Bill Hern, our northern correspondent, has this to say about a current exhibition in Leeds:
On 9 August I had the pleasure of visiting Leeds City Museum to listen to a fascinating presentation called “300 Years of Migrating to Leeds.”
It was virtually standing room only as an enthralled audience heard curators Adam Jaffer and Ruth Martin describe Leeds’ proud history in welcoming migrants and refugees over the centuries. There is evidence of migrants coming to Leeds tens of thousands of years ago, but the first large waves of migrants came over in the 19th century from Ireland and also Jewish refugees mainly from Russia and Poland.
Leeds has benefited greatly from migration particularly through the Jewish community, Montague Burton (originally Meshe Osinsky) founded Burton Menswear and of course Michael Marks of Marks and Spencer fame was another famous Jewish migrant to Leeds.
Ruth and Adam also covered the migration of Belgians during World War 1, Ukrainians immediately after World War 2, West Indians and South Asians.
The reasons for people moving to Leeds often involve escape from War or persecution but Adam stressed the impact the building of the Mangla Dam in Mirpur, Pakistan in the 1960s had on immigration from that country. Over 100,000 people were left permanently displaced after 280 villages were flooded in order to create the Dam. Many used their compensation payments to move to Yorkshire.
More recently Leeds has maintained its reputation as a city which welcomes migrants receiving people from East European EU countries. It is the 6th most popular British city for Polish immigrants.
Migrants have also been received from Iraq, China and Syria with Leeds being named one of the most welcoming cities for Syrian refugees. Leeds is currently a City of Sanctuary, part of a national movement to build a culture of welcome for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.
It is impossible to do justice to the information-packed hour long presentation in only a few paragraphs but the good news is that the Museum has a free exhibition called ‘A city & its welcome – Three centuries of migrating to Leeds.’ The Museum’s publicity material sums up the exhibition perfectly – “A city and its welcome’ tells the stories and experiences of those who have made a home in Leeds over the past three centuries, and how they have helped shape the city that we recognise today. Come on a journey with us to see the differences between their hopes and expectations and the realities of life in a new place, plus treasured objects brought from afar.”
The exhibition is open until 5 January 2020 and really is not to be missed. I cannot recommend it highly enough.