"[3] There may have contacts between Anglo-Saxon England and Sri Lanka as the rulers of East Anglia were part of an international culture stretching to the Baltic and far beyond.

[5][6] The first Western Europeans to make substantial contact with Sri Lanka were the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and then finally the British.

One notably, Adam Sri Munni Ratna, a Buddhist monk from Ceylon travelled to England in 1818 with his cousin while accompanying Sir Alexander Johnston to join the Methodist Church.

[citation needed] During the 1960s, understaffing in the UK's National Health Service opened up the opportunity for many Sri Lankans to become doctors and consultants; others managed to secure other white-collar jobs.

This resulted in the first generation diaspora falling into highly professional jobs such as medicine and law after studying at British educational facilities.

[22] This grouping has been widely praised as hard-working, with little problems relating to criminality and anti-social behaviour, and high levels of educational achievement.

[24] Sri Lankans in the United Kingdom predominantly come from Tamil heritage, which has led to a situation where Hinduism is more statistically prevalent among the community than Buddhism.

[citation needed] Hinduism nevertheless continues to be a cultural rallying point for a sizeable amount of Sri Lankan Tamils.

[26] "Though present London Buddhist Vihāra traces its birth to 1926, until the arrival of three Sri Lankan monks as residents in 1928, the premises in Ealing seems to have functioned as Headquarters of British Maha Bodhi Society."

There is a significant amount of Christians in both the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in the UK, covering at least 22.2% of British Sri Lankans according to the 2011 census.

Bandaranaike and Felix Reginald came from Anglican families in Ceylon at the time, who would often stay in or visit the UK in the early 20th century.

[30][31] In 1951, there was a record of 6,447 individuals born in Ceylon living in Britain, many which are of European descent (likely Burgher people), likely following forms of Christianity.

The religious breakdown of British Sri Lankans overall: The population of England, Scotland and Wales born in what was then Ceylon recorded by the first post-war census of 1951 was 6,447 individuals.

[43][failed verification] The community generally has far lower birth rates in comparison to other South Asian ethnic groups, with one child for two parents being the norm.

[21] Unlike immigrants to countries in Continental Europe, the majority of Sri Lankan Tamils that went to live in Anglo-Saxon countries achieved entry through non-refugee methods such as educational visas and family reunion visas, owing to the highly educated in Sri Lanka being literate in English as well as Tamil.

This resulted in the first generation diaspora falling into highly professional jobs such as medicine and law after studying at British educational facilities.