Migration to Britain 1500-1900 Early Modern Summary

Question 1

Why did Walloons and Huguenots come to Britain?

Answer 1

The Reformation divided Europe between Catholic and Protestant states. England became a Protestant country. In the 1560s Walloons from what is now Belgium were suffering under the Spanish Catholic rule of the Duke of Alba and came to England.
After the Massacre of St Bartholomew’s Day in Paris in 1572 when over 10,000 Huguenot Protestants were murdered, many fled to England. A second, larger, wave of Huguenots fled from France in the 1680s when King Louis XIV revoked a previous royal edict protecting Protestants and they were again attacked.

Question 2

How were Walloons and Huguenots treated?

Answer 2

Most Walloons and Huguenots were well received because they were seen as allies and fellow Protestants. When the biggest wave of Huguenots came in the 1680s they were granted denization by King Charles II, mainly because they were victims of the French King Louis XIV (England’s greatest enemy at the time). Walloons and Huguenots were allowed their own churches. Although some were rich, with relatives already living here, many refugees were poor and dependent on handouts. The Anglican Church organised collections of money to help support the refugees. Walloons and Huguenots settled mainly in London and the south-east of England, often setting up communities in distinct areas such as Soho in London.
Although many welcomed Huguenot refugees, there were also some who reacted negatively to their arrival. Weavers, clockmakers and other craftspeople feared that their jobs were threatened, while others resented the special favours given to the newcomers. During this period, there were occasional anti-foreigner riots, when poorer Huguenots were attacked.

Question 3

What was the economic impact of Walloon and Huguenot migration?

Answer 3

The Huguenots had a huge economic impact on Britain. They revitalised the silk weaving trade, kick-started various manufacturing industries, such as cutlery making in Sheffield, and invested heavily in growing businesses. The skills and energies of Huguenot immigrants played an important part in the transformation of Britain into Europe’s major industrial power. They also introduced many other skills to England, such as feather and fan work, high-quality clock making, woodcarving, papermaking and clothing design.

Huguenots were key investors in the Bank of England and its first Governor was descended from Huguenot immigrants. They were also at the heart of the growth of capitalism. The Bank - and the creation of the National Debt - meant that the government could borrow money to fight wars that enabled the British Empire to grow and protected the Atlantic for slave ships and the plantation system.

Question 4

What was the social/cultural impact of Walloon and Huguenot migration?

Answer 4

Over a few generations, Huguenots integrated well into British society. Up to a quarter of Londoners may have some Huguenot ancestry. Huguenot fashions and styles, influenced by their own craftspeople, became fashionable.

Walloons, Huguenots were allowed to have their own places of worship. At that time the same freedom was not allowed to English Nonconformists or Catholics. However, the allowances given to Protestant refugees paved the way to make British society more open to religious differences.

Question 5

Why did Palatines come to Britain?

Answer 5

The Palatines came from the Middle Rhine, part of which is now Germany. They were suffering under French Catholic landlords and very poor harvests. They came because of a 1709 law, the Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act, which invited European Protestants to come and settle in Britain. Some Palatines also migrated because they hoped to travel from England to a new life in North America.

Question 6

How were Palatines treated?

Answer 6

When 13,000 Palatine Germans arrived in the Thames estuary in 1709, £20,000 was raised by church congregations to support them because they were seen as fellow Protestants. However, their initial welcome did not last.
They arrived at a time of rising poverty in England with high food prices and rising taxes. Local authorities in London feared that Palatines would be classed as ‘vagrants’ that by law they would have to support under the Poor Laws. When it was discovered that a third of the immigrants were in fact Catholics and arriving because of poverty and not persecution, sympathy for them drained away.
In the short term, the Government set up refugee camps in Blackheath and Clerkenwell, near London. The longer term solution was to ship the Palatine Germans to America but that proved too expensive so the Government planned to send them to Ireland instead. A few refused and managed to find their way to America. Most returned to their homeland, leaving a very few to try to survive in England. For those 3000 that did go to Ireland, it was a disaster. They were hated by local Catholics who were suffering under English rule, could not apply their farming skills in a different environment, and were as poor as they had been in Germany.

Question 7

What was the political impact of Palatine migration?

Answer 7

As a result of the arrival of the Palatines, the Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act was repealed in 1712. Britain no longer had an ‘open border’ policy for European migrants.

Question 8

Why did the Jews come to Britain?

