Genealogy Chat

Could anyone tell me why there was an increase of Russian/Polish familys to the East End of London.
Tracing my family back, it appeaers that after 1871 census there was a mass increase of them.
Thank you Ann

Hi

Mainly Jewish escaping persecution etc in Europe. Same thing happened between the two world wars.

Denis

Try a google search for Jewish Pogroms - it will probably give you a background to the Jews leaving places like Russia where they were being persecuted.

Like nowdays, people tend to congregate in the areas they first arrive- hence - the port cities of London, Liverpool etc. will always be a concentration of immigrants. Further, they will go to the cheapest areas in those places - in the case of London - the east end.

There was a huge influx of Jews (to UK) from Polish Russia in the mid to late 1800's, when they were escaping an area which was under increasing threat from the Tsar's anti-Semitic campaigns.
The Tsarist plan was to herd all Jews into one area called 'the Pale' in western Russia, and the only people allowed to work 'beyond the pale' were Jewish prostitutes.
In 1886 Bismarck expelled alien Poles (Jews) from Prussia, and in 1890 the Russians banished Jews from Moscow. If that wasn't enough, there was a big cholera epidemic in 1866 in Russian Poland, and famine in Lithuania. All of this helped make up the minds of many to get the heck out of that area.

For many of them America had been the destination of their dreams, but not everyone could afford or face so long a journey. Britain was nearer, and besides, it already had an established Jewish population.

Between 1881 and 1914 some 150,000 Jewish settlers came to Britain for good. This was in spite of the Board of Guardians attempts to stem the flow.
6 ships a week were comong from the Baltic in the 1890's and not just to London.

Between the 1870's and early 1900's many rags to riches stories involved these immigrants...household names such as Marks & Spencer, Moss Bros, Burton.

The East End of London would have been the cheapest area to start when you're just off a boat with no money. Already there was a Jewish community there, so they would have joined their own.
Later, as they worked hard and built up their businesses, and did better for themselves they could afford to move out of the slums, hence they tended to move up to Finchley etc.

And so the next wave of immigrants arrives, from a different nation being persecuted, and they start off in the East End, and so the circle keeps turning.

K

Reading this reminded me of my husband's relatives that arrived in Newcastle from Russia/Prussia/Poland. I did a bit of googling to see if there was any info of a general nature and ended up finding a new searchable database which has their places of burial listed. So if anyone reading this has Jewish rellies take a look at JCR-UK Jewish Communities and Records.
www.jgsb.org.uk
www.jewishgen.org/JCR-UK