Mohammed Abul Jabbar, born in Sylhet, East Pakistan in 1946, came to the UK at the age of 16 with his father and brother. Their father, having arrived in the UK in 1956/1957, was already resident in the East End.
As a child in Sylhet, Mohammed Abul Jabbar bunked off school much of the time. He was the youngest so, unlike his older brothers, he did not help much in the fields. When he came to East London, aged 16, he lived in Aldgate in a multi-occupational house, sleeping in the same room with his father and brother.
Because of his lack of schooling, he asked others to help him write letters home. After four years he went back to see his mother, siblings, extended family and friends. During his working life Mohammed worked in catering, a button making factory in Herefordshire, a wood factory and the clothing industry. He respected his Jewish employers, in particular.
All his eight children were born in Sylhet but are now here. At the time of interview in 2013 Mohammed lived in Spitalfields and attended Toynbee Hall’s Surma group for older men of Bangladeshi origin.
