PEOPLESandCULTURES

PEOPLES & CULTURES

Americans

The Astors

One branch of the Astor family used their American derived wealth to enter British high society. The diarist Henry Chips Channon recorded how Lady Scarbrough took against their social aspirations. She inquired of one of them, What did they do in the War of the Roses?

Location: 4 St James's Square, SW1Y 4JU (purple, turquoise)

Ava Gardner

In 1972 the movie actress Ava Gardner retired to Kensington. She agreed to allow the writer Peter Evans (1933-2012) to ghost her memoir. However, when she was shown transcripts of their interviews, she was taken aback by how much she swore and terminated the project. She declared I think it's f****** vulgar. I won t have it.

Location: 34 Ennismore Gardens, SW7 1AE (blue, red)

Edgar Allen Poe

Edgar Allen Poe lived in London from 1815 to 1820. He set his The Man of The Crowd in the city. It is about a damaged man who watches people pass him and then opts to follow one person. The story proved to be influential upon French writers such as Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin. It helped to give birth to the fl neur and psychogeography.

Chinese

There are human remains of East Asians in London that date from the Roman period.

In 1687 Zhe became the first recorded Chinese person to visit London. He had converted to Roman Catholicism. King James II took an interest in him and commissioned a portrait of him.

Through working for the East India Company, John Anthony became wealthy enough to acquire a townhouse in Shadwell and a country residence in Essex. In 1805 he became the first Chinese person to become a British citizen. This required the passage of a Parliamentary Act. He died a few months later.

British National Overseas Status

In 2020 about three million of Hongkong's six million residents had British National Overseas status. It was reported that the Home Office was anticipating almost 500,000 would be applying for visas that would allow them to reside in Britain.

Website: www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-national-overseas

Limehouse

The East India Company needed to sail its vessels back to Britain but did not always have large enough crews left because of disease and desertion. Therefore, Chinese men were hired to crew the vessel with the offer that they would be sailed back. They were to be provided with accommodation in Blackwall. The conditions were appalling. Therefore, they moved out into the local community.

Pennyfields and Limehouse Causeway were the focus of Limehouse Chinatown. Chinatown was cosmopolitan in character rather than being overwhelmingly Chinese.

Location: E14 8EZ

Website: www.limehousechinatown.org

Missing In Fact

The Chinese scholar Jung Chang had learnt English in China from people who had never met a native English speaker. The textbooks from which she had learnt the language contained phrases that were direct translations of idiomatic English. The greeting How are you? was Where are you going and have you eaten?

The Chinese for pub was effectively place where women dance erotically . She moved to Britain to study. There was a pub close to the college that she was attending. Eventually, she plucked up sufficient courage to enter. She found it to be a quiet environment that was sparsely occupied by old men who were quietly drinking beer.

Food

The French

South Kensington

The area of South Kensington to the west of South Kensington Underground Station has a concentration of French businesses - bookshops, caf s, and delicatessens. Bute Street is the home to several.

Location: Bute Street, SW7 3EX (orange, blue)

The Institut Fran ais

The Institut Fran ais is the principal official representative of French culture in London.

The Universit des Letters Fran aises was founded in 1910 by Marie d Orliac. After several moves the establishment settled in Queensberry Place and became the Institut. Over the years a number of the building's rooms have changed their use. The library's main reading room used to a ballroom, while the theatre became a cinema.

Location: 17 Queensberry Place, SW7 2DT (orange, brown)

See Also: ARTS VENUES

Website: www.institut-francais.org.uk

Lupine Dispatch

The Lyc e Charles de Gaulle is London's principal French language high school.

It is to be hoped that the Lyc e curriculum does not follow was is implied by the etymology of the French word for a secondary school . This comes from the Latin lyceum, the name of the garden in Classical Athens, where Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) taught. This place derived its name from the neighbouring temple of Apollo Lukeios . The Greek word lukeios was a soubriquet that the deity bore. It meant wolfslayer .

Location: Perry Oaks, TW4 5EB. There is a story that the last wolf to be killed in England was dispatched near Hounslow. (There are others places for which the same claim has been made.)

The Lyc e Charles de Gaulle, 35 Cromwell Road, SW7 2DG (orange, yellow)

See Also: ANIMALS

Website: www.lyceefrancais.org.uk (https://ukwct.org.uk)

The Germans

See Also: THE PRUSSIAN PROFESSOR

The German Gymnasium

The children of German exiles of 1848 revolutions were a conduit by which the Leibensreform movement surfaced in Britain in the late 19^thC as the Life Reform movement. It became an umbrella for a variety of causes. This promoted rambling, nudism, gymnastics and a particular diet that was simple, natural, and plant-based.

The gymnastic movement sought to operate across the German-speaking territory. During the first half of the 19^thC the rulers of Germany's various states had been deeply wary of it and many of them forbid it to be active in their domains. The 1848 exiles brought gymnastics to Britain. The German Gymnasium helped Britain's nascent gymnastics movement to coalesce.

Health & Efficiency magazine enabled businesses that were influenced by the movement to trade.

