The 2001 UK census recorded 15,160 residents born in Russia.[5] The 2011 census recorded 36,313 people born in Russia resident in England, 687 in Wales,[6] 2,180 in Scotland[7] and 349 in Northern Ireland.[8]
The Office for National Statistics estimates that 73,000 people born in Russia were resident in the UK in 2020.[9] Estimates published by The Guardian suggest that the resident population of London born in Russia was over 150,000 in 2014.[10]
The rise in population has led to jocular nicknames for London such as "Londongrad" and "Moscow-on-the-Thames".[11]
Education
In London, in particular Notting Hill Gate there are a number of Russian schools aimed at transmitting Russian language and culture to the children of Russian immigrant parents.[12]
After the abolition of slavery, Catholic emancipation and Jewish emancipation in the early 19th century, Britain came to be seen in Europe as a liberal destination, attracting free thinkers who were considered dangerous by the monarchies of continental Europe.[13]: 146–147 Alexander Herzen, a writer considered to be the "father of Russian socialism", lived in London for 13 years. He established the first Russian-language printing house outside Russia Free Russian Press, first at Judd Street and later moving to the Caledonian Road.[14]: 227, 230–231 Herzen's most influential publication, devised with the help of another Russian immigrant poet Nikolai Ogarev, was Kolokol newsletter.[14]: 235 Notable Russian anarchists Peter Kropotkin and Mikhail Bakunin lived and worked in London in the late 19th century.[15][16]Freedom Press anarchist publishing house co-founded by Kropotkin in Whitechapel[15] still operates as of 2022.
Russian Jews emigrated to the United Kingdom beginning in the late 19th century to seek refuge from the persecution in Russian Empire and Eastern Europe. It's estimated that 150,000 Jewish people relocated to Britain between 1881 and 1914.[13]: 228–229 Slonim-born Michael Marks settled in Leeds where he co-founded Marks & Spencer retail chain in 1894.[13]: 226–227 Isaac Moses and his brother founded Moss Bros Group in Houndsditch. Montague Burton, then known as Montague Ossinsky, came to England from Lithuania, founding Burton in Sheffield in 1904, opening shops in Chesterfield, Manchester, Leeds and Mansfield within a year. Burton became the biggest retail empire in Europe by 1925.[13]: 227
The production of ready-made coats and jackets became the primary immigrant trade due to the combination of Jews facing restrictions on skilled trades in Russia and the abundant unskilled labor force in Britain.[18]: 15–16 The number of Russian and Polish tailors increased from 3,264 in 1881 to 19,218 in 1901.[18]: 17 Facing language barrier and unable to work on Saturdays for religious reasons, they were often employed by the London's East End sweatshops run by Jewish entrepreneurs. Jewish immigrants to London built a thriving clothes trade in Houndsditch and Petticoat Lane.[13]: 234
Biochemist Chaim Weizmann came to Britain from Russia in 1904. He developed a method of producing cordite explosive that was essential to the Britain's World War I effort. His industrial success resulted in meeting then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and he is believed to have influenced Balfour Declaration, which led to the creation of Israel.[13]: 248
While earlier waves of immigration from Russia primarily consisted of political exiles, who were intent on continuing their activities in their new country, the migration of refugees from the Russian Pale of Settlement marked a significantly larger-scale movement. Eastern European Jewish immigration largely ceased following the passage of the Aliens Act 1905.[19]: 127
Aftermath of the revolution
In the initial years following the October Revolution, the nature of Russian immigration to the UK underwent a significant transformation. While Britain continued to serve as a sanctuary for those unable to remain in Russia, anti-monarchists were succeeded by white émigrés, who represented a broad range of political beliefs.[20]: 18 Britain admitted an estimated 15,000 refugees, a relatively low figure compared to countries such as France or Germany, as asylum was granted only under exceptional circumstances. Some individuals such as Grand Duchess Xenia were evacuated aboard HMS Marlborough in 1919, sent by King George V to protect his relatives.[21]
Emigrant authors such as Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams contributed to documenting the contemporary life in England, writing for Russian magazines and newspapers.[20]: 19
Vladimir Nabokov's three-year stay in Cambridge as a student had a profound influence on his literary work. The author recounted his experiences in England in "Speak, Memory" and "Other Shores [ru]", with Cambridge providing the backdrop for his novels Glory and The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. Yevgeny Zamyatin's time in Britain during World War I, spent as a naval architect on secondment, formed the basis for the works he wrote during his stay and upon his return to Russia. The concepts and symbolism in his dystopian novel We were rooted in his experiences in England and his familiarity with English literature. The novel subsequently influenced George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and possibly Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.[20]: 19, 21
Alexander Litvinenko, British naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian FSB secret service who specialised in tackling organised crime.
Sergei Skripal, former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent for the UK's intelligence services.
Science and humanities
Isaiah Berlin, renowned social and political theorist, and historian[35]
Tempsford Memorial, Bedfordshire – memorial to women who served as secret agents in occupied Europe during the Second World War, including four Soviet NKVD agents
Vladimir Lenin Bust, Islington – commissioned by the UK Government during the war in tribute to the efforts of the Soviet Union. It was placed in Holford Square (briefly Lenin's home when he lived in London) and unveiled in 1942. It was a supposed focal point of a new housing development to be named 'Lenin Court' although the choice of Lenin proved unpopular with the local community and the bust was frequently daubed with anti-communist slogans.[44] Architect Berthold Lubetkin had the bust removed and when the housing development was completed in the late 1940s, it was renamed 'Bevin Court'. The bust was displayed in Islington Town Hall for many years and is now on permanent display in the Islington Museum.
^Manz, Stefan; Panayi, Panikos (July 2012). "Refugees and Cultural Transfer to Britain: An Introduction". Immigrants & Minorities. 30 (2–3): 122–151. doi:10.1080/02619288.2010.502704.
^"Peter Ustinov, Oscar-Winning Actor, Dies at 82". The New York Times. 29 March 2004. Both parents were half Russian with assorted parts French, Italian and German. Many of their forebears were prominent figures in czarist Russia, including a country squire with 6,000 serfs, the owner of the largest caviar fishery in czarist Russia and a court architect.
^Cherniss, Joshua; Hardy, Henry (13 August 2018). Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. Retrieved 13 August 2018 – via Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Byford, Andy (2012). "The Russian Diaspora in International Relations: 'Compatriots' in Britain". Europe-Asia Studies. 64 (4): 715–735. doi:10.1080/09668136.2012.660764. S2CID145705075.
Jenkinson, Jacqueline (July 2013). "The Impact of the First World War on Migrant Lithuanians in Scotland, c . 1917–1921". Immigrants & Minorities. 31 (2): 171–188. doi:10.1080/02619288.2013.781748.
Saunders, David (March 1985). "Aliens in Britain and the empire during the First World War". Immigrants & Minorities. 4 (1): 5–27. doi:10.1080/02619288.1985.9974594. – immigration in the aftermath of Aliens Act 1905