Answer 8

After the execution of King Charles I, a small number of Jews were allowed to return, nearly 400 years after they were expelled from England. In 1655, Oliver Cromwell submitted a petition to the Council of State calling for Jews to be allowed to return to Britain. Ultimately it was decided that as England’s Jews had been expelled in 1290 by a king, and there were no longer kings ruling England, the previous expulsion had no legal basis.
Cromwell accepted Jews for several reasons. He thought they might be a source of revenue and help him fight against his Catholic enemies. He was also persuaded by Dutch rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel to help Jews fleeing persecution in many parts of Europe. Cromwell shared a widely-held view that the end of the world was coming. In keeping with Bible teaching, he believed that Jews would be recalled from the four corners of the world at the time of the Last Judgement.

Question 9

How were the Jews treated?

Answer 9

Cromwell initially met with resistance at the Whitehall Conference in December 1655 but overruled them.

When the first group arrived from Spain in 1656 they came quietly, settling in East London and building a synagogue. They did not have full rights but they were allowed to trade and work in finance, as well as construct their own synagogues. Small communities grew up in London and some other coastal cities. Some became rich but others were poor street traders who probably experienced some prejudice and discrimination.

Question 10

What was the economic impact of Jewish migration?

Answer 10

Jewish businesses contributed to the economy and helped to develop coastal towns such as Hull, Portsmouth, Plymouth and Liverpool.

Question 11

What was the social/cultural impact of Jewish migration?

Answer 11

As with the Walloons and Hugeuenots, Jewish refugees were granted religious freedoms to worship as they wished. This paved the way to similar freedoms for other groups and helped make British society more open to religious differences.

Question 12

Why did Gypsies come to Britain?

Answer 12

During the late medieval and Tudor period, nomadic Roma Gypsies began arriving in England, working as farmworkers and entertainers. Over the centuries they had migrated from northern India through Central Europe.

Question 13

How were the Gypsies treated?

Answer 13

Gypsies suffered extreme persecution. They moved from place to place at a time when most people still lived all their lives in the same village. Their nomadic lifestyle meant that they existed outside the control of the authorities, and they were seen as a threat. They faced a lot of prejudice and in the 16th century there were several attempts to expel them from the country. In 1530 King Henry VIII ordered that all Gypsies should be expelled from England.
In 1554 Queen Mary I made it a crime to be an immigrant Romanichal Gypsy, punishable by death. In 1577 six people were hanged in Aylesbury for mixing with Gypsies. In 1592 five Gypsies were hanged in Durham. In 1596 nine women and men in York were executed for being Gypsies. In the 1650s forced transportation began of Gypsies into slavery in North America and the Caribbean.

Question 14

What was the social/cultural impact of Gypsy migration?

Answer 14

Despite the prejudice faced by Roma gypsies, there remains a sizable traveller community in Britain, which has grown with the influx of Irish travellers in the 19th Century. Aspects of gypsy language have also been integrated into English such as ‘bar’ and ‘gibberish’.

Gypsies today continue to face discrimination and mistrust from many within the British population.

Question 15

Why did Africans come to Tudor England?

Answer 15

After the Reformation, when King Henry VIII rejected the Catholic Church, relations between the Protestant English and Muslim North African governments were good because they had a common enemy in Catholic Spanish. The North Africans resented the fact that Spanish forces had re-conquered Spain and taken control away from its previous Moorish rulers.
Other African immigrants were Moors who had come directly from Spain. They may - like one of the attendants of Queen Catherine of Aragon - have been Muslims who converted to Christianity.
Other immigrants came from West Africa. They included. The son of a prince sent to England for an education. A group who had been enslaved on a Portuguese ship which was attacked by an English ship. They were brought to England to learn English: the plan was for them to become translators.

Question 16

How were Africans treated in Tudor England?

Answer 16

From what we can tell, Africans living in Tudor England lived quiet lives in a range of occupations including court trumpeter, shoemaker, needlemaker and servant. Black people living in England were free. Racist attitudes existed but were not yet dominant and there are lots of examples of black people being treated fairly at this time: When John Blanke, one of King Henry VIII’s trumpeters, asked for a pay rise the king granted it. Henry also gave Blanke and his bride a wedding gift

Religious difference mattered far more than ‘racial’ difference in Tudor England and it may have been far easier to be black than to be Catholic.

Question 17

What was the social/cultural impact of African migration into Tudor England?

Answer 17

African people lived normally and were accepted into English society

Question 18

Why did Africans come to England during the early years of enslavement?

