History- Migration to Britain C.1250 to Present Day

Jews - CAUSE

→ already established community by 1250

→invited or commanded by William I in 1066

→financial skills, didn’t have to obey christian law banning usury

Jews - EXPERIENCE +

generally accepted at first, helped businesses to flourish → happy clients

→stuck together in Jewries as they were the only non-christians

→kehilas maintained religious traditions (eg kosher food prep, ritual washing in special bathhouses, synagogues for worship)

Jews - EXPERIENCE resentment

→people resented that they were treated as royal property

→people mostly resented them because christians believed jewish leaders caused the crucifixion of Christ

→due to these reasons there were surges of violence - mass murders in London 1189, York 1190

Jews - EXPERIENCE Lincoln blood libel

→young boy Hugh found dead in a Jew’s cesspit

→Jew Copin accused - arrested, tortured into confession, executed

→rumours claimed other local Jews involved, 93 arrested

→increased fear and resentment of Jews, increasing danger of them facing mass violence

eg. London, Palm Sunday, 1263 400 were murdered. In 1264 100 more beaten to death

Jews - EXPERIENCE Statute of Jewry

1275, Edward I - Jews no longer needed since Italian bankers stepped in

→ had to wear yellow badges (social isolation)

→no longer allowed to collect interest on loans

→most people who owed them no longer had to pay back

They lost all their wealth very fast + no way of making it back

Finally expelled in 1290, some deliberately left to drown on a sandbank when leaving

Jews - IMPACT

→ Financial skills helped build many of the finest castles and cathedrals

→ Helping businesses to grow increased trade, as well as tax that the king could collect

→The resentment towards them carried through into later times when allowed back

Italian bankers - CAUSE

Started arriving in 1220s

English people paid a yearly tax to the Pope in Rome (‘Peter’s Pence’). It was slow and dangerous to transfer that amount of physical coins, so the Pope sent Italian bankers to transfer the money.

England was less financially developed so they could find more work - especiallyafter finding loopholes in ban on usury, 1265

Italian bankers - EXPERIENCE

Rich banking families who loaned to the Crown received Royal Protection:

→ gave them legal immunity, as cases against them could often be moved to the King’s own courts

→gave them privileged rights to trade in English wool and collect Customs Duties

→the Ricciardi from Lucca were essentially given control of the custom on wool, allowing them to collect tax at the ports

However, in 1456 there was an attack on an Italian merchant in London, and all Italians briefly fled to Winchester for safety.

Italian bankers - IMPACT

→helped cause the expulsion of Jews by taking their place as the relied-upon bankers

→helped fund armies and war efforts - eg the taking over of Wales by 1283

→introduced new words ‘credit’ and ‘debit’ , Italian for ‘to lend’ and ‘to owe’

→word ‘bank’ comes from the Italian for ‘a bench or counting table’

→financial skills overall significant in England going from a producer of raw goods to a powerful manufacturing and trading economy

The Low Countries - CAUSE

→Wars and rebellions frequently broke out between 1300-1500, refugees looked for safer places to live and work

→England was safer in comparison, and offered better wages especially for skilled workers

→Black Death, 1348-51; England was in need of all sorts of workers after the plague

The Low Countries - EXPERIENCE

Although these migrants found plenty of work due to their skills, English workers often had resentment for migrants as they believed them to be ‘stealing’ their work. Also, migrants from the Low Countries were ordered to leave England unless they bought a special licence and swore an oath of allegiance.

The Low Countries - IMPACT

→ Flemish glaziers made stained glass for some of East Anglia’s finest churches

→ Dutch women brought the skill of using hops, brewing beer that eventually became more popular than the English ale

→ Flemings were some of England’s first printers, clock makers and opticians.

→ Brick-makers were highly regarded; a householder in Havering in 1469 wrote a letter asking for a Dutch mason to build his chimney ‘for they can best fare’, and many houses still show Flemish building styles and materials influence

Flemish Weavers - CAUSE

Edward III persuaded significant numbers to come from 1330s onwards, since one of England’s most popular exports was English wool, but he realised he could charge higher prices and gain higher taxes if the wool was weaved into cloth in England. So he banned exports on raw wool for a short time so weavers had to come to find work.

They also came in greater numbers when the Hundred Years War spread into the Low Countries, or when the Flemish rose in rebellion against particular unpopular rulers. (war ruined trade, caused distress)

Flemish Weavers - EXPERIENCE

→ King promised to protect and help them if English weavers’ guilds tried to make their lives difficult

→ such as John Kempe, granted Letters of Protection, 1331

→ Let them set up their own weavers’ guilds

→ Let them work wherever they chose (usually only freemen could)

However these conditions made English cloth weavers resent the migrants, for having privileges and ‘stealing’ their work. In the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, around 150 migrants were brutally murdered in London by armed rebels and most of these were Flemish weavers and merchants.

Flemish Weavers - IMPACT

Their arrival led to a significant growth in English cloth trade, not only bringing the Crown higher taxes but creating more job opportunities for sheep shearers, dyers and fullers (wool cleaners).

