I visited University of East London Archives with Jane and Julia on 18th Feb 2014. We were very kindly guided in our research by a very nice archivist called Paul. I had a rare chance to listen to a series of interviews with residents of East London. They shared their views on ever changing East End that has been the welcome gate of London for a number of different immigration waves from all over the world.
I’ve also came across a very interesting book called “The Peopling of London. Fifteen Thousand Years of Settlement from Overseas” (edited by Nick Merriman) which helped me to situate story of Polish immigration amongst the others. It gave a great idea of the reasons and the scale of Polish migration to London and became a chronological frame for my research:
XVIII century – Small number of Polish Protestants arrived seeking refuge after Counter-Reformation.
1795 – A larger group of mainly Polish soldiers forced to look for refuge after third and final partition of Poland between Prussia, Austrian Empire and Russian Empire.
1831 – Collapse of the Rising in Poland drove more people out of Poland.
1880’s – Polish immigration began changing its character from political to economical. Newcomers of from that period were aiming at London East End: Whitechapel, Silverstone, Poplar and also Leytonstone and Bethnal Green. It is worth mentioning that most of those who arrived in the last decade of the nineteen century were Jews.
First World War – brought to Britain Polish prisoners of war from German army and politicians including nationalist who fully were fully committed to fight for independence of Poland.
Second World War – In 1940 the exiled Polish president, the Prime Minister (General Sikorski) and the government accompanied by 20 000 Polish soldiers landed in Britain and joined struggle against Germany supporting British troops.
1980’s – Solidarity mass movement in Poland challenged Soviet control over Eastern Block. Martial law was imposed by Polish government to crash the opposition. It forced a significant number of Poles to leave their homeland.
