Hackney: the place - Diversity and Cohesion
Hackney's diverse post-war history
Hackney has historically been a borough that welcomes people from around the globe. Its position beyond the boundaries of London helped to make it a centre for religious and social non-conformism from the seventeenth century onwards. By the 18th and 19th century, Indian lascars (seamen) and others associated with East London's docks were settling in Hackney, at least temporarily. Since World War Two, there have been dramatic population shifts, with a steady decline in population until the early 1990s, followed by a period of population growth continuing up until the present day.
Today's Hackney is a dynamic, cohesive community: in the 2008 MORI survey of residents, 78% said that Hackney was a place where people from different backgrounds got on well together.
- Hackney, migration and population change
- The Charedi Orthodox Jewish Community
- Turkish and Kurdish speaking community
- Irish community
- Migration from the Caribbean
- Vietnamese community
- Migration from African countries
- Migration from South Asia
- Gypsies and Travellers
- Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual residents
- Changes since 2001
- Explore Hackney's population: links
Hackney, migration and population change
International migration into Hackney has combined people seeking opportunities for a better life in London, with large numbers of refugees fleeing conflict or persecution.
Until the mid-twentieth century, people from a White British background made up a substantial majority of Hackney's population. Over the course of the twentieth century, this population - and that of Hackney as a whole - declined as a result of slum clearance programmes, wartime bombing and manufacturing decline, together with middle class movement to newer suburbs. During this period, people from many different countries and backgrounds arrived and made Hackney their home.
Recent figures suggest changing patterns of migration and movement. Today, international migration into Hackney is currently lower than the Greater London average, and people coming to live in Hackney are much more likely to come from other parts of the UK.
Although it is often claimed that Hackney has 'high population churn', the opposite is true: in 2006, it was calculated that the borough has a mobility rate of roughly 15% - in other words, almost a sixth of its people lived at a different address from their current one a year ago. This makes Hackney the third least mobile borough in Inner London.
The Charedi Orthodox Jewish Community
Hackney is home to the largest Charedi ['pious, religious, orthodox'] Orthodox Jewish community in the world, outside New York and Israel. The Charedi community was established in Stamford Hill in the 1920s, growing significantly during the Second World War as new arrivals fled the Holocaust. It remains within a tight geographic area centred on four of Hackney's northern wards: Cazenove, Lordship, New River, and Springfield - as well as in South Tottenham in Haringey. A study in 2007 estimated the Charedi community at around 15,409 or 7% of Hackney's population, while other estimates are somewhat higher.
The community is young and rapidly growing - with around half its members under the age of 19 years. It is diverse, with a mix of backgrounds, countries of origin and congregations, but linked by a shared adherence to the tenets of the Torah, lifelong religious study and to marriage, family life, and support to others. The majority of Charedim living in Hackney today were born in Britain, but others are from a range of countries including Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, the USA and Yemen. Yiddish and English are the first languages of the community, with a minority speaking modern Hebrew and other languages.
Turkish and Kurdish speaking community
Hackney also has a well-established Turkish and Kurdish speaking community, which arrived in the borough (and in neighbouring Haringey) in three phases: Turkish Cypriots who arrived from the 1930s as commonwealth citizens, Turkish people from mainland Turkey who came to live in London for both political and economic reasons, including as political refugees in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Kurdish community who fled persecution in Turkey, Iraq and Iran in large numbers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Many Kurds from Turkey live in Hackney and Haringey and many Iraqi Kurds in Hammersmith. Many Kurdish residents speak Kurdish as their first language. The majority of Turkish-speaking residents belong to the Sunni sect of Islam, with most Kurds belonging to the Alevi sect, and there are also a small number of Kurdish Christians. Limitations in census classifications mean that there is no authoritative data on the number of Turkish speaking residents, but they are estimated at around 6% of Hackney's population, spread fairly evenly across the borough.
Employment in the Turkish community during the 1970s and 1980s was dominated by the textile industries, and many Kurdish residents were also employed in textile work during the 1980s. Textile workers worked both from home and from hundreds of small units in Hackney and particularly Dalston, often in difficult conditions. The decline of the industry had a profound economic effect on the community. Many Turkish and Kurdish residents today work in retail or catering business across the borough, with high rates of self-employment.
Irish community
Although Irish people have emigrated to London for hundreds of years, the 1940s and 1950s saw significant numbers of Irish people coming to work in areas such as construction and nursing - including in Hackney. In 2001, three per cent of Hackney's population said they were from an Irish background.
Migration from the Caribbean
From the 1950's, with a severe post-war labour shortage in Britain, many people from the Caribbean emigrated to the UK. Hackney's Caribbean community is very diverse, compared to some other areas in the UK where people tended to arrive from just one or two islands. There were some locally specific patterns - for example, people from Antigua and Jamaica settled in Stoke Newington, St Lucians and Dominicans mainly moved into the Clapton neighbourhoods in the 1960s and 1970s and Hackney was also a primary area of settlement for refugee Monseratians displaced after the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano in 1995.
At the time of the 1981 census, 26,653 people (around 15% of Hackney's population) lived in households headed by somebody born in the Caribbean. By 2001, Black or Black British - Caribbean residents made up around 10 per cent (20,887) of Hackney's population, although there has also been a significant growth in Hackney residents with a mixed White and Black Caribbean heritage, reflecting a high degree of integration. The percentage of Caribbean pupils in Hackney schools has remained relatively constant at around 17%, and those of mixed White and Black Caribbean heritage is one of the fastest growing groups.
