Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)

The term British Mixed has no official definition and is not used by the UK government. Colloqually it refers to British citizens whose parents are of different races, and to the offspring of such people.

People of mixed race made up 1.2% of the UK population as of the 2001 census or 677,117 people. The most common mixed race group is White/Afro-Caribbean with 237,000 people, followed by White/Asian at 189,000 people.

The mixed race population has a younger age profile than any other minority ethnic group in Britain, where 50% is under 16 years of age. By the year 2020, mixed race Britons are expected to have outnumbered British Indians (currently more than 1 million members), to become the largest ethnic minority in Britain with 1.24 million members, showing a 50% increase in the mixed race population in a decade to come. [1] [2]

Classification and Legal Status

Mixed-race people are generally classed as "ethnic minority" for the purposes of preferential treatment, eg access to training or education. (Although British law does not allow discrimination on the grounds of race for recruitment, such discrimination is lawful for places on training schemes, including schemes which lead directly to employment - usually in the public sector.)

History

A negro presence in the British Isles has been recorded as far back as the Roman conquest of Britain (AD 43). In 1601 Queen Elizabeth I ordered the expulsion of all "blackamoors" from England. This proscription included negroes and Arabs from North Africa. (Arguably the presence of Blacks in England is still illegal since the royal decree has never been recinded. However it is not currently applied by British Courts.) It wasn't until the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in 1948, bringing migrants from the Caribbean that Blacks established themselves as a distinct population, and mixed-race persons were not generally seen until the 1980s.

Notable Mixed-Race Britons

Arts and Entertainment

• Sade Adu, (Nigerian father/English mother), Singer
• Gabrielle Anwar, (Iranian father, English Mother), Actress
• Dame Shirley Bassey (Nigerian father/English mother), Singer
• Melanie B (Nivisian father/English mother), Singer & Actress. Member of the Spice Girls.
• Craig Charles (Afro-Caribbean father/Irish mother), Actor
• Mutya Buena (Phillipino father, Irish Mother), Singer
• Craig David, (Grenadian father, Anglo Jewish Mother), Singer
• Alesha Dixon (Afro-Caribbean father/English mother, Singer
• Goldie, musician (Afro-Caribbean & Scottish)
• Sir Ben Kingsley (Kenyan-Indian father/English mother), Actor
• Myleene Klass (Austrian father/Fillipino mother), Classical musician, model, & TV presenter
• Cleo Laine (Jamaican father, English mother) Singer
• Yasmin Le Bon, (Iranian Father, English mother), model
• Ms. Dynamite, (Scottish & Jamaican), Singer
• Thandie Newton, (English father Zimbabwean mother, Actress
• Sophie Okonedo, (Nigerian Father Anglo Jewish Mother) Actress
• Leona Lewis (Afro-Caribbean father/Anglo-Welsh mother), Singer and winner of the 2006 X-Factor
• Slash (musician), (Nigerian Father , English Mother), Musician
• Zadie Smith (English father/Jamaican mother), Novelist
• Melanie Sykes, (Anglo-Burmese/Anglo-Indian mother) television presenter and model
• KT Tunstall (Chinese birth mother/Irish birth father), Singer

Politics

• Oona King (African-American father/Jewish mother), Politician
• Paul Boateng (Scottish and Ghanean)

Sports

• Robert Earnshaw, (Welsh father, Zambian Mother), Footballer
• Rio Ferdinand and Anton Ferdinand (St. Lucian father/Anglo-Irish mother), Footballers
• Ryan Giggs (Mixed-race father/English mother), Footballer
• Jeremy Guscott, (Afro Caribbean father, English mother), Rugby player
• Lewis Hamilton (Grenedan father/English mother), Formula 1 driver
• Dame Kelly Holmes, (Afro Carribean Father, English Mother) Athlete
• Nasser Hussain (Indian father/English mother), Cricketer
• David James, footballer
• Rory and Tony Underwood (English father/Chinese mother), Rugby players
• Theo Walcott, (Afro Carribean Father, English Mother), Footballer

See also

• Multiracial
• Biracial
• Interracial marriage
• Mulatto
• Anglo-Indian