British Jamaican - History and Settlement

History and Settlement

See also: History of Jamaica, History of the British African-Caribbean community, and Arrival of black immigrants in London

The Caribbean island nation of Jamaica was a British colony between 1655 and 1962, these 300 years of English rule changed the face of the island considerably (having previously been under Spanish rule and populated mainly by the indigenous Arawak and Taino communities – now 91.2% of Jamaicans are descended from Sub-Saharan Africans who were brought over as slaves by the British). Jamaica is the third most populous English-speaking nation in the Americas and the local dialect of English is known as Jamaican Patois. The tight-knit link between Jamaica and the United Kingdom remains evident to this day. There has been a long and well established Jamaican community in the UK since near the beginning of the 20th century. Many Jamaicans fought for Britain in World War I, the British West Indies Regiment recruited solely from the British overseas colonies in the Caribbean.

Volunteers originally only came from four nations (excluding Jamaica), however as the regiment grew thousands of Jamaican men were recruited and ultimately made up around two thirds of the 15,600 strong regiment. The British West Indies Regiment fought for Britain in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign as well as the East African Campaign. Many of these men became the first permanent Jamaican settlers in the UK after World War II, some of whom also subsequently fought for the country in World War II. Despite this, by far the largest wave of Jamaican migration to the UK including people of all genders and ages occurred in the middle of the 20th century. A major hurricane in August 1944 ravished eastern Jamaica leading to numerous fatalities and major economic loss after crops were destroyed by flooding. This acted as a push factor in the migration of Jamaicans and at the time by far the largest pull factor was the promise of jobs in the UK. Post-war Britain was suffering from significant labour shortage and looked to its overseas colonies for help, British Rail, the NHS and London transport were noted as being the largest recruiters. On 23 June 1948, the MV Empire Windrush arrived in the UK with,amongst other migrants from the Caribbean, 492 Jamaicans onboard whom had been invited to the country to work. Many more followed as the steady flow of Jamaicans to the UK was maintained due to the continuing labour shortage. Between 1955 and 1968, 191,330 Jamaicans settled in the UK. These first generation migrants created the foundation of a community which is now well in to its third if not fourth generation.

Jamaicans continued to migrate to the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, albeit in smaller numbers, the majority of these people came from poor households and went to extreme lengths to get to the UK. There is an uneven distribution of household wealth throughout Jamaica and during the economic crisis of the 1990s lower class Jamaicans continued to migrate in significant numbers. A lot of these later arrivals came from Jamaica's capital and largest city, Kingston where the divide between rich and poor is much more evident than other places on the island. Most first generation immigrants came to the UK in order to seek and improved standard of living, escape violence or to find employment. Jamaicans followed the pattern of other irregular immigrant groups where they tended to work in low paid, dirty and often dangerous jobs in order to maintain their independence. Throughout the late 20th century and to this day in fact, the Jamaican community in the UK has been brought into the spotlight due to the involvement of Jamaicans in race-related riots. The first notable event to occur was the 1958 Notting Hill race riots when an argument between local white youths and a Jamaican man, alongside increasing tensions between both communities lead to several nights of disturbances, rioting and attacks. Evidence of institutional racism by London's Metropolitan Police became evident in the high number of Black Britons 'stopped and searched' (under the sus law) alongside the unprovoced shooting of a Jamaican woman in her Lambeth home after police believed she was hiding her criminal son, this event lead to the 1985 Brixton riot. To name one of the more recent riots, the 2005 Birmingham race riots occurred as a result of the alleged rape of a 14-year old Jamaican girl by a group of up to 20 South Asian men including the Pakistani store owner it is reported she initially stole from, unlike earlier race riots this event is evidence that high tensions and violence are happening in the UK not only between Black British and White British people, however all ethnic and national groups. The Murder of Stephen Lawrence occurred in 1993, the London teenager of Jamaican parentage was stabbed to death in a racially motivated attack. The murder was handled in such a bad way by the Metropolitan Police that an inquiry into this established that the force had been institutionally racist, the investigation has been called 'one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain' and contributed heavily to the creation and passing of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Many Jamaicans live in the UK having no legal status, having come at a period of less strict immigration policies. Some Jamaican social groups have claimed asylum under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, this only continued until 2003 when Jamaica was placed on the Non-Suspensive Appeal list when restrictions on UK visas came in to place, making it more difficult for Jamaicans to travel to the UK.