part of Brick Lane Market on Sundays...
. Bengali children were allowed out of school early, with their mothers walking to work in groups to shield them from potential violence. Parents began to start imposing curfews on their children for their own safety. Later, the Tower Hamlets council fitted their flats with fire-proof letterboxes to protect Bangladeshi tenants from racially motivated arson.
Residents began to fight back by creating committees and youth groups such as the Bangladesh Youth Movement, which was formed by young activists led by Shajahan Lutfur. One 4 May 1978, Altab Ali, a 25 year old was murdered in a racist attack, as he walked home from work. The murder took place near the corner of Adler Street and Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road is a major arterial road in the East End of London, England. It connects Whitechapel High Street to the west with Mile End Road to the east and forms part of the A11 road. It is a main shopping street in the Whitechapel area of Tower Hamlets and has a street market...
by St Mary's Churchyard. The killers were three teenage boys, Roy Arnold (17-year old from Limehouse), Carl Ludlow (17-year old from Bow) and un-named mixed race 16-year old boy who killed him, and they left a message on a nearby wall which said, "We’re back". This then led to over 7,000 Bangladeshis including others to take part in a demonstration against racist violence and marched behind Altab Ali’s coffin to Number 10 Downing Street. Then on September 1978, the National Front moved its headquarters from Teddington
Teddington
Teddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park...
in West London to Great Eastern Street, a few minutes' walk from Brick Lane.
The name Altab Ali became associated with a movement of resistance against racist attacks, and remains linked with this struggle for human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
to this day. His murder was the trigger for the first significant political organisation against racism by local Bangladeshis. Today’s phenomenal identification and association of British Bangladeshis with Tower Hamlets still owes much to this campaign. A park on Whitechapel Road is named after Altab Ali. The park is the main destination for demonstrations for the local people as of today. At the entrance to the park there is an arch created by David Peterson, developed as a memorial to Altab Ali and other victims of racist attacks. The arch incorporates a complex Bengali-style pattern, meant to show the merging of different cultures in East London.
1990s
A few racial violence started occur in 1993 by the British National PartyBritish National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP) where a few Bangladeshi students were severely injured. Racial violence started to occur again against the Bangladeshis and other ethnic groups, when during 1993 when the BNP party — regarded as a racist party, won a seat in the Isle of Dogs
Isle of Dogs
The Isle of Dogs is a former island in the East End of London that is bounded on three sides by one of the largest meanders in the River Thames.-Etymology:...
, Tower Hamlets. The party started to sell their newspapers in Brick Lane, and later that year, some party members attacked young Bangladeshi students. Both were seriously injured and were in a coma. Demonstrations later started to occur against the party, calling for a shut down, and led the party to abandon their normal paper-sell proceedings. One of the two Bangladeshis attacked was Quaddas Ali on September 1993, a 17 year old who was a student at Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College
Tower Hamlets College is a large further education college in Tower Hamlets, London, England. The college has four different campuses: the largest is on Poplar High Street, about 700m north of Canary Wharf; the others are at Arbour Square, Bethnal Green and the Financial Skills Academy on the East...
. In February 1994, Muktar Ahmed aged 19, was savagely beaten by a group of 20 white youths in Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
. This was followed by an attack by white youths the next day who were armed with iron bars and dogs, attacked students from Tower Hamlets College who were taking their lunch break in the nearby park. The next day another 14 year old Bengali boy was stabbed in the face by four men on Bethnal Green Road.
Official recognition
In April 2001, the London Borough of Tower HamletsLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...
council officially renamed the 'Spitalfields
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...
' electoral ward to Spitalfields and Banglatown. Surrounding streets were redecorated, with lamp posts painted in green and red, which are the colours of the Bangladeshi flag
Flag of Bangladesh
The national flag of Bangladesh was adopted officially on 17 January 1972. It is based on a similar flag used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. The map was later deleted from the flag by the order of General Abul Manzur, most likely to simplify the design...
.