Location: 1 King's Boulevard, N1C 4BU

Website: www.germangymnasium.com

Loyal Enemy Aliens

During the Second World War a number of German and Austrian exiles served in the Royal Navy. Their number included the historian Helmut Koenigsberger (1918-2014). They termed themselves His Majesty's most loyal enemy aliens.

The Steelyard

In 1194 King Richard I granted some German merchants a charter through which they acquired a number of trading privileges. The Steelyard was the principal hub of their activities in London. It was off Upper Thames Street under what is now the site of Cannon Street Railway Station. The name Steelyard derived from a set of large scales that were used to weigh goods. In 1551 King Edward VI revoked the merchants privileges. In 1598 Queen Elizabeth I banished them. However, there continued to be German merchants in the district until the 1850s.

Location: Upper Thames Street, EC4V 2AF (orange, purple)

Gypsies

In the 19^thC there was an immigration of gypsies into Britain.

In 2004 there were estimated to be 90,000-120,000 Gypsies in the UK, of whom 41,000 lived in caravans.

Location: Gypsy Corner, Hanger Lane, W3 6UE

Gypsy Hill, Crystal Palace, SE19 1NL

See Also: SOUTH ASIANS

Website: www.londongypsiesandtravellers.org.uk

Thamesmead

Historically, travellers used a site that is now covered by Thamesmead.

Website: www.londongypsiesandtravellers.org.uk/news/2019/11/08/traveller-histories-exhibition-opens-in-thamesmead

Japanese

Natsume Sōseki

At the request of Japan's Ministry of Education, the writer Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) spent two years living in London. He was already steeped in English Literature. His plan was to use to create a theory of literature. He suffered a degree of culture shock, feeling like a dog amongst wolves. However, upon his return to Japan he found that his attempt to write his planned work led him to write fiction, such as the novel I Am A Cat (1905). His output was informed by his appreciation of English irony. In the 1950s was there a marked growth in the number of contemporary Japanese books that were being translated into English. However, the setting Soseki s works made them seem dated. His taste for irony made him hard to grasp for many readers.

Location: 81 The Chase, Clapham, SW4 0NR

Website: https://london-overlooked.com

The Migration Museum

Location: Lewisham Shopping Centre, SE13 7HB

Website: www.migrationmuseum.org

The Museum of Immigration & Diversity

The Museum of Immigration & Diversity is housed in a 1719 building that was constructed for a Huguenot silk merchant. The property became a synagogue in 1869.

In 2010 it was the case that financial constraints limited the days upon which the Museum could be visited.

Location: 19 Princelet Street, E1 6QH (red, grey)

Website: www.19princeletstreet.org.uk

Non-Domiciled

In 1799 non-domicile tax status was created. Under this, foreigners who were resident in Britain were only taxed on their British earnings and not on their non-British assets.

Website: www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/non-domiciled-residents

Race Today

Race Today was a monthly magazine that covered issues that impacted Black Britons and South Asian Britons. It was started by a group that included several people who had been active in the British Black Panthers. From 1973 until 1988 the periodical was edited by Darcus Howe.

¹. Howe was a nephew of the well-respected writer C.L.R. James.

Russians

In 2009 there were estimated to be 300,000 Russians living in Britain.

Lawyers!

The Russian tsar Peter the Great stayed in England from 11 January 1698 until 21 April that year. During his visit, the Marquis of Carmarthen acted as his principal guide. The two men shared an interest in sailing craft.

One day the pair wandered into Westminster Hall. The room was filled with lawyers who were dressed in their wigs and gowns. The monarch was struck by the sight and enquired as to who all the people were. He was informed that they were lawyers. This prompted him to exclaim Lawyers! Why I have but two in all my dominions, and I believe I shall hang one of them the moment I get home.

Location: Norfolk Street, WC2R 1EA. Gone. Peter spent his first month in England, living off the Strand. The street lay between Arundel Street and Surrey Street. The house that the tsar rented was at the street's south-western end. (purple, red)

Sayes Court Park, Deptford, SE8 3LN. The park is on the site of Sayes Court, where the tsar spent the majority of his visit in Deptford.

Westminster Hall, Parliament Square, SW1A 0AA (purple, yellow)

Spanish

Luisa de Carvajal

At the age of 25, Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza (1566-1614) escaped her dysfunctional noble family by embracing a religious life.

In 1605 the Jesuits smuggled de Carvajal into England to work as a missionary. The Gunpowder Plot had just occurred and she did not know any English. In the safety of the Spanish Embassy she learned the language. She had a thick guttural accent that led many to believe she was Scottish. She was allowed to operate for eight years.

De Carvajal dispatched some servants to dig up the corpses of executed Catholic priests that had been buried in Tyburn. The purpose of this was that the remains could be used for reliquaries. This was too much for the court. She was warned to curtail her activities. While shopping in Cheapside one day, she publicly praised Mary Queen of Scots and traduced the memory of Queen Elizabeth. This caused a mob to be whipped up. Subsequently, the authorities took her into custody. In prison she became ill and it became apparent that she was going to die. She was allowed to die in her own home.

Swedes

Brookwood Cemetery has a Swedish section.

Website: www.brookwoodcemetery.com/plots-and-section

David Backhouse 2024