1363, a group of Flemish weavers set up their looms in the small town of Manchester. Five hundred years later the city’s textile trade was the powerhouse of Britain’s wealth.

Beyond Europe - North Africa

Skeleton found in the consecrated ground of a friary, carbon dating and DNA tests revealed it was a 13th century North African man. Favourable burial position suggests he was wealthy and influential, location suggests he either converted to Christianity or was cared for by friars. 9 other African skeletons found in the same cemetery, all from the south of the Sahara so could have been his servants.

Beyond Europe - ‘Indians’

Due to limited understanding of the world, most Europeans called anywhere to the south or east of the Mediterranean Sea ‘Inde’ or India. Two entries, from 1480s, in the aliens’ register of taxpaying foreigners referred to people from ‘Inde’. James Black was a servant to Thomas Gale, who was likely the Mayor of Dartmouth in the 1480s. The Calamans were a married couple living in London.

The Aliens’ Subsidy

Introduced in 1440 by Henry VI - all adults and children had to pay a tax if they were born overseas and had no letter of denization. He was a weak king, so this was partly done to please English merchants.

Hansa merchants - CAUSE

Were already well established in England by 1500; they came as part of the Hanseatic League, a German-speaking trade organisation that controlled a great web of trade routes. They had a headquarters in London, a cluster of buildings called the Steelyard. It contained a warehouse, offices and housing for merchants.

Hansa merchants - EXPERIENCE +

Indicators suggest many were wealthy:

→ Hans Holbein, a brilliantly talented painter in the 1530s who sold portraits to Anne Boleyn and Thomas Cromwell, the King’s chief minister.

→ Georg Girsze, a Hansa merchant wealthy enough to buy a portrait from Holbein, in which he wore silk clothes, had an expensive carpet and had a pendant made of amber.

Lived as an independent community behind the walls of the Steelyard in which they didn’t have to pay the same taxes, seldom needed to interact with the people of London.

Hansa merchants - EXPERIENCE -

English merchants occasionally grew envious and pressed the government to remove the Hansas’ privileges; things sometimes turned violent, and riots broke out + Steelyard attacked.

Evil May Day - a series of anti-foreigner riots directed especially around the Steelyard - many poor Londoners felt the migrants were using up their supplies and making money at their expense.

1598 Elizabeth I expelled them completely.

Hansa merchants - IMPACT

Connected England with a wide trade network, helping turn it into a key European trading centre through the export of woollen cloth. Vast amounts of trade brought significant tax revenue.

Huguenots - CAUSE

Were French Protestants, but France was a Catholic country and King Louis XIV made protestantism illegal in 1685. Their services were banned, their businesses attacked and they were forced to convert. So many fled to England, a protestant country, especially after the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre and then in 1670 - 1710

Huguenots - EXPERIENCE

→ 1681, King Charles II offered them denizen status

→ Anglican Church raised funds to support them

→ Wealthier Huguenots were able to set up as silk-weavers, away from London’s guilds

→ 1708, given the same legal rights as people born in England

→ Occasional hostility; 1631, clockmakers complained Huguenots were taking their business; late 17th cent was a riot in Spitalfields, again because Londoners felt they were being deprived of work

Huguenots - IMPACT

→ Many Huguenot street names and buildings survive today in Spitalfields, where hundreds of them settled

→ Were skilled craftsmen, brought new techniques and trades

→ Transformed England’s silk industry

→ Made the paper for & financially backed 10% of the Bank of England

Palatines - CAUSE

Religious persecution, warfare and bar harvests were ruining their lives in Palatine, Germany. The Carolina Company advertised Carolina as a ‘promised land’ where they could live in peace and prosperity. 13,000 arrived in Britain in summer 1709 hoping to follow on to America.

Palatines - EXPERIENCE

→ Had to stay in refugee camps in Blackheath and Camberwell

→ Arrived at a bad time: harvest was bad, food prices were high, war with Spain pushed up taxes, government no longer willing to fund migration to America

→ They were believed to be all Protestants so a relief fund of £20,000 raised

→ A third were Catholics; they were sent home

→ The rest dispersed across England, but most were poor labourers who couldn’t find work and were considered a drain on resources; in Kent, a group stoned by a mob

→ Eventually 3,000 taken to America, but 500 died on voyage and life there was not as they hoped

→ In August, 5,000 deported to Ireland but were given poor quality land, couldn’t sustain themselves and faced hostility from Catholic majority

→ Many remaining gave up hope of a new life and returned to Germany

Palatines - IMPACT

In autumn 1709, further German migrants were banned from coming to England.

Significantly worsened English people’s views on migrants, which could have affected other migrants living here at the time.

Beyond Europe - Africans - CAUSE

Parish registers in London, recording baptisms marriages + burials, described 15 ‘blackamoore’ or ‘moore’ people from 1583 - 1631; proves there were already a large number of Africans in England

Until the mid 17th century England played only a minor part in slave trade, but after seizing and developing Spanish colonies in Caribbean Islands, English transatlantic slave trade took off. By 1730, it was booming, many more Africans came to England as servants

Beyond Europe - Africans - EXPERIENCE

The large number of Africans in parish registers, court records, letters, diaries etc suggests they were widely accepted in society and seen as equals, as they were in a wide range of skilled roles and paid the same wages and rewards as others.

