Chinese immigration to the United Kingdom began during the early 19th century. Because many of the Chinese settlers were originally seamen, the first settlers established themselves in the port cities of Liverpool and London. In London, the Limehouse area became the site of the first European Chinatown. The East India Company, which imported popular Chinese commodities such as tea, ceramics and silks, also brought Asian sailors and needed trustworthy intermediaries to arrange their care and lodgings while they were in London. A Chinese seaman known as John Anthony took on this lucrative role looking after Chinese sailors for the East India Company in the late 18th and early 19th century. By 1805, Anthony had amassed both the fortune and the influence to become the first Chinese man to be n