Ukrainians in the United Kingdom consist mainly of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

citizens of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent.

History

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, the first documented evidence of Ukrainians was an entry in the Aliens Register in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

of J. Koyetsky from

Brody Brody ( uk, Броди; russian: Броды, Brodï; pl, Brody; german: Brody; yi, בראָד, Brod) is a city in Zolochiv Raion of Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately ...

(then in the Austrian

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,, ; pl, Królestwo Galicji i Lodomerii, ; uk, Королівство Галичини та Володимирії, Korolivstvo Halychyny ta Volodymyrii; la, Rēgnum Galiciae et Lodomeriae also known as ...

) in 1897. Some 100 families settled in Manchester prior to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and in the post-war years a community centre was established. An Information Centre was founded in London and religious and cultural links established with Manchester. In 1931, Bishop

Andrey Sheptytsky Andrey Sheptytsky, OSBM (; uk, Митрополит Андрей Шептицький; 29 July 1865 – 1 November 1944) was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944. His tenure span ...

and Fr

Josyf Slipyj Josyf Slipyi ( uk, Йосиф Сліпий, born as uk, Йосиф Коберницький-Дичковський, translit=Yosyf Kobernyts'kyy-Dychkovs'kyy; 17 February 1892 – 7 September 1984) was a Major Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek ...

, each of whom in turn in later years became head of the

Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church , native_name_lang = uk , caption_background = , image = StGeorgeCathedral Lviv.JPG , imagewidth = , type = Particular church ( sui iuris) , alt = , caption = St. George's ...

, made a notable pastoral visit to Manchester. Elsewhere, the first generation of Ukrainian immigrants started arriving in the South-East, in particular, Hertfordshire in 1947 as

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

s. After

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, work-permit schemes issued under the

Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 t ...

government (1945-1951) recruited Ukrainians to work in the mills of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and in the greenhouses of the

Lea Valley The Lea Valley, the valley of the River Lea, has been used as a transport corridor, a source of sand and gravel, an industrial area, a water supply for London, and a recreational area. The London 2012 Summer Olympics were based in Stratford, in ...

(Middlesex/Essex). After a short stay in a transit camp in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, many individuals entered a displaced-persons camp in

Newgate Street Village Newgate Street is a village near Cuffley, in Hatfield civil parish, in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England. It is approximately six miles south-west of Hertford and has a population of 400. At the 2011 Census the population was ...

in Hertfordshire. At the camp, many young people became affiliated to the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, which had its headquarters in London; the Association acted as an important support-network for those separated from their family and friends. After the end of World War II, more large numbers of Ukrainians (mainly displaced persons from camps in Germany) arrived in the UK. Ukrainians were integrated into the UK as

European Voluntary Workers European Voluntary Workers (EVW) was the collective name given to continental Europeans invited by the British government to work in the UK in the immediate Post-World War II period, to help people who have become homeless during the war and to sup ...

, while Ukrainian

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

from the Polish and German armies were also demobilised and settled in the major cities of the UK. Geographers Graham Smith and Peter Jackson suggest that 35,000 Ukrainians arrived after World War II, and that by the late 1950s there were 70 established Ukrainian communities in Britain, "the largest in Bradford, Nottingham, Manchester and Coventry".

Russian invasion of Ukraine

During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Ukrainians living in the UK have organised demonstrations to demand the British government introduce sanctions against Russia and take action against

Russian oligarch Russian oligarchs ( Russian: олигархи, romanized: ''oligarkhi'') are business oligarchs of the former Soviet republics who rapidly accumulated wealth in the 1990s via the Russian privatisation that followed the dissolution of the Sovi ...

s with financial and political links to the UK. Some of the protest organisers have criticised the government's

Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was introduced by the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. It gives more power to the police, criminal justice, and sentencing legi ...

, which proposes to place new restrictions on protests and public assembly, accusing it of "hypocrisy for pushing through new anti-protest measures while criticising Russia for silencing anti-war demonstrations".

Population

The 2001 Census recorded 11,913 people born in Ukraine resident in the UK. The 2011 UK Census recorded 20,320 Ukrainian-born residents in England, 380 in Wales, 838 in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and 245 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 ...

. 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 ...

estimates that in 2020, 32,000 people born in Ukraine were resident in the UK. The number of Ukrainian nationals was estimated at 17,000.

Religion

Most of the present Ukrainian diaspora in the UK are of the Ukrainian Orthodox religion. A large number of Ukrainians living in Britain are Ukrainian Catholics, under the jurisdiction of the

Apostolic Exarchate for Ukrainians in Great Britain The Eparchy of the Holy Family of London ( uk, Єпархія Пресвятої Родини у Лондоні; la, Eparchia Sanctae Familiae Londiniensis) is the only Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church ecclesiastical territory or eparchy of the ...

, whilst smaller numbers are

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

Notable Britons with Ukrainian ancestry

References

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin

History

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Population

Religion

Notable Britons with Ukrainian ancestry

See also

References

Further reading

External links