After TSL, often sold as servants in coffee ships even though slavery was unlawful. Seen as exotic, fashionable additions to wealthy households; many ran away, avoiding either being sent back to the West Indies or cruelty from their masters. But many treated badly: 1667 when Sir William Batten died, he left his lighthouse in possession of his Black servant Mingo.

Beyond Europe - Africans - IMPACT

Their presence proved that Britain was a global hub long before the British Empire’s peak in the 1900s

Beyond Europe - Indians - CAUSE

Employees of the East India Company 1600 - 1750 often brought Indian servants back with them to recreate the lavish lifestyle there, such as ‘ayahs’ and child servants to show off wealth

Beyond Europe - Indians - EXPERIENCE

Some cases of ayahs taking care of children on journeys overseas, but abandoned at the docks upon reaching England. Child servants treated as status symbols and even pets, and stolen away from their parents at young ages. Advertised as ‘to be disposed of’ in newspapers like The Tatler, but once in the wealthy households they often lived comfortably and were looked after; treated equally to White servants. However, rarely seen as anything other than servants.

Beyond Europe - Indians - IMPACT

Ayahs and cooks introduced new ingredients and spices like mace and ginger, their different treatment to European migrants (although a large reason may have been skill set) brought the first early ideas of race and who were seen as equals

Irish - CAUSE

Started when England colonised Ireland in the 16th century, but by 1820 had increased. Then, the 1846-50 Irish Potato Famine happened; about a third of the 1845 potato crop was destroyed by potato blight. Food prices rose so people couldn’t afford rent and got evicted, then in 1846 people started to starve. In the 4 years, more than a million emigrated; many couldn’t afford the journey to America and so came to England, either to Manchester and Liverpool or Bristol and London

Irish - EXPERIENCE

Challenging to find jobs as they were farmers in industrial port cities, so got the dirtiest, low-paying jobs as miners, builders and dock labourers. Boom in railway building meant many could work as navvies, but the work was tough and dangerous; building of a tunnel on the Sheffield-Manchester line in the 1840s claimed 32 lives and 200 injuries.

Faced appalling living conditions; had to live in the dirtiest, most overcrowded cities were sewage couldn’t meet the population’s demand as housing was cheapest there.

Majority of Irish were Catholic, whereas England Scotland and Wales were Protestant → prejudice

Some involved in anti-British groups, like the Fenians who carried out bombings, making people see all Irish communities as a threat to national security.

Anti-Irish riots in Cardiff 1848, Greenock 1851, and Lancashire 1852, faced police brutality when they tried to fight back.

Irish - IMPACT

→ Made a massive contribution to the building of canals, railways and roads

→ Some had skilled jobs as doctors, clerks, cooks and carpenters

→ Revitalised the Catholic Church in England, speeding up the introduction of equal religious rights

→ Talented writers such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw

→ Dr Thomas Barnardo came from Dublin in 1866, set up a school for the poorest children and established a charity which still helps thousands of children today

Jews - CAUSE

Were already communities established due to their readmission in 1655 by Oliver Cromwell (when they were prejudiced against, as can be interpreted from popular songs calling them cheats and thiefs)

In the period after 1750, their presence became larger and stronger and Jews of all social classes became assimilated into British society

In 1881 there was a sudden mass influx; refugees fleeing religious persecution in the form of organised massacres in Russia and Eastern Europe, and Britain seemed safe and cheap

Jews - EXPERIENCE

Before 1881: Restrictions started to lift; in 1830s Jews were allowed to trade in the city, from 1833 they could be part of juries and work as lawyers. By 1856 Jews could study at Cambridge University and 15 years later they could study at Oxford

After 1881: The new Eastern European Jews faced common problems such as finding work, housing and understanding a new way of life.

They faced mixed reactions from existing Jewish communities; some feared there would be backlash against the Jewish community as an entirety and the Chief Rabbi even wrote asking European Rabbis to convince their people not to come, but others supported them, setting up soup kitchens to feed the poor and hungry majority and charities such as the Board of Guardians for the Jewish poor

From the English, they faced similar reactions of hostility that all migrant groups across the centuries did; beliefs that they were a drain on resources, that they were ‘stealing’ work and that they were underselling native workers by working longer for lower wages

Jews - IMPACT

Pre-1881:

→ 1798, Nathaniel Rothschild founded Rothschild’s Bank, which helped finance wars against Napoleon

→ Lionel de Rothschild became Britain’s first Jewish MP

Post 1881 (Eastern Eu Jews) :

→Since many found work in sweatshops, where they worked long hours to sew cheap clothes fast, British working-class families were finally able to afford new rather than second-hand clothes

→ Started 3 major high street clothing names that still exist today - Marks & Spencers, Burtons and Moss Bros

Beyond Europe - Africans - CAUSE