Answer 18

In 1660, the monarchy under King Charles II set up the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa (which later became the Royal African Company). It had a monopoly over trade with West Africa, protected by the Royal Navy. English involvement in the trade in enslaved Africans grew rapidly. The small number of free Africans in England were joined by others who arrived because of enslavement. How most came to Britain is unknown. Some came directly from the West African coast, while others came from the Caribbean and North America as servants.

By the mid-18th century Britain dominated trade in Asia and the East India Company took control of India. Several of the English people who went as employees of the Company hired Indian children as servants and women as nannies and wet nurses for their children. When they returned home they sometimes brought the child servants and nannies (ayahs) with them. They wanted to continue in England the opulent lifestyle they had enjoyed in India.

Question 19

How were Africans treated in the early years of enslavement?

Answer 19

The fashion for wealthy families to have and show off African or Indian child servants - seen in many paintings of the time - meant that many children lived far from their families. They were often well looked after, but also patronised. Their lives may have been lonely, surrounded by people of an alien culture and language. Some, when they were no longer children, were abandoned.

The law was confused. Enslavement in the colonies was allowed by law, but not lawful in Britain. Some Africans and Indians working as servants were not free, as is clear from court cases and advertisements about runaways. However, court and parish records also show that others were treated equally.
Treatment of servants varied from kindness to extreme violence. In a few cases black people were actually sold into slavery in Britain, and some owners treated their servants as slaves even though the law in theory protected them. Most black residents appear to have lived ordinary lives and worked alongside white maids, washerwomen, labourers, cooks and sailors, sharing their lives. There were black people in many occupations including innkeepers, barmaids and farm labourers.

Question 20

What was the economic impact of African migration during the early years of enslavement?

Answer 20

Financed by the banks and insurance companies, businesses shipped goods, such as guns and metalware, to West Africa. There the goods were exchanged for enslaved people who were transported to the Americas to be sold and work on plantations. The commodities they produced - sugar and tobacco above all - were shipped to Britain and sold to generate great profits for the trading companies. Africans who came to Britain were caught in this system and part of what built Britain’s wealth.

Question 21

What was the social/cultural impact of African migration during the early years of enslavement?

Answer 21

The racist idea that darker skinned people were inferior began to spread and influence social relations. Negative references to people of African and Indian origin, with comments on their blackness, became increasingly common. As religious divisions became less significant, ‘racial’ ones became more noted. Whereas Africans in Tudor England seem to have lived easily within wider society, now relationships between black and white people were affected by racial ideas.

Question 22

Why did Black people come to Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 22

We do not know exactly how many people of African origin were living in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many were here as a result of the Transatlantic Trade in enslaved Africans.
Some came with their owners from North America and the West Indies, brought to work as servants to the household. One example of this was Mary Prince, who was brought here forcibly in 1828 but then escaped with the help of white servants. We know this from her autobiography, the first book published in Britain by a black female author.
After emancipation, when Parliament abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, and during the 19th century black people continued to come here in smaller numbers and settle. They included refugees escaping enslavement in the United States of America, or had served in the British army during the American War of Independence and were promised freedom from enslavement in Britain.

Question 23

How were Black people treated in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 23

Before slavery in the British Empire was abolished under the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, the status of black people in Britain was complex. This was because the law was not clear. British law allowed enslavement overseas, on the slave ships from West Africa and the West Indian plantations. Inside the British Isles, however, slavery was not legally sanctioned. The case of James Somerset in 1772 was important. He had escaped from his master who then recaptured him in Britain and tried to force him to return to Jamaica. The Lord Chief Justice ruled that he could not be taken from Britain by force. While in Britain, he was free.
Some black people were held in conditions of enslavement here in Britain and some were violently abused. However most Africans lived here in freedom, as can be seen from parish records. Court documents show Africans accused of crime were treated in the same way as white people. ‘Black Loyalists’ who had been promised freedom from enslavement if they fought for Britain in the American War of Independence, were brought here when Britain lost the war. Many of them ended up destitute, begging on London’s streets. Over 400 were transported to Sierra Leone in West Africa in a resettlement project by the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor.
A few Africans thrived in Britain: Ignatius Sancho who was born on a slave ship became a wealthy composer, actor, and writer and was the first black Briton to be allowed to vote in elections. Some black people, such as Queen Victoria’s god-daughter Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the nurse Mary Seacole and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, achieved success and prominence in late Victorian society.

