English Sikhs number over 520,000 people and account for 0.92% of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

's population in

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, forming the country's fourth-largest religious group. In 2006 there were 352 gurdwaras in

. The largest Sikh populations in the U.K. are in the West Midlands and

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

History

The permanent arrival of Sikhism in England is dated to 1850 A.D. with the arrival of Maharajah

Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son, ...

(last ruler of the Sikh Empire). The first Sikh place of worship, called a Gurdwara, was opened in 1911 in London and this was partly funded by the Maharaja of Patiala. Prior to this the first Sikh Society called Khalsa Jatha was formed in 1908. In 2019, the statue of

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

soldier was unveiled in the West Yorkshire to commemorate the Sikhs martyrs in the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Demographics

Geographical Distribution

National and Ethnic Origins

Between 2001 and 2011, the proportion of English Sikhs who identified as Indian declined from 91.6% to 74.0%, while the proportion of English Sikhs who identified as "Other Asian" rose from 4.6% to 12.0% and the proportion of English Sikhs who identified as "Other Ethnic group" rose from 0.7% to 9.5%.

Sikh Schools

There are currently 13 Sikh Schools in England that teach the national curriculum alongside Sikh values. These schools are often oversubscribed and outperform regular schools, for example the Nishkam High School in Birmingham was recently rated by Ofsted as outstanding in every area. The Nishkam School Trust is also developing a sister school in West London, which is an area with a large Sikh community, which is due to open in September 2016. The schools include: * Akaal Primary School, Derby * Atam Academy, Romford * Falcons Primary School, Leicester * Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College, Chigwell *

Guru Nanak Sikh Academy Guru Nanak Sikh Academy is a mixed Sikh all-through school and sixth form. It is located in the Hayes area of the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. The school is named after Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first ...

, Hayes * Khalsa Primary School, Slough * Khalsa Primary School, Southall * Khalsa Secondary Academy, Stoke Poges * Nishkam Nursery & Primary School, Birmingham * Nishkam High School, Birmingham * Nishkam School West London, Isleworth * Seva School, Coventry * The British Sikh School, Wolverhampton

Gurdwaras

Southall, in London, is home to the largest Sikh temple outside India, known as

Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall (SGSS) is a Sikh gurdwara situated on Guru Nanak Road and Park Avenue, Southall, in the London Borough of Ealing The London Borough of Ealing () is a London borough in West London. It comprises seven ...

. It opened in 2003 after almost three years construction and a cost of £17 million. Another large Gurdwara in

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

began construction in 2001, and was officially opened in November 2010 . In

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, a former Church of England church has been transformed into a Sikh Gurdwara by the Sunderland Sikh Association. Many cities, especially those with large Sikh communities, now have several Gurdwaras to cater to their growing congregations. For example, Bradford is a city that now has 6 Gurdwaras. Many Gurdwaras will have had other uses and have been converted from industrial buildings to even former churches that have closed down. Increasingly, Gurdwaras are being purposely built, The Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Bradford is an example of a purpose built Gurdwara.

Notable British Sikh organisations

In addition to Gurdwaras there are now a variety of additional organisations which have been setup by Sikhs to support the community: *

British Sikh Report The British Sikh Report, (Punjabi: ਬ੍ਰਿਟਿਸ਼ ਸਿੱਖ ਰਿਪੋਰਟ) also known as the BSR, is an annual report launched in Parliament every year about Sikhs in the United Kingdom. The report looks at the views of Sikhs l ...

City Sikhs City Sikhs (formerly City Sikhs Network) (Punjabi: ਸਿਟੀ ਸਿੱਖ) is a nonprofit organisation, and a registered charity which describes itself as "A voice for progressive Sikhs". It promotes networking, education and volunteering amongs ...

Gurdwara Sahib Leamington and Warwick The Gurdwara Sahib Leamington and Warwick is a Sikh gurdwara located on Tachbrook Drive, Warwick, England. It primarily serves the community around Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth. It opened in 2009, and is the third largest purpose buil ...

* Guru Nanak Nishkam Sevak Jatha *

Southall * Guru Nanak Gurdwara Smethwick *

Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara The Guru Nanak Temple is a Sikh Gurdwara situated in the town of Gravesend, Kent. It is the largest Gurdwara in Europe and also one of the largest outside India. The complex has 3 prayer rooms and 2 langar halls. There is a building used fo ...

* Nishkam SWAT *

Sangat TV Sangat Television is TV channel, and is a Project of, and wholly owned by Sangat Trust, a Registered UK charity. The station commenced broadcasting on 1 September 2010, as part of a two-week test phase. Description Sangat TV is owned by Sangat ...

Sikh Pioneers & Sikh Light Infantry Association UK The Sikh Pioneers & Sikh Light Infantry Association UK, is an association for former British officers who served with the Sikh Pioneers and Sikh Light Infantry regiments. The Sikh Pioneers formed originally in 1857 from Mazhabi Sikh and Chamar S ...

Sikh Channel The Sikh Channel is a United Kingdom-based, free-to-air, Sikhi-focused satellite television channel. It broadcasts across Europe on satellite television, in Canada and is also streamed live on the internet. The Sikh Channel began to broadcast on ...

Sikh Federation (UK) The Sikh Federation (UK) describes itself as a non-governmental organisation that works with the main political parties to promote relevant Sikh issues. The organisation is a major pro-Khalistan organisation and supports Khalistani secessionist acti ...

* The Sikh Awards

Sikh Media

Sikhs in England have managed to establish a range of media outlets to propagate and encourage dialogue between Sikhs across the country, predominantly in Punjabi, although increasingly media is produced in English to include the new generation. Many Sikhs still speak Punjabi as a first and second language. In England there are currently no less than 4 Sky channels including,

, Sikh TV,

Akaal Channel Akaal Channel is a UK based, free-to-air satellite television channel which is dedicatedly focused on Sikhism and the Sikh community. Founded by Amrik Singh Kooner, the channel also broadcasts across 44 countries, including Europe, on satellite ...

and

, all are also broadcast worldwide and on the internet. In radio there are numerous stations broadcast on analogue in areas with large Sikh communities as well as internationally on the Sky platform, since 2001 Sukh Sagar on Sky channel 0150 is one such station that was also the world's first 24-hour Gurbani (Sikh prayer) radio station.
Sukh Sagar radio station, accessed on 1 October 2014

References

External links

National Network of British Sikh ProfessionalsGurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha's official website

Information Portal of the Sikh faith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sikhism In England