Bradford is a story of migrant arrivals becoming settled communities that contributed to its growth

This story of migration to Bradford stretches back over 500 years and continues today

Bradford began as a Saxon village by a stream By 1086 population 500 people, three streets By 1147 begins to host markets Craft industries emerge - tanning and wool Trade with other regions, East Anglia and the West Country By 1311 Scottish raids begin By 1479 Bradford mentioned as one of the main woollen centres along with Halifax and Leeds

Gamel, a man of Norse descent is described as the biggest land owner at the time of the Doomsday Book in 1086

Undated early map Church Steeple hung with Wool-packs during the second siege of Bradford, December 1642

1640’s foreign competition forces Bradford to diversify its textile production

Production of ‘worsted’ creates direct competition with other UK manufacturers

A time of rapid expansion Rise of mills and

population as people move into the area

1798: The first Bradford factory

Dawn of Industrial Revolution Bradford becomes one of the fastest growing towns in England

1780: population approx 4,500 1801: population approx 6,000 1851: population approx 103,000

Industrialisation

Fleeing the aftermath of the potato famine and poverty, the people of County Mayo and County Sligo leave Ireland

75% of those coming to Bradford cannot read or write English and a third do not speak the language

In 1851 Bradford has the highest proportion of Irish born people in Yorkshire, around 10%

Most are poorly paid hand weavers, combers or labourers Some are street peddlers Housed in poor, often overcrowded conditions in the inner city Irish Catholics in a Protestant town are not wholly welcomed Local newspaper, The Bradford Observer prints ‘Irish jokes’ Anti-Irish sentiment erupts in violence in August 1848 with

rioting on Manchester Road

1820’s – 1870’s

Jewish Textile Merchants escaping oppression and anti-Semitism attracted by Bradford’s booming Textile industry arrive from Germany and Denmark in the 1820’ & 30’s

An economic and political force their reception is very different to the impoverished Irish

Jacob Behrens first foreign merchant to export goods from Bradford, his business grew into global empire

1851 he was involved in the formation of the Bradford Chamber of Commerce and Knighted by Queen Victoria in 1882

Charles Semon became Bradford’s first foreign born & Jewish mayor in 1865

A further wave of Jews arrive from Poland and Russia in the 1880’s

1820’s – 1870’s

“Who would have thought it possible that now just fifty years after I stepped on English soil in Hull, a foreigner and Jew, I should be deemed worthy of the offer of a knighthood by the Queen’s government?”

- Jacob Behrens

1820’s – 1870’s

The political and economic impact of the Jews is marked They co-found:

Chamber of Commerce Bradford District BankBradford Eye & Ear Hospital

They contribute to the development of Bradford Royal Infirmary

Bradford Central library Make charitable donations equating to millions in todays

terms Yet Anti-German sentiment during the Great War

damages the community and many Jews leave Bradford

1870’s – 1940’s

Bradford 1882

1870’s – 1940’s

1896 Car being used by electoral candidate

1870’s – 1940’s

People from several other European Countries settle in Bradford between the 1870’s and WWII

Italians came looking for employment opportunities A small community is established at the bottom of Otley

Road Some make a living as street entertainers, tinkers and

street vendors Refugees from Belgium arrive during the First World War Between the two world wars Jews arrive in Bradford

fleeing persecution in Poland and Russia and others from Germany and Austria seeking sanctuary from the Nazis

1870’s – 1940’s

Bradford 1889

1870’s – 1940’s

After the Second World War there is a labour shortage in post war Britain

Migrants arrive from several European Countries ‘Ostarbeiters’ (German for ‘Eastern Workers’) forcibly

removed from their countries as slave labour for the German war effort

The majority are from Eastern Ukraine Many others are Belarusians, Russians, Poles and Tatars

Bradford in the

1950’s

SS Windrush departs Jamaica in 1948 After the Windrush, several thousands move to the UK from

British West Indian Islands Majority that settle in Bradford are from Jamaica and

Dominica

Another wave of migrants arrive from South Asia in the 1960’s The vast majority came from the Mirpur District of Southern Azad Kashmir in Pakistan

Stamp issued to commemorate the Mangla Dam

1940’s – 190’s1940’s – 1970’s

South-asian migrants enabled Bradford to transform from a wool capital to a curry capital

Asian cuisine produced its own entrepreneurs

Mumtaz Khan Akbar, founder of Mumtaz food industries, one of the richest men in Yorkshire

Mohammed Ajeeb Became first Asian Lord Mayor of Bradford, 1985

Awarded CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2001

Lord Mayor Mohammed Ajeeb with his father

1940’s – 1970’s

The 1971 Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh led to a civil war

Secession from West Pakistan created a huge wave of refugees flooding India

Some of these refugees found their way into the mills of Bradford

1940’s – 1970’s

Asians had been migrating to African countries for generations

More then a ¼ million Indians had settled in Kenya

When Kenya gained independence in 1963, life for Indian citizens became difficult

By 1968 thousands fled to the UK, making a crisis for the Government

Many settled in cities like Bradford

Britain brought Asians to Kenya in the 19th century to

work as manual labour

1940’s – 1970’s

In the late 19th century Uganda acquired a large Indian workforce

In 1972, President Idi Amin condemned the entire Ugandan Asian population as ‘bloodsuckers’ and issued a decree of expulsion for all 60,000 Asians

Thousands of Ugandan Asians flew into Britain

Settled mainly in Leicester, Corby and Bradford Idi Amin, Commander In

Chief

1940’s – 1970’s

Latest wave of migrants are from EU countries

A direct result of the freedom of movement between EU states for workers

Majority are from Poland, the Czech Republic and East Slovakia

Bradford hosts a large number of refugees from: Burma, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Liberia, Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Congo.

2006 Report

21st Century

A recent survey conducted in Bradford schools showed that 30% of children regularly use a language, other than English at home and as many as 68 languages were cited. Of these 68

languages cited, the most commonly spoken are Punjabi, Gujerati, Bengali, Pashto (Indo – Iranian), Hindi, Italian,

Polish and Cantonese.

21st Century

21st Century

• On the 18th November 2010, Bradford was officially recognized as a ‘City of Sanctuary’

• “.. a place where a broad range of local organizations, community groups and faith communities, as well as local government, are publicly committed to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary”