Is this still normal for Britain?

[febgate16]

Something I find really interesting is how a lot of British people of a certain age (usually Baby Boomers or Gen X and above) who are middle-class or upper-class were born abroad. By this, I don’t mean they immigrated to the UK. But, they were born in like India or Singapore or some colony in Africa to their British parents and then moved back. Think Ruth Langsford, Cliff Richard, Fiona Bruce etc.

Is this a legacy of the British Empire or is this something that still happens among British people who have children born in random parts of the world?

Do you know anyone like this?

I know a few, besides a dd who was born in Abu Dhabi, where we were living at the time.

A lot of them probably has fathers working for big British companies with overseas arms. BP for instance.

Some much older people were born in India during the Raj.

I think it was a product of the time with India. A lot of Brits living in India returned to the UK after India gained it's independence in the late 1940s. Before then, as India was a British colony, a lot of Brits worked there due to having previously been in the UK's armed forces (or were born there to parents who had been in the UK's armed forces) and had stayed there after retiring from the armed forces due to the large UK "expat" community, schools, etc.

Slightly similar here. I was born in Cyprus to British parents because my father worked in the RAF logistics at the UK's Alrotiri air force base, stationed in Cyprus. My parents had a good life there, mother also worked in Cyprus, they had lots of friends and a social life there. They moved back to the UK upon him being promoted and being allocated a job back in a UK air base. He had deliberately held back from taking further qualifications and applying for promotions because he knew he'd have to relocate and they loved their life in Cyprus, but ultimately, he couldn't hold back his career for ever, so a move away from Cyprus was inevitable.

This. DH was born in Cyprus as were all his siblings.His cousins were born in Singapore and Morocco. A friend of mine was born in Kenya where her father worked for the civil service. In all cases their fathers were working abroad for extended periods of time - decades in some cases.

In my DH case it was because his parents were in the RAF and overseas at the time he was born.

I think there are several cohorts here.

I’m Gen X and, yes, quite a few of my friends were born abroad (but most were sent to school here). India/Singapore/Hong Kong, not so much Africa.

More recently, “born abroads” tend to have had parents working in North America or Oz.

In a similar vein, the only Sri Lankans I’ve ever worked with all seemed to have come from Uganda (or at least their parents had to flee the Idi Amin regime).

Most Brits I know who were born abroad were children of civil servants, academics working in universities overseas or had parents in the forces.

Armed forces would be common for that generation

Technically you've just described my teenage daughter!

(And my niece and nephew)

Would it not be common for later generations too? I ask because I rarely see British 20 year-olds who were born in India or Hong Kong or some place in the Middle East to British service personnel.

Not that generation but the generation above, yes. Born in ex-colonial countries because their parents were in the civil service overseas - administrators of a district, for example.

I do know a few but they are all my age (mid 40s) or older, none of them are particularly posh though - middle class but definitely not “upper class”. Just born abroad because their Dads were in the army or parents working abroad.

I think there will be fewer born overseas to forces families now in part because the armed forces have been shrinking, as have family sizes. I only know a couple of naval wives, and they don’t deploy overseas with their husbands as have their own lives and careers here - but I don’t know how common that is.

I don't think it's unique to British people, Bruce Willis for example was born in Germany. My DH and Grandmother were both born in different countries, even though they both grew up in the UK.
There has been a lot of movement by people around the globe for centuries.

There's less overseas family postings now. Germany is down to one base for example (there were loads when DD was born 15 years ago!). Its really just Cyprus Gibraltar, Kenya and Nato, now with small amounts places like Canada, US, Italy etc.

My children (Gen z) are born in the EU. I (Gen X) was born overseas. I know a lot of overseas born people because I attended international schools but I don’t think it’s common. My dad’s job was international (banking) and the majority of people in the same situation also had parents working in multinational companies. In the countries that I lived in, kids of forces personnel often had their own schools eg there was an international school on a US base.

Yes, I know people in their 30s and 40s who were born in Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Ethiopia and Hong Kong, all due to parents’ jobs at the time. All currently living in the UK and identifying as British.

@febgate16 , Think Ruth Langsford, Cliff Richard, Fiona Bruce etc.
Cliff Richard isn't a baby boomer but the other two are.
The Gen X people I know who were born abroad had parents in the forces.

My DMs DF (my DGF) was born in India as his DF worked for the (British) civil service.

He could speak Hindi and was thrilled in the 50s when Indians came to Britain and he could get proper Indian food (DGM wasn't a fan).

I dont personally know anyone born abroad, (india or elsewhere), though I know of a few famous people who were borm abroad.
I remember as a child (I'm retired) a (white) family in our road, who moved back to the UK from Zimbabwe, presumably after independence from the UK.
At secondary school, I had a friend, who born in the UK, had spent many years living around the world due to her father's job.
So, I do not think it is a British norm

This, and a few decades ago there were a great many civil engineers (dh was one) and quantity surveyors etc. engaged in the building of roads, airports, you name it, in the Middle East.

I know quite a few teachers working in various "British" schools around the world.

One of my friends was born in Singapore (1960s) as his dad was stationed there with GCHQ. GCHQ personnel do still have occasional 3 year postings abroad so their children could be born in USA, Canada, Cyprus etc. My nephew has just come back from a 2 year posting in Cyprus with the army.

I suspect the ease of air travel in later times meant that parents had a choice in whether their children were their children were born in the UK or abroad, rather than children having to be born wherever parents were stationed at the time.

My parents were working in Hong Kong when my sister was due, but took a short trip back to the UK for her birth.