 |
|
Population Migration Indian Sub Continent Around the time that migrants from the West Indies were arriving in Wolverhampton, migrants were also arriving from the other Commonwealth Countries of India and Pakistan. They came for similar reasons. Britain had a labour shortage and it sought to alleviate this by employing workers from Commonwealth countries that had surplus labour. In 1954 there were ten Indian families living in Wolverhampton. Two years later the Indian Workers Association had a membership of one hundred and fifty. The decade between 1961 and 1971 was the main period of Asian immigration. Settlement from India and Pakistan rose from 1,756 in 1961 to 12,120 in 1971. This is reflected in
the number of children from Asian families entering Bingley Infant
and Junior School for instance. A check of the admission registers
Evidence from the Grove School Governer's minutes (D-EDS-49) show how the school attempted to accommodate its new pupils: there was a Language Centre, and checks were made on all the pupils entering the school to identify any language issues. Teachers also attended courses on how to teach immigrants. In 1979 the Grove School designed a turban as part of its school uniform. Asian migrants tended to concentrate in the areas of Dudley Road and Blakenhall. Services to serve the Asian communities, such as temples, shops, newspapers and cinemas, soon developed.
Awaz newspaper, 30th June, 1960 (L92)
Bilston Blast Furnace workers, c.1980 (L6/BIL/E/24)
Coliseum Cinema, Dudley Road, Wolverhampton, 1975 (M7/COL/E/2) Housing and employment became areas of concern. Migrants tended to live in areas that contained sub-standard and therefore cheaper housing. In many cases when these types of houses came on the market it was only migrants who were interested in buying them. Areas of poor housing developed lived in solely by migrants. Unemployment amongst ethnic minorities was examined by the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration in March 1969. Mr Grayson, the Director of Education for Wolverhampton, was called to give evidence to the Committee. He stated that over 30% of pupils in Wolverhampton's schools at this time were from a minority background. Statistics had been recorded
by local schools in the mid to late1960s. Some of these details
survive in school records available at Archives & Local Studies.
Whitmore Secondary School Immigrant Numbers 1966 - 1969
Select
Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, This situation was not helped by the employment situation at the time in Wolverhampton. Young Asian and West Indian men and women were finding it very hard to find work. Employers were reluctant to employ those who they considered immigrants for a number of reasons. Transport Department figures in 1955 show there were 50 immigrant workers out of a total workforce of 900. In 1960 this figure was 300, and by 1965 the total had risen to 600. In 1965 the Transport Department became embroiled in a dispute about Sikhs wearing beards and turbans at work. The dispute began when a Sikh, Tarsem Singh Sandhu, was sent home after defying the Wolverhampton Transport Department ban on the wearing of beards and turbans.
Tarsem Singh Sandhu, Express and Star, 9th August 1965
The result
of a spot check conducted by the local newspaper revealed that the
public of Wolverhampton had no objection to Sikh bus crews. One
person said: "It is right that they should wear them." The Turban Row rumbled on, and local and national politicians and trade unionists became involved. The leader of the United Kingdom Sikh organisation, the Akali DahlIn, Mr Sohan Singh Jolly, threatened to burn himself to death unless the dispute was settled. In April 1968 four Sikh
leaders saw the British High Commissioner in New Delhi with a letter
addressed to the British Prime Minister expressing solidarity with
Mr Jolly. The dispute was also used as a major part of the campaign about Tarsem Singh Sandu's brother in local elections in the Punjab. The
issue was finally settled after two years when turbans and beards
were permitted at work.
Express and Star editorial comment, 10th April 1969
Enoch Powell Enoch Powell was well known for his views on immigration and race. Following an unsuccessful attempt to become a Member of Parliament in 1947 he was elected MP for Wolverhampton South West in 1950, a seat he was to hold for nearly twenty-five years. Despite serving as Minister of Housing, Financial Secretary to the Treasury and finally Minister of Health, it is for one speech made in 1968 that Enoch Powell tends to be remembered. At Easter 1968 Enoch Powell made a speech in Birmingham known as "the rivers of blood speech". In it he warned of black immigrants taking over the inner cities. However it was the reference to the 'River Tiber foaming with blood' that made this one of the most notorious speeches in recent British political history. The speech rocked Britain and Powell's views were both supported by some and attacked by others. Some called him a racist while others claimed he was just expressing the views of ordinary people. Even following his death in 1998 Enoch Powell was still considered by some to be a racist. His speech, which by then was thirty years old, continued to generate passions on both sides of the argument. The 1981 census figures for Wolverhampton show that the total number of migrants living in Wolverhampton was 20,910 out of a population of 254,561: 1 in 12.7 of the population. This figure is in fact far lower than the 1871 ratio for Irish migrants in Wolverhampton, which was 1 in 5.6. A closer look at the 1981 census figures shows that more migrants were leaving Wolverhampton than arriving: 6,267 against 4,555, a net loss of 1,712 migrants. Figures from the 1991 census show that there were 27,722 Indian (11.4%) and 9,973 Black Caribbean (4.1%) living in Wolverhampton out of a total population of 242,190.
© Copyright. Wolverhampton City Council, 2002
|
