Ghanaians in the United Kingdom
| Total population | |
|---|---|
|
Ghanaian-born residents 95,666 (2011 Census) |
|
| Regions with significant populations | |
| London, Manchester, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Swansea | |
| Languages | |
| English, Twi, Fante, Ga, Ewe, Dagbani, Hausa, others | |
| Religion | |
| Primarily Christianity, Muslim | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ghanaians |
Ghanaians in the United Kingdom (also Ghanaian British or British Ghanaian) are Ghanaians of British descent or Ghanaian immigrants to the United Kingdom and their descendants. The 2001 census recorded 56,112 people born in Ghana living in the UK, and by 2011 this figure was 95,666.
Although modern Ghana gained independence from British colonization in 1957 and was the first African country to do so, people from that region have been arriving and living in Britain since at least the mid-16th century. At that time there were many Africans living and working in London, some of whom were based at the royal court. Even Shakespeare, it is rumoured, sought the company of an African lady, Lucy Morgan.
In 1555 John Lok, a London merchant and Alderman, brought five Africans from the town of Sharma, in what is today Ghana, to London to be trained as interpreters in order to assist England’s trade with the western coast of Africa. From that time onwards economic links were established between West Africa and England. The English were most concerned with acquiring gold from the region that came to be known as the Gold Coast. Pepper and other spices were also much in demand in Europe.
Besides a number of West Africans arriving in Britain during the 16th–18th centuries, there were Britons who went to the Gold Coast and married Ghanaian women. Some Ghanaians have Scottish and English ancestry, since a number of Scots and Englishmen married in local customary ceremonies and had children who became successful, such as Gold Coast's James Bannerman and Robert William Wallace Bruce. Most Scottish and English settlers left the Gold Coast after it won independence.
By the 1980s and early 1990s, 10 to 20 per cent of Ghanaians were living outside Ghana, with many migrating to Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United States and the UK from the 1960s to 1980s due to economic conditions at those times in Ghana.
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