In the 1950s and 1960s, many of the first settlers from the Caribbean in Hackney lived in rented accommodation but were able to save and accumulate capital to buy houses in Tottenham and then in other areas of North East London. Today Hackney is still an area of primary settlement for Caribbeans and in particular Jamaicans. The majority of residents whose origins are in the Caribbean are Christian. For Caribbean people, the church has always been a focal point and this is reflected in their representation within Baptist, Pentecostalist, Adventist, Jehovahs's Witness and Church of England congregations.
Vietnamese community
Hackney's Vietnamese population arrived during the years following 1975, when the UK government accepted quotas of refugees from camps in Hong Kong, under a planned re-settlement scheme. Many were dispersed around the UK, sometimes returning to London. Further arrivals have taken place through family reunification, and more recently, undocumented migration and some students. Vietnamese residents' original language was either Vietnamese, or Cantonese or both. Ancestor worship is an important part of Vietnamese people's philosophical and religious beliefs, which have a number of influences, including Confucianism and Buddhism. The number of Vietnamese people living in Hackney is unknown, though local community centres put the number of residents at around 5000.
Migration from African countries
Hackney has a growing and very diverse Black/Black British - African population. In the 1981 census, around 3% of Hackney's residents (5330 people) lived in a household headed by somebody born in Africa. By 1991, 6.7% of the population identifed as Black African, and this figure rose to 12% by 2001.
This diverse population includes Ghanians, and Nigerians who began arriving in significant numbers during the 1960s, and then again in more difficult economic circumstances in the 1980s. At that point, Dalston was a major focus for Black African residents, although community organisations report recent arrivals from Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Uganda settling mainly in Kings Park and South Hackney.
Schools language data suggests there are pupils with origins in Senegal/The Gambia (Wolof), Democratic Republic of Congo/Central African Republic (Lingala) as well as Nigeria and Ghana, while schools ethnicity data also shows Somali and Sierra Leonian pupils. However, a number of the categories are broad and these figures do not show the diversity of Black African residents in Hackney. Religious affiliations reflects this diversity, with around 77% of Black African residents following Christianity, and the remainder mostly Muslim.
Migration from South Asia
There are long-standing connections between London's East End and South Asia, but it was only in the 1950s and 1960s when significant numbers of people from South Asia began arriving in Hackney. In 2001, 17,401 people (8.6 % of residents) identified as Asian or Asian British - the vast majority originating from South Asia. The largest number have Indian origins - including Gujerati speaking Muslims from India and East Africa who often settled around Clapton. The second largest group were people with links to Bangladesh. Hackney's Pakistani and Bangladeshi population are overwhelmingly Muslim. The majority of residents of Indian heritage are Muslims, with smaller numbers of Sikhs and Hindus.
Gypsies and Travellers
Hackney has a long tradition of welcoming Gypsies and Travellers. Although there are no accurate figures for the number of Gypsy and Traveller residents in Hackney, estimates suggest they number in the region of 800, the majority of whom are Irish Travellers, with a growing number of Roma from Eastern Europe. There are 27 pitches on five authorised sites in Hackney. A significant proportion of Gypsy and Traveller families live in mainstream (bricks and mortar) housing.
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual residents
Hackney has a well-established lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) community - and some areas such as Stoke Newington - have historically been centres for London's LGB community. Areas such as Shoreditch and Dalston have developed a visible LGB presence more recently. There are no reliable figures for the number of lesbian, gay and bisexual people living in Hackney.
Changes since 2001
Precise information about arrivals to Hackney since 2001 is hard to come by in advance of the 2011 census. There have been new international migrants from A8 countries - most notably from Poland, although schools language data also shows increasing numbers of students whose first languages are Albanian, Romanian and Bulgarian.
Recent data suggests there significant changes to Hackney's population are underway, with big increases in well-qualified, mobile young professionals, arriving in the borough. 2008's household needs assessment shows a significant rise in the number of residents living in privately rented accommodation (with no local housing allowance) - with higher than average incomes and mobility. The ONS annual population survey shows a dramatic rise in the percentage of residents with the highest level of qualifications - NVQ level 4 or greater: from 33% in 2006 to 46% in 2008.
Explore Hackney's population: links
A good place to start is the Hackney Borough Profile, with facts and figures about Hackney and its people.
If you like maps, try the Hackney map gallery, which uses information from the 2001 census to show how people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds are distributed across the borough.
Or you could visit Hackney Museum, whose excellent permanent collection - 'Discover the World on your Doorstep' - features displays and interviews revealing 1000 years of transnational migration to Hackney.
For a short and accessible introduction to population movements in East London, try the Museum of Childhood's 'People of the East End'
The Black and Ethnic Minority Working Group has produced a Cultural Competency Toolkit which includes information for health and social care workers about some of Hackney's different communities.
There are a number of local organisations which work closely with specific communities. Although they are too numerous to list here, many can be found by searching the Hackney Directory.
Many organisations are members of Hackney's Community Empowerment Network where you can find out more about the network and its members.
Page updated: 5 Jan 2011
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