About African Heritage in London

The History of African Immigration

Africans have lived in London for centuries. 

Immigrant families date back to at least the 16th century, when African rulers and merchants sent their children to be educated in Britain or to serve as translators to facilitate trade.

Later, Africans arrived in Britain as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, which began in the 17th century. In 1700, the black population of London was an estimated 15,000 growing to 20,000 by 1787. During the 1800s, following the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, many who came to London were sailors and students.

African London in the 20th Century

The early- to mid-20th century saw Africans who had served in the world wars settling in the UK. Later in the 20th century many more came to the UK following unrest in their home countries. By 1991, there were 163,635 African Londoners – 2.4% of the population. 

The 2001 census reported 378,933 black African people in London. People of African origin are from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

African History in London: Did You Know?

• The first group of Africans who were known to visit London before the slave trade were five Ghanaians brought over by John Lok, an English merchant in 1555. His aim was to teach these men English so they could become interpreters in Africa.
• Between 1660 and 1690, there were 15 lord mayors of London, 25 sheriffs and 38 alderman of the City of London who were shareholders in the Royal African Company. This was a corporation that made London the only English city to benefit from the slave trade until 1698.
• Cesar Picton came from Senegal to Kingston, Surrey in 1761 and lived as a servant of Sir John Phillips, who owned Picton House in Wales. Cesar eventually became a successful businessman, owning a coach house and stables in Kingston High Street.
• Quobna Ottobah Cugoano was brought from Ghana to London as a slave in 1772. In the 1780s he became a servant to Richard Cosway, a popular painter in Marylebone. Cugoano went on to write two books and became an ardent campaigner against the slave trade.
• In 1788, a government document stated that there were around 50 to 70 African students living in London.
• Zachary Macauley (a one-time plantation manager in Jamaica) set up an African academy at his house in Clapham Common in 1800. The aim was to educate and train freed slaves from Sierre Leone as missionaries who would then return to their countries.

Famous Africans In London

• Composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's father, Daniel Taylor, was from Sierre Leone, and practiced medicine in England in the 1860s. He eventually ran a medical practice in Croydon.
• In 1886, Princess Azahmglona, the niece of the Zulu King Cetshwayo was booked to perform in Uncle Tom's Cabin in London. This was cancelled but she apparently went on to perform war dances at the Royal Victoria Hall, which is now the Old Vic, on Waterloo Road.
• London-born pianist, bandleader and jazz music composer Reginald Forsythe (1907-58) was the son of a Nigerian barrister and German mother. His family lived in a West African community in Shepherd's Bush.
• Actor Orlando Martins was born in Nigeria in 1899. He came to London in 1919 and worked as a porter in Billingsgate fish market as well as finding work as a snake charmer in Olympia and a ballet extra at the Lyceum in the Strand. He was a star of stage, screen and radio until the 1970s and died in 1995.
• Crown Prince Ras Tafari (Haile Selassie) arrived at Waterloo Station in 1936 after being exiled from Ethiopia.
• One-time Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah arrived in London in 1945 to study law. He lived in Tufnell Park.
• Bishop Desmond Tutu lived in London in 1962. He worked as a part-time curate while he studied at King's College University.
• In 1985, the Nelson Mandela statue on the upper walkway outside the Royal Festival Hall was unveiled by the then ANC President Oliver Tambo.