Question 24

What was the political impact of Black people migrating in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 24

William Davidson and Robert Wedderburn were both the children of black enslaved mothers and white fathers who became political activists against slavery and for the rights of working people. The History of Mary Prince: A West Indian Slave in 1831 and was the first black woman to do so. Equiano and Cugoano also played leading roles in the campaign for the abolition of enslavement with their organisation ‘Sons of Africa’. The Abolition movement has influenced many campaigns for justice since.

William Cuffay (from St Kitts in the Caribbean) was a leader of the Chartist movement for political reform and was convicted of preparing to set fire to certain buildings as a signal for an uprising and was transported to Tasmania in 1848.

Black soldiers played an important role in helping the British army during both the American War of Independence and the Napoleonic Wars.

Question 25

What was the economic impact of Black people migrating in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 25

Black people worked in a range of different roles in Britain and formed a small but significant aspect f the working class, particularly in port cities such as London, Bristol and Liverpool.

A number of West African and West Indian seamen worked on the ships bringing raw materials and consumer goods into Britain, and on those which exported coal and manufactured goods to countries around the world.

Question 26

What was the social/cultural impact of Black people migrating in the 18th and 19th centuries?

Answer 26

Autobiographies by people who had previously been enslaved - Mary Prince, Ottobah Cugonao and Olaudah Equiano - helped turn many people against slavery and the trade in enslaved people. Prince who suffered terrible treatment at the hands of her owners published her autobiography. Coffee (originally from Ethiopia), chocolate (from Central America) and sugar (from plantations in the Americas) all came on merchant ships with largely ‘foreign’ crews - and sugar was grown on plantations relying on slave labour until 1833.

Question 27

Why did Asian migrants come to Britain?

Answer 27

The East India Company hired ‘lascars’ – men to work on board ships, picking them up at their ports of call. Captains often preferred ‘coloured seamen’ (the term used at the time) because they were more comfortable in hotter climates, often did not drink alcohol (many were Muslim) and, most importantly, because they could pay them less than white sailors. Chinese, Malay, Indian, Somali and Yemeni seamen worked on ships trading with Asia and the rest of the world. Some were forced to come here as indentured labourers but then abandoned in ports on their arrival or fled poor conditions onboard, becoming ‘accidental migrants’.

Meanwhile, many wealthy Indians also came to the UK. Some came to study, while others, such as Maharajah Duleep Singh, joined high society.

Question 28

How were Asian migrants treated?

Answer 28

For the Asian merchant seamen who settled in British ports, life was initially very hard. They were single men far from home, unemployed for long periods and in extreme poverty. Most lived in lodging houses. At first these were run by the East India Company but later, after the British government took direct control of India in 1858, many were run by people from their own communities. The government, under pressure from the Seamen’s Union and because of negative racial attitudes, passed laws intended to make it hard for them to stay.

In effect, it was a ‘colour bar’. On land, many were forced by poverty into begging and often had trouble with the police. They were portrayed in the media as inferior, ‘exotic’ and even sinister and threatening. Their settlements were given nicknames - ‘Chinatown’ in London’s Limehouse, ‘Tiger Bay’ in Cardiff’s Butetown and ‘Little Arabia’ in South Shields’ East Holborn - and were stereotyped as places of crime to be feared.
Wealthy Indians however were generally welcomed and integrated into British high society.

Question 29

What was the political impact of Asian migration?

Answer 29

At the end of the 19th century two Indians, Dadabhai Naoroji (Liberal) and Sir Manerchee Bhownaggree (Conservative), were elected as Members of Parliament at Westminster.

Question 30

What was the economic impact of Asian migration?

Answer 30

Asian seamen helped to expand British trade across the world and during the 19th Century Britain became a global economic superpower at the head of a vast empire.

Question 31

What was the social/cultural impact of Asian migration?

Answer 31

At the start of the 19th century, Sake Dean Mahomed set up London’s first Indian restaurant and then his ‘Shampoo’ beauty business in Brighton that became the height of fashion. Asian fabrics, porcelain and furniture became highly fashionable after the East India Company started importing them on ships with largely ‘foreign’ crews.
In Cardiff, Hull, Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, South Shields and Bristol, children of ‘foreign’ seamen and British mothers grew up in mixed ethnicity communities.
Indian prince Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji was cricket’s first global superstar.

Question 32

Why did the Irish and Scots come to Britain?

