1Overseas parts of France proper Migration of minorities in France (i.e. Basques) can be considered as separate (ethnically) or French migration (by nationality).
French migration to the United Kingdom is a phenomenon that has occurred at various points in history. The Norman Conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066 resulted in the arrival of Normans, while in the 16th and 17th centuries Protestant Huguenots fled religious persecution to East London. Other waves (but less likely to have put down permanent roots) are associated with monasticism, particularly post-conquest Benedictines and Cistercians, aristocracy fleeing the French Revolution, expulsion of religious orders by Third Republic France, and current expats.
The 2011 UK Census recorded 137,862 French-born people living in the UK. Almost half of these were resident in the capital, London. Many more British people have French ancestry.
French remains the foreign language most learned by Britons. It has traditionally been spoken as a second language by the country's educated classes and its popularity is reinforced by the close geographical proximity between Great Britain and France.
Much of the UK's medieval aristocracy was descended from Franco-Norman migrants to England from the time of the Norman Conquest. Prominent families of the period, include the Grosvenor family originally, "Gros Veneur" (in Norman) "great hunter": their influence can be found throughout central London with many roads, squares and buildings bearing their family names, such as Grosvenor Square and Grosvenor House. Ancestors of the Molyneux family, the Earls of Sefton who arrived in England around the time of the Norman Conquest, bore the name "de Molines": they came from Molineaux-sur-Seine, near Rouen, in Normandy where they resided in the Château de Robert-le-Diable also known as Château de Moulineaux. Other well known names are the Beauchamps (Beecham), Courtois and Le Mesurier. Some British people are descended from the Huguenots, French Protestants who in the 16th and 17th centuries fled religious persecution in France. Although a substantial French Protestant community existed in London from the sixteenth century, the suppression of Protestantism in France in the 1680s led to a mass migration of predominantly Calvinist refugees, most of whom settled in London, partly in Spitalfields in the east and Soho in the west. The French Protestant community was one of the largest and most distinctive communities in the capital in the 18th-century. Later, during and after the French Revolution, there was also an influx of French Catholics.
The 2021 census recorded 163,517 French passport holders resident in England and Wales.[10] The number of residents of England and Wales born in France was recorded as 155,322.[11]
Of the French-born people recorded by the 2011 census, 66,654 (48.4 per cent) lived in Greater London and 22,584 (16.4 per cent) in South East England. Within London, particular concentrations were recorded in the boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham.[5] There are several French schools in London, some independent, and others, La Petite École Française in west London and the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, situated in South Kensington are run by the French state. The French Consulate in London has estimated that 270,000 French people live in the city, but the ONS contests this, pointing out that the number of French passport holders recorded by the 2011 census was only 86,000. The French Embassy's estimate includes London plus "the south eastern quadrant of the UK including Kent, Oxfordshire and maybe Sussex too".[12]
Many British people have French ancestry. According to a 2010 study by Ancestry.co.uk, three million British people are of French descent.[13]
Education
French international schools in the United Kingdom:
^ abWardrop, Murray (12 April 2010). "Britons can trace French ancestry after millions of records go online". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 15 August 2015. The documents disclose that despite our rivalry with our continental counterparts, 3 million Britons - one in 20 – can trace their ancestry back to France.
1Overseas parts of France proper Migration of minorities in France (i.e. Basques) can be considered as separate (ethnically) or French migration (by nationality).