From 1236, the parish (or at least the south of it) had a Jewish population, settled in the area for the protection of the Tower and its garrison.

The Jews had to take refuge in the Tower several times and on at least one of those occasions, in 1267, during the Second Barons' War, formed part of its defensive garrison during a siege.

[5] This pattern of diversity continued, during the late 16th and early 17th centuries the parish as a whole is recorded as having a population of at least 25 people identified as "blackamoors.

These free black Londoners, some of whom had mixed African and Spanish ancestry, often found work as sailors or interpreters.

[8][7] The continuation of the black presence is illustrated from a court record from 1787, which noted that constables trying to make an arrest at the Shovel public house in East Smithfield, were ejected by the landlord and more than forty black drinkers.