Kenyan migration to the United Kingdom has been occurring for many decades. As a result, many people in the
UK were born in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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, capital = Nairobi
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, largest_city = Nairobi
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, or have Kenyan ancestry. Many Kenyan people who migrated to the UK are of South Asian extraction.
Background
Most Kenyans in the UK are ethnically
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
n Kenyans who, like those in Uganda, were expelled during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
This community has a substantial cluster in Leicester and London.
The most recent growth may now be coming from ethnically African Kenyans, mirroring wider trends across the continent of economic migration to the richer industrialised nations.
There are also a small number of Kenyan-born people who are the children of British civil servants based there before the end of the Empire.
Demographics
The
2001 UK Census
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.
The 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National ...
recorded 129,633 Kenyan-born British residents.
The 2011 census recorded 135,966 Kenyan-born people resident in England, 1,526 in Wales, 2,743 in Scotland and 301 in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, making a UK total of 140,536. The equivalent UK figure in 2019 has been estimated at 121,000 by the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
.
The largest proportion of Kenyan-born British residents are found in the capital,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, where around half of the Kenyan-born population in Britain resides. There are also significant populations in the
South East
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
and the
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...
.
Famous Britons born in Kenya
Academia, medicine and science
*
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biologist and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford and was Professor for Public Understanding of Science in the University of Oxford from 1995 to 2008. An ath ...
, ethologist, biologist, writer
*
Azim Nanji
Professor Azim Nanji is a Kenyan-born professor of Islamic studies. From 1998 until 2008, he served as Director of The Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, England. At present, he is the Senior Associate Director of the Abbasi Program in Islam ...
, academic
*
Alan Rayner
Alan Rayner (born 1950) is a British biologist and educator.
Biography
Rayner was born in Nairobi, Kenya, as the youngest of two children. His mother was the Deputy Mayor of Nairobi and his father was a Plant Pathologist, working on coffee rust ...
, biologist
*
Sir Nilesh Samani, physician
*
Sir Tejinder Virdee, physicist
*
Chris Froome
Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de ...
, Professional cyclist
Business, law and politics
*
Michael Bear, former
Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
*
Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
, former
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
MP, cabinet minister and currently member of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
*
Baroness Prashar
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...
, businesswoman
*
Lord Sheikh, businessman,
Conservative politician
Music and the arts
*
Khadambi Asalache, poet
*
Kamara Bacchus
Kamara Nadine Bacchus (born 11 January 1986) is a British actress and radio personality.
Biography
Her debut acting role was in the ITV police drama ''The Bill'' she then went on to play roles in the CBBC sitcom ''Kerching!'' followed by roles in ...
, actress
*
Kuljit Bhamra
Kuljit Bhamra MBE Hon DMus (born 1959) is a British composer, record producer and musician whose main instrument is the tabla. He is best known as one of the record producers who pioneered the British Bhangra sound and for his many collaborati ...
, musician
*
Gurinder Chadha
Gurinder Chadha, (born 10 January 1960) is a British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in the UK and ho ...
, film director
*
Nitin Ganatra
Nitin Chandra Ganatra (born 30 June 1967) is a Kenyan-born British actor. He is known for portraying Masood Ahmed in the BBC soap opera, ''EastEnders''.
Early and personal life
Ganatra was born on 30 June 1967 in Kenya. Both sides of Ganatra's ...
, actor
*
Kulvinder Ghir
Kulvinder Ghir (born 10 August 1965) is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as one of the cast members in the BBC sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me''. He is also known for playing Aslam in the 1987 Yorkshire-based film '' Ri ...
, comedian
*
Tania Harcourt-Cooze
The Honourable Tania Rosamund Harcourt-Cooze (née Coleridge, born 22 January 1966) is an English model and actress.
Early life and education
The daughter of Major William Duke Coleridge, 5th Baron Coleridge of Ottery St Mary, a Major in ...
, model and actress
*
Elspeth Huxley
Elspeth Joscelin Huxley CBE (née Grant; 23 July 1907 – 10 January 1997) was an English writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government adviser. She wrote over 40 books, including her best-known lyric ...
, author, journalist, broadcaster
*
Viram Jasani
Viram Jasani (born 1945) is a Kenyan-born Indian sitar and tabla composer and musician. He is best known for playing tabla drums on the song "Black Mountain Side" from Led Zeppelin's 1969 debut album. He was awarded an honorary degree from the ...
, musician
*
Michael Kuhn
Michael Ashton Kuhn (born 1949) is a Kenyan-born British film producer based primarily in the United Kingdom.
Career
Kuhn was born in 1949 in Nairobi, Kenya. At age 13, he traveled to the UK to study at Dover College and then read law at Clar ...
