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Finding a great grandmother who originally came from Ireland or a distant ancestor who was a Hugenot immigrant in the 18th century isn't the same as in the US where the typical American probably has half a dozen or even more different national origins among his/her ancestors, and that's just going back a few generations.
The overwhelming majority of native born white Britons are descended from people who resided in the British Isles for hundreds and hundreds of years. If you can prove you have a Norman or Viking ancestor that's going back a thousand years of continual residence in one island.
Again I think you underestimate how mixed an average Briton is, like with Dizzy just about every one of my friends (the people I know well) have some forefather or ancestor of family member from somewhere other than England Scotland or Wales, if you go back 20 generations you have over a million direct ancestors!
Again I think you underestimate how mixed an average Briton is, like with Dizzy just about every one of my friends (the people I know well) have some forefather or ancestor of family member from somewhere other than England Scotland or Wales, if you go back 20 generations you have over a million direct ancestors!
so <1% of your ancestry is from another country? That's not really mixed at all. It'd be more remarkable if there was no whatsoever, as long as there were small movements of people you'd get some small ancestry from elsewhere.
"British" I suppose is more of a civic identity and probably seems more inclusive. But white descendants of immigrants adopt an English identity. Most English Jews are descended from late 19th century/early 20th century immigration and are third and fourth generation and are identifying as "just English" at this point. A significant proportion of people in England are of Irish ancestry but only about 1% identify as Irish in the census.
I'm aware of the small number of Italians who moved to Scotland. They opened several wonderful groceries in Edinburgh.
But I wouldn't quite say "lots" of people in Scotland with Italian origins. If you google search it the estimate is between 35,000 to 100,000 people in Scotland that have some Italian heritage, out of a population of 5+ million.
100,000 people would fill a small city or very large town. I'd call that lots. And they're all Scottish. Bear in mind too that I selected only one group of people. Plenty more from other places although I'll admit fewer than London. I well remember a little girl I viewed as Chinese tell me in a thick Glasgwegian accent that she was nothing of the sort.
The largest Irish-born populations in the UK in 1871 were:
London 91,000 (2.8%)
Liverpool 77,000 (15.6%)
Glasgow 68,000 (14.3%)
Manchester 34,000 (9.0%)
Which means Liverpool and Glasgow were probably one quarter to one third Irish origin. While London's proportion was low, this is of course due to its "headstart" as a big city. London had more Irish immigrants than Boston did and had the second largest Irish immigrant population after NYC at the time. And of course, later Irish immigration was more directed towards London.
Last edited by King of Kensington; 11-01-2013 at 01:38 AM..
Again I think you underestimate how mixed an average Briton is, like with Dizzy just about every one of my friends (the people I know well) have some forefather or ancestor of family member from somewhere other than England Scotland or Wales, if you go back 20 generations you have over a million direct ancestors!
No, I think you overestimate the effect of immigration in the British isles. 87% of the country was White British in the 2011 census.
Maybe down in that southern portion of England where you live most people have foreign ancestry but definitely not anywhere else.
Since I got my first computer 14 years ago Ive take more of an interest in my geneology, its fascinating and over the years its got so much better with all the online information... I have enjoyed finding cousins in Ireland and NI over the years and even found my half siblings in England. at the moment Im trying badly to research my Spanish grandparents.. so yes us in the UK do find this as interesting as in the US Id think...
I think we are starting to get an interest as time goes on and as more resources become available.
I think you're reading a lot into this. I have never met an American who was "desperate to put a label on themselves."
Don't confuse "interest" with "desperation."
Maybe it's hard for some people to relate to a people who KNOW that their ancestry is NOT from the country in which they live. Or maybe they don't know much at all about their family history past a generation or two. Where were these ancestors from? What experiences and cultures shaped their values and habits - family sayings, traditions, foods, religion, likes and dislikes? Many people (not just Americans) are curious about their ancestors, but Americans often don't have the luxury of centuries of documented births, baptisms, marriages and deaths at their fingertips. Many of our histories "start" rather abruptly at a port of entry a few generations back.
I don't think it's weird or desperate to be curious about where those people came from.
Well tbh hes right. Americans always say 'i'm Irish' or 'i'm Scottish' which is putting a label on yourself. We do not do that here in the British isles.
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