The Sunday Times September 10, 2006
Found: migrants with the mostest
Robert Winnett and Holly Watt
Survey pinpoints ethnic winners and losers in 'melting pot' Britain
For origins of your surname visit www.originsinfo.com/Origins/Default.aspx
ARMENIAN immigrants and their descendants are the most successful ethnic group in the country, according to an analysis of “melting pot” Britain.
They are followed by the Japanese, Dutch and Greek Cypriots among the groups who are economically and socially most successful. Bangladeshi Muslims and migrants from Sierra Leone and Syria have fared worst.
The new analysis places the 42.2m adults registered to vote in mainland Britain in 200 ethnic groups — on the basis of a person’s surname and first name.
The information is linked to a marketing database to rank the socioeconomic status of each group. The system, Origins Info, is used by hospitals, retailers and charities to tailor their services to individual ethnic groups.
Its developers claim it is reliable even though most married women adopt their husband’s name and some immigrants may have changed their surname to avoid discrimination.
Richard Webber, a professor of spatial analysis at University College, London who developed Origins Info, said: “The patterns that this analysis have uncovered are striking. We are hoping it will prove a valuable tool for government and business.”
The system can also be used to identify where different ethnic groups live and the ethnic composition of the professions.
It reveals that Ripley in Derbyshire is the “most English” place in England with 88.58% of residents having an English ethnic background. The most diverse area is south Tottenham, in north London, which is home to 113 ethnic groups from Bretons to Vietnamese.
Southall in west London has the least English gene pool — just 17.82% of residents in the area nicknamed “little India” are of English ethnic origin.
Ian Smith, 63, a carpenter, who has lived in Southall since 1978, said: “Of the 90 or so houses in my street I would say there are fewer than 10 English families. Most are Sikhs but there are now more Somalis and quite a few Poles.
“Sometimes I do feel slightly intimidated because it can feel like a foreign country at times. But we get on well with our neighbours who are both Sikhs.”
The analysis shows the persistence of ethnic clusters decades after the group first arrived in Britain. Greek Cypriots are concentrated in Broxbourne and Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Margate in Kent, Italians can be found in Bedford and Waltham Cross and the Dutch in Plockton in the Scottish Highlands and Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales.
Cardiff has a high concentration of Maltese residents because it was the port where many disembarked after naval service during the 1940s and 1950s. The Chinese are in Oxford, Harlow and Milton Keynes and Hispanics in Eastbourne, Crawley and Ascot. In Wales, English border areas have been colonised by those with a Welsh background.
Overall, there is a disproportionately high number of immigrants in business, law and medicine. An analysis of doctors, using data provided by the Medical Directory, found the proportion of medics with northern Indian roots is more than 10 times higher than for the population as a whole. Spaniards and Romanians are also significantly “over-represented” as doctors.
Similarly, Russians, the Dutch and Nigerians are over-represented among barristers.
A disproportionate number of company directors are from immigrant stock. The Japanese, Russians and people from the Nordic countries are heavily over-represented among the country’s 5.3m directors and partners. The English are one of the least commercially minded races, according to this measure.
One in four restaurants is run by a Muslim and one in four chemists by an Indian or a Sri Lankan.
Danny Sriskandarajah, head of migration, equalities and citizenship at the Institute for Public Policy Research, a Blairite think tank, said immigrant groups often had enduring characteristics. “There’s something unique and special about people prepared to break the ties with home. Throughout history, only a tiny percentage of people moved any sort of distance. A few entrepreneurial, adventurous types have the wherewithal and motivation to move.”
Of the 2,651 people of Armenian descent in Britain, more than 1,600 run businesses and a high proportion live in expensive parts of west London.
Among the most successful is Bob Manoukian, property developer and former agent for Prince Jefri of Brunei. He has a family fortune of £300m, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
Other successful people with Armenian roots include David Dickinson, presenter of the BBC’s Bargain Hunt, and Ara Palamoudian, chairman of the Armenian community & church council of Great Britain.
He said: “Armenians have always tried to be self-sufficient and not to be a burden on any country. It could be the history of the Armenian people, the way their lives have been over centuries. They had to find shelter around the world.”
Many Armenians fled to England after the first world war, during which up to 1.5m died, amid allegations of genocide by the Turks. Other waves arrived in the 1970s and 1980s.
