German migration to the United Kingdom has been taking place for hundreds of years. Today, there are many Germans living in the United Kingdom, and many Britons have German ancestry, including the British royal family. While the German-born are one of the UK's largest foreign-born groups, many of these people are British nationals rather than German nationals since they were born in Germany to British military personnel based there.

History

Germans have resided in the United Kingdom throughout its history. Examples include the Hanseatic merchants of the Middle Ages, from the sixteenth century Protestant refugees entered Britain, fleeing from the instability caused by the religious changes consequent upon the Reformation. By the end of the seventeenth century, a significant German community had developed, consisting mostly of businessmen, mainly from Hamburg, sugar bakers and other economic migrants.

In 1714, George I, a German-speaking Hanoverian prince of mixed British and German descent, ascended to the British throne, founding the House of Hanover. Every subsequent British monarch until Edward VII in the Twentieth century would take a German spouse. The British Royal family retained the German surname Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, until 1917, when, in response to the anti-German feelings of World War I, it was legally changed to the English-sounding 'Windsor'. Even today, the Royal family is sometimes parodied as being 'German' even though the family's German blood is now much diluted.

In terms of religion, St Georges, a Lutheran Church dating from 1762-3, is the oldest German church in the UK. The congregation was founded by Dederich Beckmann, a wealthy sugar boiler and cousin of the first pastor. It served as a religious centre for generations of German immigrants who worked in the East End sugar refineries and in the meat and baking trades until the First World War. During the Nazi period in Germany St George's pastor, Julius Rieger, set up a relief centre for Jewish refugees from Germany who were provided with references to travel to England. The leading theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer was also associated with the work of St George’s when Bonhoeffer was pastor at the nearby St Paul’s church between 1933 and 1935.

Population and distribution

The 2001 UK Census recorded 266,136 German-born people, making them the fourth-largest foreign-born group after Irish, Indians and Pakistanis, although a large proportion of these people are thought to be the children of British military based in Germany at the time of their birth, who have since returned to the UK. Wiltshire, Colchester, North Yorkshire and Aldershot, which are all home to significant army populations, had a combined German-born population of 12,000. The Office for National Statistics estimates that, in 2007, there were 266,000 German-born people living in the UK but only 89,000 German nationals.
Other than in areas with army bases, German-born clusters are found in West London, particularly around Richmond, where there is a German school.

German British influence

George Frideric Handel lived most of his adult life in England

A 1917 Punch cartoon depicting King George V abolishing the German titles held by members of his family in the United Kingdom.

German Britons and German speakers have contributed to a vast number of areas in British life, especially in establishing powerful family dynasties. There are also areas and buildings named after famous Germans such as Holbein Place in Central London, named after the Renaissance painter Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, an independent museum in Bath dedicated to the life and works of the famous astronomer, William Herschel who discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. In music, George Frideric Handel, one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era in the 18th century, was commissioned to write four anthems for the coronation ceremony of King George II, later becoming a subject of the British crown in 1727. In business & commerce, Germans have also been highly successful. Backes & Strauss, the world's oldest Diamond company was founded in 1789 by German businessmen Georg Carl Backes and (later on) Max Strauss. In 1818 Johann Heinrich Schröder founded with his brother, the London-based firm Schroders, today one of the world's largest investment banks. In 1851 Paul Julius Reuter founded the Reuters news agency, now one of the largest financial media organisations in the world. As far as influential families go, the Freuds (present in the UK today via Lucian, Clement and Matthew) can trace their roots back to Germany and have the Freud Museum named in honour of family patriarch Sigmund. John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, founded the Astor dynasty in England. The Battenberg family's roots go back to Prince Louis of Battenberg who became a British subject, and who's immediate descendants were his youngest son Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and his grandson Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

Famous Britons with German ancestry

• British Royal Family (beginning with King George I)

• The Astor Family in Britain

• Sir Ernest Cassel, Merchant banker

• Julian Clary, comedian whose great-grandparents were German

• Alexander Eugen Conrady, Optical engineer

• Frederick Delius, Composer

• Friedrich Engels, philosopher, and collaborator with Karl Marx.

• Michael Fassbender, Actor

• Lucian Freud, Painter

• Vivian Fuchs (German Father), explorer whose expeditionary team completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica in 1958

• George Joachim Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen, Statesman and Businessman

• George Frideric Handel, Baroque composer

• Rainer Hersch, British musical comedian

• Sir Frederick William Herschel, Astronomer

• Gustav Holst, British composer (of German-Swedish descent)

• Hans Holbein the Younger, Renaissance-era painter of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour

• Sir Derek Jacobi, actor both of whose parents were of German descent

• Joseph Jonas, mayor of Sheffield

• Godfrey Kneller, leading 17th and 18th century court painter to Charles II

• Karl Marx, ethnically Jewish (of German descent) revolutionary economist and philosopher

• Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner Colonial administrator and Cabinet Minister.

• Alexander Von Moltke, Art Deco interior designer

• Katya Adler, BBC World Correspondent

• Sarah Mohr-Pietsch, Radio 3 Music Presenter

• Franz Reizenstein, composer and concert-pianist

• Paul Julius Reuter, founder of Reuters news agency

• Timothy Reuter, historian

• Nathan Mayer Rothschild, Founder of NM Rothschild and Sons, the UK Merchant Bank

• Bruno Schroder, Billionaire member of the Schroders banking dynasty

• Arthur Schuster, physicist

• Mary Ann Sieghart, assistant editor of The Times

• Gisela Stuart, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Edgbaston, 1997-

• J. R. R. Tolkien, writer, born in South Africa to a German-English father, whose family returned to England at a young age

• Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, actor-manager

• Anton Walbrook, Actor

• Babette Wasserman, international jewellery designer

• Sir Julius Wernher, Entrepreneur and Art Collector

• Matilda Ziegler, actress best known for playing the girlfriend of Mr. Bean

• Otto Kiep, Scottish born German WW2 resistance member