 | Immigration to the United Kingdom: Encyclopedia II - Immigration to the United Kingdom - Historical immigration 1875 to the modern day
Immigration to the United Kingdom - Historical immigration 1875 to the modern day
Immigration to the United Kingdom - Russian Jews
England has had small Jewish communities for many centuries, subject to occasional explusions, but British Jews numbered fewer than 10,000 at the start of the 19th century. After 1881 Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions, and British Jews led fund-raising to enable their Russian co-religionists to emigrate to the USA. However, out of some 2,000,000 who left Russia by 1914, around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain. One of the main concentrations was the same Spitalfields area where Huguenots had earlier congregated. Immigration was reduced by the 1905 Aliens Act and virtually curtailed by the 1914 Aliens Restriction Act.
Immigration to the United Kingdom - Empire & Commonwealth
During this period the British Empire covered most of the globe, at its peak over a third of the world's people lived under British rule. Both during this time, and following the granting of independence to most colonies after World War II, the vast majority of immigrants to the UK were from either current or former colonies, most notably those in the Caribbean and Indian subcontinent. These people filled a gap in the UK labour market for unskilled jobs and many people were specifically brought to the UK on ships such as the Windrush.
In 1962 legislation was passed by the UK government restricting the freedom of passage into the UK from other parts of the Commonwealth. By 1972 only holders of work permits, or people with parents or grandparents born in the UK could gain entry - effectively stemming primary immigration from Commonwealth countries.
The Ireland Act 1949 has the unusual status of recognising the Republic of Ireland but affirming that its citizens are not citizens of a foreign country. This was at a time when a republic was not allowed to be a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Immigration to the United Kingdom - Second World War
From around 1936 to 1939, 'wealthier' German Jews made every attempt to emigrate to the United Kingdom and it is estimated that as many as 50,000 may have been successful. There were immigration caps on the number who could enter, and some were turned back or left behind. When the UK declared war on Germany however, migration between the countries ceased.
Following the end of the Second World War, substantial groups of people from Soviet controlled territories settled in Britain, particularly Poles and Ukrainians. Numbers of former German prisoners of war also decided to remain in Britain after marrying local women. There was an influx of refugees from Hungary following the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
Immigration to the United Kingdom - Western Europeans
In the latter part of the century the number of immigrants from Europe increased, particularly as the expansion of the European Union meant that citizens of EU member states were now free to live and work without restriction in other member states.
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 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Historical immigration 1875 to the modern day", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
