MIGRATION to Britain IN THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD c. 1730-1900 Flashcards
1
Q
why did Black people in the 18th and 19th centuries migrate to Britain?
A
- we do not know exactly how many people of African origins were living in Britain in this period.
- 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 servant 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 1st book published in Britain by a black female.
- after emancipation, when parliament abolished salvery 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 USA, or had served in the British Army during the American war of Independence and were promised freedom from enslavement in Britain.
2
Q
how were Black people in the 18th and 19th centuries treated?
A
- 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 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 Child 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 document 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 thrive in Britain: Ignatius Sancho who was born on a slave ship became a wealthy composer, actor and writer, and was the first black Briton allowed to vote in elections. some black people, such as Queen Victoria’s goddaughter Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the nurse Mary Seattle and the composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, achieved success and prominence in late Victorian society.
3
Q
what was the political impact of Black people in the 18th and 19th century?
A
- 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 n the campaign for the abolition of enslavement with their organisation “Sons of Africa”. the abolition movement had 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 ti 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.
4
Q
what was the economic impact of Black people in the 18th and 19th century?
A
- black people worked in a range of different roles in Britain and formed a small but significant aspect of 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 good to countries around the world.
5
Q
what was the social impact of Black people in the 18th and 19th century?
A
- autobiographies by people who had previously been enslaved, Mary Prince, Ottobah Cugonao and Oludah 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.
6
Q
why did asian migrants come to Britain?
A
- 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 comfortable in hotter climates, often did not drink alcohol (many were muslim) and most importantly, 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.
7
Q
how were asian migrants treated?
A
- 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 1858, many were tun by people form 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.
8
Q
what was the political impact of Asian migrants?
A
at the end of century two Indian, Dadabhai Naoroji (Liberal) and Sir Manerchee Bhownaggree (Conservative) were elected as members of Parliament at Westminster.
9
Q
what was the economic impact of Asian migrants?
A
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.
10
Q
what was the social impact of Asian migrants?
A
- 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, Hullm Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, and South Shields, children of “foreign” seamen and British mothers grew up in mixed ethnicity communities.
- Indian prince Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhij was crickets first global superstar.
11
Q
why did the Scots come to Britain?
A
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.
12
Q
what was the economic impact of Scottish migrants?
A
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.
13
Q
why did the Irish come to England?
A
- thousands of Irish families left because of rising rents, bad landlords, poor harvest, rising prices and a lack of jobs.
- in the 1840s, the potato crop in Ireland was wiped out by a disease. This lead to widespread famine among the poor tenant farmers as the potato Wass the staple of their diet.
- to escape the famine many left Ireland in waves of mass migration. Ireland was then a part of Great Britain, ruled by Great Britain. 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 the Irish men’s 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.
14
Q
how were the Irish treated?
A
- 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.
- however, conditions were much the same for the English working classes at the 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 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 and towns in NW England.
15
Q
what was the political impact of Irish migrants?
A
- Dr Thomad Barnado, an Irish immigrant, set up the Barnado’s Homes for destitute children in 1866. this is now the children’s charity Barnado’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 payments to Members of Parliament (MPs) so that not only the rich could stand for election.
