British Jamaican (or Jamaican British) people are British persons who were born in Jamaica or who are of Jamaican descent. The community is well into its fourth generation and consists of around 800,000 individuals, one of the largest Jamaican diasporas on earth. The majority of British people of Jamaican origin were born in the United Kingdom as opposed to Jamaica itself. The Office for National Statistics estimated that in 2010 some 150,000 Jamaican-born people were resident in the UK, with only 49,000 of these retaining Jamaican citizenship.
Jamaicans have been present in the UK since the start of the 20th century, however by far the largest wave of migration occurred after World War II. During the 1950s, Britain's economy was suffering greatly and the nation was plagued with high labour shortages. The British government ultimately looked to its overseas colonies for help and encouraged migration in an effort to fill the many job vacancies. Jamaicans, alongside other Caribbean, South Asian and African groups, came in their hundreds of thousands to the United Kingdom; the majority of Jamaicans settled in London and found work in the likes of London Transport, British Rail and the NHS.
Read more about British Jamaican: History and Settlement, Demographics
Famous quotes containing the words british and/or jamaican:
“About the alleged condition of the property. Does it have to be intact?”
—Margaret Forster, British screenwriter, Peter Nichols, and Silvio Narizzano. Georgy (Lynn Redgrave)
“When a Jamaican is born of a black woman and some English or Scotsman, the black mother is literally and figuratively kept out of sight as far as possible, but no one is allowed to forget that white father, however questionable the circumstances of birth.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)