Syrians in the United Kingdom
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Born in Syria 9,258 (2011 census) 48,000 (2019 estimate) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool | |
| Languages | |
| British English, Arabic (variants of Syrian Arabic), Domari, Turkish, Neo Aramaic, Kurdish, Adyghe, Afshar, Turoyo, Armenian | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (mainly Sunni Islam, minority Alawites), Syriac Christianity, Atheism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other British Arabs, Syrian diaspora |
| Part of a series on |
| British people |
|---|
| United Kingdom |
| Eastern European |
| Northern European |
| Southern European |
| Western European |
| Central Asian |
| East Asian |
| South Asian |
| Southeast Asian |
| West Asian |
| African and Afro-Caribbean |
| Northern American |
| South American |
| Oceanian |
Syrians in the United Kingdom or Syrian Britons are people whose heritage is originated from Syria who were born in or who reside in the United Kingdom.
Demography[edit]
The 2011 UK Census recorded 8,526 people who stated that they were born in Syria and reside in England; 322 in Wales,[1] 379 in Scotland[2] and 31 in Northern Ireland.[3] The Office for National Statistics estimated that the population stood at 48,000 in 2019.[4] This increase is due largely to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Notable people[edit]
Businesspeople[edit]
- Mustafa Suleyman, entrepreneur and co-founder of DeepMind, which Google bought for an estimated £400 million in 2014. He is also the co-founder of Inflection AI.
- Ayman Asfari, billionaire businessman, former CEO of Petrofac
- Wafic Said, billionaire businessman, he established the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in 1996.
- Simon Halabi, property developer, in 2007, he was listed as the 14th richest person in Britain.
- Helly Nahmad, art dealer, he descends from a billionaire family that originated in Aleppo.
- Ronald Mourad, Chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures; his parents were originally from Aleppo.
- Kasim Kutay, CEO of Novo Holdings A/S
Actors and entertainment[edit]
- Wentworth Miller, actor, known for his role as Michael Scofield in the Fox series Prison Break
- Patrick Baladi (born 1971), actor and musician, known for his role in the British show ‘The Office’
- Souad Faress (born 1948), actress, best known for her roles in Game of Thrones (season 6) and BBC’s Radio 4 program The Archers.
Artists and designers[edit]
- Moussa Ayoub (c.1873–1955), Syrian-born British painter and portraiture artist.[5]
- Khairat Al-Saleh (born 1940), painter, ceramicist, glassmaker and printmaker
- Nabil Nayal: fashion designer who won the Fashion Trust Grant from the British Fashion Council and the Royal Society of Arts Award
Academia[edit]
- Kefah Mokbel, renowned breast cancer surgeon and researcher
- Kamal Abu-Deeb (born 1942), Chair of Arabic at the University of London
- Dennis W. Sciama (1926–1999), British physicist of Syrian-descent who, through his own work and that of his students, played a major role in developing British physics after the Second World War.[6][7]
Writers and journalists[edit]
- Danny Abdul Dayem, citizen-journalist who reported from Homs, Syria between 2011–2012.
- Mai Badr (born 1968), editor-in-chief of Hia Magazine and deputy editor-in-chief of Sayidaty and Al Jamila.
- Abdallah Marrash (1839–1900), Syrian writer involved in various Arabic-language newspaper ventures in London and Paris.
- Mustapha Karkouti: journalist and media consultant
- Nadim Nassar, writer, director of the Awareness Foundation and the only British-Syrian priest in the Church of England
- Rana Kabbani, writer, broadcaster and cultural historian
Other[edit]
- Asma al-Assad (born 1975), the First Lady of Syria.[8][9]
- Kefah Mokbel: breast surgeon and founder of the UK charity Breast Cancer Hope. In November 2010, he was named in the Times magazine's list of Britain's Top Doctors
- Sami Khiyami, Syrian diplomat, former Syrian ambassador to London.
- Shaha Riza (born c.1953), a Libyan former World Bank employee.
See also[edit]
- Syria-United Kingdom relations
- Islam in the United Kingdom
- Kurds in the United Kingdom
- Turks in the United Kingdom
- British Arabs
- Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme
References[edit]
- ^ "2011 Census: Country of birth (expanded), regions in England and Wales". Office for National Statistics. 26 March 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "Country of birth (detailed)" (PDF). National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "Country of Birth – Full Detail: QS206NI". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
- ^ "ONS estimates for 2019".
- ^ "Ayoub, Moussa | Benezit Dictionary of Artists". www.oxfordartonline.com. 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00009249. ISBN 978-0-19-977378-7. Retrieved 2020-03-16.
- ^ "PhysicsWorld Archive » Volume 13 » Obituary: Dennis Sciama 1926–1999". Physicsworldarchive.iop.org. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
- ^ "PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY VOL. 145, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 2001" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
- ^ Bar, Shmuel (2006). "Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview" (PDF). Comparative Strategy. 25 (5): 353–445. doi:10.1080/01495930601105412. ISSN 0149-5933. S2CID 154739379. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2013.
- ^ "President Assad's wife banned from travelling to Europe... but not Britain". The Mirror. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
External links[edit]
Associations[edit]
- Syrian British Medical Society (SBMS)
- Syrian Association for Mental Health (SAMH)
- Syria Legal Development Program (SLDP), London
- Syria Relief, Manchester
- Hand In Hand for Aid and Development
- Syrian Platform for Peace (supported by International Alert)
- The Oxford Kurdish and Syrian Association, Oxford
- Rethink Rebuild, Syrian Community in Manchester
- The Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)
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