Alexander Raphael (1775–1850) was a British politician who was the first British-Armenian to serve in the House of Commons. He was returned as a Whig MP from the Irish constituency of County Carlow, at a by-election in June 1835. However the election was challenged on petition and he was unseated on 19 August 1835. Raphael succeeded in re-entering the House of Commons as a Catholic Whig from St Albans in 1847 and retained the seat until his death.

The Armenian community of the United Kingdom consists mainly of British citizens who are fully or partially of Armenian descent. There has been sporadic emigration from Armenia to the UK since the 18th century, with the biggest influx coming after the Second World War. The majority are based in the major cities of London and Manchester. The 2001 UK Census recorded 589 Armenian-born people living in the UK, and in 2013, the Office for National Statistics estimated that there were 1,235 people born in Armenia resident in the UK, with the number of Armenian nationals being 1,720, although it has been estimated by the Armenian Diaspora Conference that there are up to 18,000 ethnic Armenians including those who are British-born, and of part Armenian descent, living in the UK.