Britalian

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British-Italian or Britalian are terms used to describe people of dual Italian and British ancestry. More specific terms used to describe people from specific countries within Britain include; Anglo-Italian, Italian-Scots and Italian-Irish.

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[edit] Fifteenth century

In some form or another, people of Italian descent have inhabited parts of Britain and England as far back as the fifteenth century. The Britalians of the time have been described in publications as a "small but influential community of Italians that took shape in England in the fifteenth century initially consisted of ecclesiastics, humanists, merchants, bankers, and artists."[1]

In the aftermath of the English Reformation, amongst other religious refugees from the European continent, many Italian Protestants found Tudor England to be a hospitable haven, and brought with them cultural Italian ties. The 15th century also saw the birth of a pivotal Italo-Englishman in the form of John Florio, a famed language teacher, lexicographer, and translator.

[edit] World War II

During World War II as dictator Benito Mussolini declared war on the Allies in May of 1940, angry mobs attacked Italian restaurants and ice-cream parlours. Many Italians living in Britain were interned. Amongst some of the Italians interned were Mussolini's left-wing opponents who had fled to Britain after being involved in anti-fascist activities in Italy.

Italians in the country were held in various camps all over Britain. Eventually, like other refugees, they would appear before tribunals individually, which had them classified into one of three groupings: "A" class aliens were interned, "B" class aliens were allowed to leave the camps but had certain restrictions placed upon their movements, and the vast majority of refugees were identified as "C" class aliens and were allowed to go free.

John Anderson, who was in charge of national security, ordered the arrests of over 2,000 male aliens living in the British coastal areas on May 12, 1940. A few days after this, all "B" class aliens were placed into internment camps. Author, H. G. Wells joined the campaign against this, and accused the Home Office of being run by "Nazi sympathisers". He pointed out that a large number of those interned had a long record of being involved in anti-fascist activities in Germany and Italy. Many of these people were exported to Canada and Australia after the War Cabinet had decided to export them.[2]

[edit] Post-War

Since the end of the war, many Italian communities have built up in Britain once more. After the end of World War II, migrants from, at the time, poor Southern Italian villages (known as the "Mezzogiorno") came to England.

An example of this can be seen in Bedfordshire, where, as of 2006, there are over 14,000 people of Italian origin living in Bedfordshire, many in Bedford itself. [3]This community dates back to post-war, reconstructing England where many Italians took up work in the area as brick workers. Between 1951 and the 1960s, over 7,500 Italians were recruited in Bedfordshire.

[edit] Recent times

In recent times, there are many Britalians living in Britain and England, who have built up small communities all over the country, bound often by both culture's strong love of the sport football. Some famous British-Italian sportsmen include; Joe Calzaghe, Carlo Cudicini, Frankie Dettori, Simone Perrotta and Marco Gabbiadini.

[edit] Famous British Italians

[edit] See Also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Source: The Italian Encounter with Tudor England (English)
  2. ^ Source: Italians In Britain (English)
  3. ^ Source: BBC.co.uk (English)

[edit] External links

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