Hellenic diaspora in Britain
Here is some interesting information from Wikipedia, about Hellenic diaspora, and its history, in the British isles
- Approximately 400,000 Ethnic Greeks from Cyprus and mainland Greece live in the UK (2008 estimate)
- Mycenaean bronze double axes and other objects (Rillaton Barrow, Pelynt Dagger) dating from 13th century BCE have been found in Ireland and in Wessex and Cornwall in England, proving the earliest Greek contact with Ireland and Great Britain
- The first known Greek to come to Britain was Pytheas (Greek: Πυθέας). He reported its name as Pretannia, which became the Latin Britannia [...] and the local peoples as Pretani
- The Roman city of Carlisle, judging by surviving inscriptions, seems to have been home to a thriving Greek community [during the Roman times].
- In the 7th Century AD, following the death of the previous holder of the post, Theodore of Tarsus (602 – 690) was appointed Head of the Anglican Church as Archbishop of Canterbury (669 AD) Theodore was of Byzantine Greek descent born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a Greek-speaking diocese of the Byzantine Empire. He played an important part in the early history of England, building churches and monasteries and establishing theological studies. According to the Venerable Bede, Theodore contributed to the bringing of a greater unity to English Christianity, and in 672 presided over the first council of the entire English Church, at Hertford. The structure of dioceses and parishes he put in place is still substantially in place today.
- The Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Μανουήλ Β΄ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl II Palaiologos) (27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) visited England in 1400, where he was received by Henry IV at Eltham Palace.
- A Greek presence in London was recorded with the two brothers, Andronikos and Alexios Effomatos - described in contemporary records as "Grekes" - who were known to have been resident in London in 1440. They were from Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium. In 1445, the king of England, Henry VI (1421–1471), granted the brothers permission to remain in London and to practise their trade of gold wire drawing. They made a costly type of thread in which thin strands of gold were intertwined with silk, and which was then used in expensive luxury fabrics and in sacerdotal vestments, a craft for which Constantinople had been famous in its heyday.
- In about 1545, Nikandros Noukios of Corfu spent time in London and left an interesting account of his impressions.Indeed, he followed as a non-combatant an English invasion of Scotland where the English forces included Greeks from Argos under the leadership of Thomas of Argos whose 'Courage, and prudence, and experience of wars' was lauded by the Corfiot traveller
- The descendants of the imperial Palaeologus dynasty carved out a niche as mercenary officers in Britain, and their tombs are still visible in locations as far apart - both geographically and in terms of social standing - as Westminster Abbey and Landulph parish church, Cornwall. A number of Palaeologi fought against each other as high-ranking officers for both sides in the English Civil War.
- Early Modern Greco-Britons were not solely soldiers. A few individuals settled permanently, such as a native of Rhodes called Konstantinos Benetos, who was recorded as living in Clerkenwell between 1530 and 1578.
- By the late seventeenth century, matters had changed. A number of Greeks now occupied prominent positions in London life. Constantinos Rodocanachi of Chios had become one of the physicians to King Charles II (163 I -I 685). Georgios Constantinos of Skopelos had established the Grecian coffeehouse in Devereux court, just off the Strand, and he could count Sir Isaac Newton and other members of the Royal Society among his clientele.
- The first documented organised Greek Orthodox community was established in London in the 1670s, with the first Greek Orthodox Church in London being erected in 1677, in Soho, on the corner of Charing Cross Road and Greek Street . The church was dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin and was consecrated by the Metropolitan of Samos, Joseph Georgerinis.
- Second World War: The Battle of Greece and the British expeditionary force From Wikipedia: The Battle of Greece (also known as Operation Marita, German: Unternehmen Marita) is the common name for the invasion of Greece by Nazi Germany in April 1941. It followed a previous, unsuccessful Italian invasion known as the Greco-Italian War. It is usually distinguished from the Battle of Crete that came after mainland Greece had been subdued. These operations were part of the greater Balkans Campaign of Nazi Germany in World War II. [...]Britain was obliged to assist Greece by the Declaration of 1939, which stated that in the event of a threat to Greek or Romanian independence, "His Majesty's Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Greek or Romanian Government ... all the support in their power."[34] The first British effort was the deployment of Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons commanded by Air Commodore John d'Albiac that arrived in November 1940.[35] With Greek government consent, British forces were dispatched to Crete on October 31 to guard Suda Bay, enabling the Greek government to redeploy the 5th Cretan Division to the mainland.[36] [...]The Greek campaign ended with complete German victory. The British did not have the military resources to permit them to carry out simultaneous large-scale operations in North Africa and the Balkans. Moreover, even had they been able to block the German advance, they would have been unable to exploit the situation by a counterthrust across the Balkans.[...] In 1942, members of the British Parliament characterised the campaign in Greece as a "political and sentimental decision". Eden rejected the criticism and argued that the UK's decision was unanimous and asserted that the Battle of Greece delayed the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.[132] This is an argument that historians such as Keegan used to assert that Greek resistance was a turning point in World War II.[133] According to film-maker and friend of Adolf Hitler Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler said that "if the Italians hadn't attacked Greece and needed our help, the war would have taken a different course. We could have anticipated the Russian cold by weeks and conquered Leningrad and Moscow. There would have been no Stalingrad".[134] Despite his reservations, Brooke seems also to have conceded that the Balkan Campaign delayed the offensive against the Soviet Union.[123]Homages to the resistance [...] Inspired by the Greek resistance during the Italian and German invasions, Churchill said, "Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks".[140] In response to a letter from King George VI dated 3 December 1940, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that "all free peoples are deeply impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the Greek nation",k[›] and in a letter to the Greek ambassador dated 29 October 1942, he wrote that "Greece has set the example which every one of us must follow until the despoilers of freedom everywhere have been brought to their just doom."[141]
Hellenic diaspora in South West: under construction
This section has just began being populated (there is a small section on Cornwall). It will include a narration with references, photographs and documentary material exploring the history and presence of hellenic diaspora in the South West
Cornwall
(from wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cornwall)
The first account of Cornwall comes from the Sicilian Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (ca. 90 BCE–ca. 30 BCE), supposedly quoting or paraphrasing the 4th-century BCE geographer Pytheas, who had sailed to Britain:
The inhabitants of that part of Britain called Belerion (or Land's End) from their intercourse with foreign merchants, are civilised in their manner of life. They prepare the tin, working very carefully the earth in which it is produced ... Here then the merchants buy the tin from the natives and carry it over to Gaul, and after travelling overland for about thirty days, they finally bring their loads on horses to the mouth of the Rhône.[4]Who these merchants were is not known. Historical sources such as Strabo, though not entirely reliable, state that the Phoenicians traded tin with Cornwall. There is no archaeological evidence for this. Some modern historians have attempted to debunk earlier antiquarian constructions of "the Phoenician legacy of Cornwall",[5][6][7][8] including belief that the Phoenicians even settled Cornwall.[...]
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