Who were the first English people?

Answer 1

English relates to a nationality. An English person is someone who considers themselves part of the English nation. Although people have inhabited the geographic area we now know as England for thousands and thousands of years, England as a united, single entity did not exist until around 900AD and as such, the first English people cannot be earlier than this. Even then, although there was an England for the first English person to belong to the idea of national identity is actually a fairly recent development. Before this people would have primarily identified with different groups such as family lineages, smaller states or tribes rather than understanding themselves to be English.

Long before such idea of identity developed nomadic groups travelled across from northern France/Scandinavia over 10,000 years ago.

The first people that spoke English were obviously the English.

According to legend, the first Anglo-Saxons to settle in Britain and therefore the first English people in the sense we understand it were led by men named Hengest and Horsa. These men could therefore be described as the first Englishmen.

Answer 2

The Celts are thought to be the first group of people to inhabit England. Later, the Romans invaded and settled in England, followed by the Anglo-Saxons.