You are not currently logged in. Please create an account or log in to view the full course.
What is migration history and what has it looked like in Britain?
- About
- Transcript
- Cite
Migration – British Migration, 1900-79
In this course, Dr Daniel Renshaw (University of Reading) explores migration into Britain from 1900-79. In the first lecture, we think about migration history as a discipline and its context within wider British history. In the second lecture, we think about migration to Britain from 1900-18. In the third lecture, we think about changes to British immigration policy from 1918-39. Next, we think about migration to Britain during and immediately after the Second World War. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about New Commonwealth migration to Britain.
What is migration history and what has it looked like in Britain?
In this lecture, we think about migration history as a discipline and the nature of migration in Britain, focusing in particular on: (i) the history of migration treated as secondary in the history of Britain, as contrasted to the history of the United States; (ii) the focus on migration, specifically the number of migrants resident in Britain, in the media; (iii) the first use of the term ‘refugee’ in the 17th century to describe the Huguenots, who were protestants fleeing religious persecution in France; (iv) late 18th century migration of African and South Asian people to Britain; (v) 19th century migration of Irish people to Britain, particularly during the famine years; (vi) late 19th century migration of Eastern European Jewish refugees to Britain.
My name's doctor Dan Renshaw.
00:00:06I lecture in modern British and European history at the
00:00:08University of Redding.
00:00:11And in this series of interconnected lectures,
00:00:13I'm going to be discussing migration to Britain and
00:00:15responses migration to Britain,
00:00:18between Edwardian period and the election of Margaret
00:00:20Thatcher as prime minister in nineteen seventy nine.
00:00:23And in this opening lecture,
00:00:28I'm going to be discussing migration history,
00:00:30as a discipline,
00:00:34and also providing an overview of migration to the United
00:00:35Kingdom over the last, four centuries.
00:00:39So migration history, is often presented as peripheral
00:00:43to a wider, British narrative
00:00:49And in this respect, it's, profoundly different,
00:00:53from the foundational myth of, say, for example,
00:00:57the United States, which very much
00:00:59stresses the,
00:01:03fact that the society has been created by the arrival of
00:01:05migrants fleeing persecution, not hunger,
00:01:08or destitution and arriving in America to
00:01:12build a new society, and you have the iconography,
00:01:15the statue of liberty,
00:01:19and migrants arriving at LS Island and literally creating
00:01:21new identities for themselves.
00:01:25And you don't really see this to the same extent in the way
00:01:28British history is often presented.
00:01:31However, the contribution migrants have made,
00:01:35two British culture and society over the last few centuries is
00:01:39profound And at certain points,
00:01:43some of which we'll discuss in the next in the following few lectures,
00:01:45discussion and controversies about migration in particular
00:01:49restricting entry into United Kingdom have shaped British political.
00:01:54Discourse But although migration,
00:01:59has been presented as peripheral to a wider
00:02:03overarching British historical narrative, is, of course,
00:02:06also timely and relevant.
00:02:09If we look at today's newspaper headlines,
00:02:12there's this continued debate and controversy about migration
00:02:14in the United Kingdom and the role that migrants play in
00:02:18British society.
00:02:22So migration,
00:02:24and and the presence of,
00:02:27people who've traveled from other parts of the world in
00:02:29Britain goes back a very long time indeed.
00:02:31Indeed, if we view Britain as an island, at some point,
00:02:34everyone had to make a journey from somewhere else to settle here.
00:02:38The term refugee is first used in a British
00:02:43discourse in the seventeenth century.
00:02:48To refer to French protestants fleeing religious persecution
00:02:51in France.
00:02:55And the huguenots, these religious,
00:02:57refugees
00:03:00arrived in often traumatic circumstances
00:03:02crossing the English channel.
00:03:06If we look at the history of migration over the last three centuries,
00:03:09we can see the arrival of grapes from different parts of the world.
00:03:14In the late eighteenth century in Britain,
00:03:18there are substantial communities of African and
00:03:20South Asian heritage in British cities,
00:03:23particularly London and Bristol,
00:03:25And then in the nineteenth century,
00:03:28migration from different parts of Europe,
00:03:31including from Ireland, particularly during the famine years,
00:03:34when hundreds of thousands of Irish migrants leave
00:03:38particularly Southern Ireland and settle in British cities,
00:03:41and at the end of the nineteenth century,
00:03:45particularly the arrival of Jewish refugees from Eastern
00:03:48Europe fleeing institutional discrimination and also the
00:03:52sporadic violent pogroms unleashed by the Russian state.
00:03:56So migration has been occurring for a very long time.
00:04:01And these debates about the role of the migrant and,
00:04:05allowing people into the United Kingdom have a very,
00:04:10a long antecedence.
00:04:14For this series of lectures, as I said,
00:04:17I'm going to be discussing migration to Britain in the
00:04:19twentieth beginning in nineteen hundred
00:04:21with a populist anti migrant campaign gathering pace in the country,
00:04:25and then looking at the profound impact of the two world wars,
00:04:30both between nineteen fourteen and nineteen eighteen and
00:04:36nineteen nine and nineteen forty five,
00:04:38very large numbers of people from around the world end up in
00:04:41Britain for one reason or another And as we'll discuss,
00:04:44after nineteen forty five,
00:04:50that wartime experience proves crucial in the arrival of large
00:04:51numbers of people from what then are still parts of the
00:04:56British empire.
00:05:00In particular, the Caribbean, the West Coast, of Africa,
00:05:01and also the Indian subcontinent.
00:05:06
Cite this Lecture
APA style
Renshaw, D. (2024, March 15). Migration – British Migration, 1900-79 - What is migration history and what has it looked like in Britain? [Video]. MASSOLIT. https://massolit.io/courses/migration-british-migration-1900-79
MLA style
Renshaw, D. "Migration – British Migration, 1900-79 – What is migration history and what has it looked like in Britain?." MASSOLIT, uploaded by MASSOLIT, 15 Mar 2024, https://massolit.io/courses/migration-british-migration-1900-79