Background

Established in 1910, AGBU London is a branch of the global Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) founded in April 1906 in Cairo by Armenian philanthropists, who saw the need for a global philanthropic organisation to assist the destitute Armenian population living on historic Armenian lands in the eastern Armenian provinces and the Anatolian plateau of Ottoman Turkey. They sent delegations to all major cities of the world calling on Armenians to join them and support their mission.

By 1913 AGBU boasted a worldwide membership of over 9,300. The organization had over 160 Chapters in four continents, including 80 in Ottoman Turkey, 54 in the Americas, 25 in Europe and four in Africa. On the eve of the Armenian Genocide, AGBU maintained 40 schools, a teacher’s college and over 5,000 members in Turkey alone, clearly making it the organization’s strongest membership base. Today, global AGBU is the largest Armenian philanthropic organization in the world with a presence in 35 countries serving some 400,000 Armenians worldwide through educational, cultural and humanitarian programmes.

With an annual budget of £100,000, AGBU London actively supports the educational, cultural and social life of the UK Armenian community and promotes Armenian culture and heritage within the UK. It provides grants to the Saturday and Sunday Armenian Community schools, interest free loans and grants to undergraduate and postgraduate UK and non-UK students of Armenian descent studying at UK universities, and sponsors and organises public lectures, conferences, concerts and exhibitions. It also supports communities in the poor regions of Armenia and Karabakh with humanitarian aid to institutions for families and to schools of deprived or disabled children. In 2003, with its most ambitious project to date, AGBU London embarked on a project to rebuild the Pareshen village to give hope and future to the displaced and war torn communities of the border villages of Karabakh. AGBU London also organises numerous social events for the members of the UK community and actively provides opportunities for young people to meet socially and have fun.

AGBU London Youth formed three years ago by a small number of young people of Armenian descent, brings together Armenian and non-Armenian speaking youth to meet, socialise and support each other as well as raise funds for AGBU humanitarian projects of their choice.

Until the breakout of the first World War, the AGBU established schools, libraries, workshops, hospitals, and orphanages for all Armenians in historic Armenia and provided the poor peasants with land, seeds, animals, and tools.

During the horrors of the 1915-1920 Armenian Genocide, AGBU worldwide mobilized its members to bring humanitarian assistance to hundreds of thousands of victims. AGBU orphanages, relief camps, schools, hospitals, housing for refugees and warehouses for supplies were established in Syria, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon. AGBU London played its part by co-operating with the Armenian Red Cross to send substantial humanitarian aid to be used for the benefit of the victims of the Genocide.

Over the ensuing decades, the AGBU concentrated its humanitarian efforts on the resettleent of Armenian refugees, the support of some 150 Armenian schools in the Middle East and Europe, the repatriation of close to 100,000 European and Middle Eastern Armenians to Armenia and, critically, during the Soviet era, helped the survival of the Armenian Church. Over the same period, the London Branch continued collecting donations, organising fund-raising activities and sending the proceeds to the Central Board, to be used for needy Armenians.

Since the independence of Armenia in 1991, AGBU has expanded its plans and projects in Armenia and Karabakh to further promote education, cultural programmes, international professional standards, the expansion of the Armenian Church and to assist tens of thousands in need.

The founders of the AGBU established relations with the Armenian community in England soon after its inception in 1906. The Vice-President Yervant Aghaton Bey came to Manchester with a letter from the President Boghos Nubar Pasha and attended the Community General Meeting on 1July 1907 which elected the first Executive Committee of the AGBU Manchester Branch. The Manchester branch continues to exist to this day.
The AGBU London Branch was founded in 1910 and the following are some of it's significant contributions to the UK Armenian community and Armenians:

In 1947, the sum of £5,000 was collected in aid of the repatriation of Armenians. In 1956 and on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the AGBU, another major fund-raising function raised the necessary finance to establish the library at the Armenian House (Hay Doon) in Kensington.

In 1969, the AGBU founded the Sahag-Mesrob School with G. Yessayan as its Director. Armenian Language and History classes were held in various parts of London for some one hundred and fifty Armenian children. Anahid Yessayan, Ani Bardakjian, Haroutune Aivazian, Berj Sandruny and Zohrab Shamlian taught for many years who later became the pioneers of the K Tahta Armenian Community Sunday School today.

During the 1970s and 1980s AGBU London Branch organised a visit by the  Vahram Papazian Theatre Group from Beirut and a visit by the poet Kevork Emin from Armenia; the 25th Anniversary Celebration of Alec Manoogian’s presidency; a banquet in honour of His Holiness Vazgen I; the commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and the Festival of Armenian Dance and Music by the Armenian State Dance and the Song & Dance Ensembles.

Since year 2000, AGBU London organised the visits of artists from Armenia including the popular singer Tata Simonyan and his Band twice, once in December 2000 and again in December 2003; The Armenian State Dance Ensemble in January 2001 and the Navasart Armenian Dance Ensemble from Paris in June 2002. In addition, AGBU London sponsored the October 2003 Khatchadourian Centenary Celebration at the Royal Festival Hall; the first London Armenian Film Festival for 25 years in February 2005, and the "Recognising Genocides" International Conference at the House of Lords in June 2005 organised by the British Armenian All Party Paliamentary Group on the occassion of the 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

In 2003, the London Branch embarked on an uprecedented and ambitious programme, joining the worldwide AGBU Centennial Project, committing to finance the reconstruction and repopulation of the Pareshen village in Karabagh. With the £53,000 fund raised todate from generous donors in the UK Armenian community and matching funds from the AGBU London Trust, the project is now underway with signed agreements with the NKR (Nagorno Karabagh Republic) government and the building contractor to deliver the first of 20 homes for deserving refugees displaced by the 1988-1994 war.

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