Over the centuries, people from many different communities have moved to Surrey from all over the UK and throughout the world. The county's rich history is intertwined with cultural diversity as people made their home here and brought with them wonderfully varied cultures and languages.
The history of some ethnic minority and excluded communities is captured in the county's local history, archives and archaeology. Surrey Heritage is committed to proactively collecting records of all Surrey's communities in an effort to preserve as wide a view as possible of the county's history and culture and to promote better awareness of its diversity. From our archive and library collections we have created a range of stories and research guides to help reveal these histories more fully on our Surrey History Centre, Exploring Surrey's Past and Surrey In The Great War websites. The guides allow everyone to enjoy the unique and important material in our care.
If you have material relating to Surrey's diverse communities we would very much like to hear from you.
The following list contains just some of the communities you can discover more about.
- The Polish Community in Surrey
- Tracing Gypsy Romany and Traveller Ancestors at Surrey History Centre
- Roads to your past (review of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller heritage in Surrey)
- Gurkhas in the Surrey Regiments
- LGBTQ+ History in Surrey
- The story of Ockenden International
- Tracing Black history at Surrey History Centre
- Shah Jahan Mosque
- Sources for researching the Indian Army during the First World War and the Muslim Burial Ground
- Sources for Jewish history
- Gypsy Romany and Traveller history bibliography
- South Asian History in Surrey
- The Living and the Dead: exploring the history of minority community burial grounds at Brookwood Cemetery
- The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Surrey
- The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement and Woking Muslim Mission
- Refugees in Surrey
