Mohammed Abul Jabbar, born in East Pakistan in 1946, came to the UK at the age of 16 with his father and brother. Their father was already resident in the East End.
Mohammed Abul Jabbar was born in Sylhet, East Pakistan in 1946. He bunked off school quite a lot of time. He was the youngest so, unlike his older brothers, he did not help much in the fields. At the age of 16 he came to East London with his father and younger brother. His father had come over in 1956/1957 and was living in Aldgate in a multi-occupational house, sleeping in the same room with his father and brother.
Because of his lack of schooling he used to get others to help him write letters home. After four years he went back to see his mother, siblings and 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 8 children were born in Sylhet but are now here. Mohammed lives in Spitalfields and attends Toynbee Hall’s Surma group for older men of Bangladeshi origin.
Child Migrant Stories 