, film producer
*
Charles Mnene
Charles Mnene (born 11 December 1985) is a British film, television and stage actor.
Mnene's television appearances include guest roles in ''The Bill'', '' Holby City'', '' Doctors'' and the drama '' Ahead of the Class'', with Julie Walters, p ...
, actor
*
Deep Roy
Gurdeep Roy (born Mohinder Purba; 1 December 1957), known professionally as Deep Roy, is a Kenyan-British actor, puppeteer, and stuntman. At tall, he has often been cast as diminutive characters, such as Teeny Weeny in ''The NeverEnding Story' ...
, actor, stuntman
*
Roger Whittaker
Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, who was born in Nairobi to English parents. His music is an eclectic mix of folk music and popular songs in addition to radio airplay hits. He is bes ...
, musician
*
Imran Yusuf
Imran Yusuf (born 26 November 1979) is a Kenyan-born British stand-up comedian of Indian Konkani Muslim descent, who has appeared on various British radio and TV comedy shows.
Early life and career
Yusuf was born in Mombasa, Kenya to ethnic India ...
, comedian
*
Adrian Zagoritis
Adrian Dimitri Andrew Zagoritis[Adrian Zag](_blank)
online biography., Discogs.com (born 27 Sept ...
, music producer and songwriter
Sport
*
Roger Chapman
Roger Maxwell Chapman (born 8 April 1942 in Leicester), also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966 and also the rock ...
, golfer
*
Jamie Dalrymple
James William Murray Dalrymple (born 21 January 1981) is a Kenyan-born former English cricketer, who played ODIs and T20Is for England. He is a right-handed batsman and off-spin bowler.
He is perhaps best known for taking a spectacular diving ...
, cricketer
*
Chris Froome
Christopher Clive Froome ɹɪs fɹuːm (born 20 May 1985) is a Kenyan/British Road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam . He has won seven Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de ...
, racing cyclist
*
Rajesh Maru
Rajesh Jamandass Maru (born 28 October 1962 in Nairobi, Kenya) is a Kenyan-born English cricket coach and former cricketer. Maru was a right-handed batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox spin.
Maru was born at Nairobi in October 1962. He mo ...
, cricketer
*
Derek Pringle
Derek Raymond Pringle (born 18 September 1958) is an English former Test and One Day International cricketer for England, and is now a cricket journalist.
Life and career
Pringle was born in Nairobi, Kenya. His father Donald Pringle, who had ...
, cricketer
*
Peter Thackeray, cricketer
*
Curtis Osano
Curtis Osano (born 8 March 1987) is a Kenyan footballer who plays as a defender, most recently for Farnborough.
Career Early years
Born in Nakuru, Kenya, Osano moved to England aged nine when his father joined the British Army. However, he did ...
, footballer
*
Victor Wanyama
Victor Mugubi Wanyama (; born 25 June 1991) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club CF Montréal and the Kenyan national team.
Wanyama became the first ever Kenyan player to scor ...
, footballer
*
Simon Shaw
Simon Dalton Shaw MBE (born 1 September 1973) is a former English rugby union player who played as a lock. He played for Bristol, London Wasps and Toulon. He won 71 caps for England between 1996 and 2011, and 2 for the British & Irish Lions, w ...
, rugby union player
*
Anne Wafula Strike
Anne Wafula Strike MBE (born 8 May 1969) is a Harlow-based British Paralympic wheelchair racer.
Wafula Strike was born in Mihuu in Bungoma, Kenya, and contracted polio at the age of two, resulting in a later Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital ...
, wheelchair racing
See also
*
Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
*
British Mixed
Mixed is an ethnic group category that was first introduced by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics for the 2001 Census. Colloquially it refers to British citizens or residents whose parents are of two or more different races o ...
*
British African-Caribbean community
British African-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens whose ancestry originates from the Caribbean or they are nationals of the Caribbean who reside in the UK. There are some self-identified Afro ...
*
Kenya–United Kingdom relations
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Kenyans in Germany
*
Kenyan Australians
Kenyan Australians are Australian citizens and residents of Kenyan origin and descent. They may be of indigenous African, European, or Indian heritage.
Background
Uncertainties about the future of colonial-run Kenya prompted many Kenyan-born s ...
*
Kenyan Americans
Kenyan Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of Kenyan descent. As of the 2010 census, there were an estimated 92,638 Kenyan-born persons living in the United States. Most Kenyan Americans are concentrated in Seattle, Texas, Maryland, Georg ...
*
Kenyan Canadians
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
*
Kenyans in France
The demography of Kenya is monitored by the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya is a multi-ethnic state in East Africa. Its total population was at 47 558,296 as of the 2019 census.
A national census was conducted in 1999, although the ...
References
External links
*Kenyan
Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin
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