Answer 32

Many families in the Scottish Highlands were forced off their land by enclosures and the Highland Clearances, when landowners evicted them in favour of sheep farming, which was more profitable.
Thousands of Irish families left because of rising rents, bad landlords, poor harvests, rising prices and a lack of jobs. In the 1840s, the potato crop in Ireland was wiped out by a disease. This led to widespread famine among the poor tenant farmers as the potato was a stable of their diet. To escape the famine many left Ireland in waves of mass migration. Ireland was then a part of Great Britain, ruled from London. The majority came to work in the factories of the North West of England, especially Liverpool, which was easily reached by boat from Dublin and Belfast. Many Irish families joined equally poor migrants from all over Britain, working in harsh conditions in the textile factories of the north west of England. Another common employment for Irish men was to work as ‘navvies’, digging the earth to build canals, roads, railways and docks. This work took them all over the country. Irish seamen and dock workers settled in port communities such as South Shields and Cardiff.

Question 33

How were the Irish and Scots treated?

Answer 33

Many Irish families arrived in a poor state - hungry, weak and sick - and found themselves living in overcrowded, unhealthy ‘court dwellings’. Death rates were high and there were outbreaks of deadly diseases such as cholera. We know of this from reports written by Liverpool’s Medical Officer of Health. However, conditions were much the same for the English working classes at that time.The very hard life experienced by hundreds of thousands of poor Irish migrants was made far worse by extreme racism. In cartoons, newspaper articles, speeches by politicians and popular jokes, Irish people were portrayed as savage, violent, drunken and animal-like. Anti-Irish racism was widespread and nasty. Other reasons for divisions between English and Irish workers included politics, because many Irish migrants supported the idea of Home Rule (Ireland should have its own government) pay, because many English workers felt that the Irish were undercutting their wages by accepting lower pay and religion, because most Irish immigrants were Catholic

There were sometimes anti-Irish and anti-Catholic riots and sometimes violence between Irish Catholics and Protestants, for example in the 1840s and 1850s in Cardiff, Greenock, Stockport and towns in north-west England.

Question 34

What was the political impact of Irish and Scottish migration?

Answer 34

Dr Thomas Barnardo, an Irish immigrant, set up the Barnardo’s Homes for destitute children in 1866. This is now the children’s charity Barnardo’s which campaigns on behalf of children’s rights.
Feargus O’Connor (from Ireland) was a leader of the Chartist movement for political reform. Many of the Chartists’ demands are now an accepted part of our Parliamentary system, such as secret ballots in elections, votes for all and payment to Members of Parliament (MPs) so that not only the rich could stand for election.

Question 35

What was the economic impact of Irish and Scottish migration?

Answer 35

Much of the infrastructure of the Industrial Revolution was built by Irish workers. Docks, roads and railways were built by ‘navvies’, many of whom were Irish migrants.
The workforce in the factories - women and children as well as men - consisted of migrant workers from many places such as Scotland and Ireland, which helped to drive Britain’s huge economic growth.

Question 36

What was the social/cultural impact of Irish and Scottish migration?

Answer 36

Irish people also mixed with the English population and intermarriage was common. There was also a large number of middle-class Irish immigrants, including artists, writers such as Oscar Wilde.

Thanks to Irish migration, Catholicism gradually became more accepted and Britain became a country where freedom of religion was allowed.

Question 37

Why did Italians and Germans come to Britain?

Answer 37

Unlike many countries in 19th century Europe, Britain was at peace and its economy favoured new ideas and enterprise. Extreme poverty and civil war affected the villages of Southern Italy so badly that thousands migrated north to Britain. On arrival Italians settled in many large cities such as Manchester, Glasgow and London’s ‘Little Italy’.They lived similar lives to Irish migrants, with whole families working in the textile mills or men employed in road building.
Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert was German and close ties between the countries encouraged many Germans to come as students and stay as engineers, designers and businessmen.

Question 38

How were Italians and Germans treated?

Answer 38

Although Italian, German and other European immigrants did experience some hostility, this was far less than that experienced by the Irish or the Lascars.

Question 39

What was the economic impact of Italian and German migration?

Answer 39

Many Italians worked in the factories of Industrial Britain.

Several of the entrepreneurs whose businesses profited from the industrial system were themselves immigrants, in many cases from Germany. They were founders of major businesses such as Reuters and Schweppes, as well as banks such as Baring and Rothschild

Question 40

What was the social/cultural impact of Italian and German migration?

