Germans in London

[KGarrad]

Just shows the enormous challenge faced by the ordinary family history hobbyist (like me)

Why?

English, and British, history is a patchwork of immigration.
Romans, Vikings, Normans, French, Huguenots, Germans, Flemish, Russian Jews . . . . the list goes on!

[Siely]

KGarrad,

Yes I read the textbooks about the really big events but big cities have many smaller economic migrations over time that are not so easy to detect.

[sugarbakers]

You might find this interesting ... www.mawer.clara.net/ppanayi.html ... The Settlement of Germans in Britain during the Nineteenth Century.

Also, my website regarding the sugarbakers mentioned by KGarrad is at www.mawer.clara.net

[CaroleW]

Do you have German Ancestry?

[Siely]

"The dark brown sugar molasses were brought to Lisbon, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, where they were further refined into coned sugar loaves". (15th/16th Century sugar trade)

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/sugar/

Before the German sugarbakers of George I were the
sugarcones or sugarloaves from Antwerp of Tudor England.

[Siely]

What happened to those Dutch/Belgian surnames that appear in anglicised form in Dickens ? (Dikkens surname itself from low countries ?)

[CaroleW]

Why do you want to know?  Do those names appear in your FH?

[Siely]

Why do you want to know?  Do those names appear in your FH?

The family were prominent in a trade (and its livery company) throughout Dickens writing period. So those strange 3 or 4 syllable surnames he used are of interest. What was his purpose in using those long surnames ? What happened to them , why did they disappear ?
Author Dr Ruth Richardson offers no help on this either.

[DianaCanada]

What happened to those Dutch/Belgian surnames that appear in anglicised form in Dickens ? (Dikkens surname itself from low countries ?)

I had no idea Dickens was anything but English. The “ken” and “kin” ending (e.g. Wilkins, Hopkins, Tompkins, Hawkins, etc) is common in England…not saying the Flemings didn’t have an influence on this surname for, but we’re going back eight hundred or nine hundred years.  There are also surnames that have a Norman French influence, patronymics that evolved from names the Normans introduced to England such as Hubert, Roland, Robert.  To me, all these surnames are English, with some outside influences. Makes it all the more interesting.