Answer 40

Italians also started up businesses in a new street food - ice cream. Some family businesses did extremely well.

Many bakeries were German-run and the ‘full English’ breakfast was in fact a German import.

Question 41

Why did Eastern European Jews come to Britain?

Answer 41

Eastern European Jews came because they were subject to violent attacks - pogroms - in what is now Russia, Poland and Ukraine. They were desperately fleeing terror - some travelled entirely on foot - and Britain’s relatively open door meant that about 140,000 arrived from the 1880s onwards, settling mainly in urban areas such as East London, Leeds and Manchester.
Many of these Jewish refugees were - like many Irish and Scottish immigrants - hoping to travel on to the USA, but could not afford to travel further than Britain. Many others joined relatives already in the UK.

Question 42

How were Eastern European Jews treated?

Answer 42

During the 19th century the legal status of Jews in Britain steadily improved. In 1830 Jews were allowed to trade freely. Numbers increased steadily through natural growth until there were about 65,000 Jews in the UK in 1880. For Eastern European Jews who arrived in large numbers from the 1880s onwards, however, things were very different. They were from poor, rural families in villages and small towns and were escaping the terror of pogroms in Eastern Europe. Most arrived with little or nothing. Many intended to move on to the USA, but when they found themselves in the UK, they settled near their place of arrival. As a result the East End of London gained a highly concentrated Jewish population. The main source of income was the textile trade. Jewish tailors and seamstresses worked at home or in the many sweatshops. For many Jewish migrants, conditions were terrible; living in extreme poverty in overcrowded, cold and damp lodgings. Many were forced into theft and prostitution.

There were tensions with the earlier Jewish settlers, too. Some Jewish leaders feared that the new arrivals would cause a rise in anti-Semitism. Others, together with non-Jews, raised money to help the refugees and ran charitable missions and soup kitchens.
Anti-Semitism was on the rise by the end of the 19th century in the climate of pseudo-scientific racism that claimed some ‘races’ were inferior to others. In novels, short stories and the popular press, Jews were portrayed as sinister, to be feared and were dehumanised. Places such as London’s Whitechapel were written about by journalists as if they were a foreign country. Pressure grew for laws restricting the immigration of ‘foreign aliens’.

Question 43

What was the political impact of Eastern European Jewish migration?

Answer 43

In 1858 the first Jewish Member of Parliament (MP) Lionel de Rothschild took his seat in Parliament.
The East End of London was a place of frequent political action. In 1889, 10,000 Jewish tailors living there went on strike for better pay and conditions. Many refugees who had been active in the politics of their home countries continue to be politically aware and vocal when they came to Britain.

Question 44

What was the economic impact of Eastern European Jewish migration?

Answer 44

Jewish tailors and seamstresses in the sweatshops of London, Leeds and Manchester created cheap, good quality clothing. This meant that many working-class British people could afford new clothes for the first time in their lives. In addition, many of the well-known clothes retailers that are around today such as Marks and Spencer, Burton and Moss Bros were started by 19th century Jewish immigrants.

Question 45

What was the social/cultural impact of Eastern European Jewish migration?

Answer 45

Jewish immigrants gave us fish and chips.
Judaism became more widely practiced in Britain and helped to further religious toleration.

Question 46

Why did Asylum Seekers come to Britain?

Answer 46

Throughout the 19th century Britain was seen as a place of safety for political refugees. Many activists and thinkers who were at risk in their own countries were free to live, write and be active here. Examples included:
• the German revolutionaries Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, writers of The Communist Manifesto.
• the Italian radical Giuseppe Mazzini who helped bring about the unification and independence of Italy
• the African American writer and activist Frederick Douglass who played a leading role in the movement for the abolition of slavery in the USA

Question 47

How were Asylum Seekers treated in Britain?

Answer 47

Unlike many countries, asylum seekers were well treated in Britain and Mostly, they lived here for a time in exile and then returned to their homeland.

Question 48

What was the political impact of Asylum Seekers migrating?

Answer 48

Marx and Engels’ analysis of social conditions, class and capitalism had a massive influence on political systems in 20th century Russia, Eastern Europe, China, South East Asia and many parts of Africa, the Caribbean and South America

Question 49

What was the social/cultural impact of Asylum Seekers migrating?

Answer 49

Britain became increasingly politically diverse and was recognised as a country that allowed political toleration. Radical ideas were exchanged freely in universities as well as in cities like London.