Background to Modern Migration (Edexcel GCSE History) : Revision Note

Why did migration to Britain change after 1900?- Timeline & Summary

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Migration to Britain changed significantly in the 20th and 21st centuries. After the World Wars, Britain needed workers to help rebuild the country. People from across the Commonwealth, like the Caribbean, India, and Pakistan, were encouraged to move. Migrants also came to escape war or persecution, such as Jewish refugees in the 1930s and Ugandan Asians in the 1970s. Over time, migrants came from more countries than ever before, including parts of Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

The government began to control migration more through immigration laws, especially from the 1960s onwards. These laws made it harder for people from the Commonwealth and other non-European countries to settle in Britain. At the same time, Britain's role in the world changed. The British Empire ended, and new links were formed through the Commonwealth and the European Union. These changes all helped shape who could come to Britain, why they came, and where they settled.

Changes in Modern British society

The impact of the First and Second World Wars

• Britain fought in two world wars

  • First World War, 1914-1918

  • Second World War, 1939-1945

• In both wars, Britain relied on its empire to provide troops and labourers

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A bar chart showing the number of imperial soldiers that supported Britain's war effort in the First and Second World Wars

• Lascars played a vital role transporting food, weapons, and troops across dangerous waters

• Migrants and their descendants helped run transport, factories, and hospitals in wartime Britain

• Britain had been heavily bombed in the Second World War

  • German attacked destroyed ports, roads and railway networks

  • Britain needed workers to rebuild the country

    • The wars had caused major labour shortages in Britain

End of the British Empire

• After 1945, the British Empire began to collapse because:

  • Britain was in debt after the Second World War

    • It did not have the money needed to maintain an empire

  • After the war, global powers like the USA and new organisations like the United Nations supported self-determination

    • This was the right of people to rule themselves

  • Many countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean began to demand independence

    • India was the first colony to become independent in 1947

    • By the 1960s, most of Britain's empire had collapsed

Creation of the Commonwealth and the European Union

The Commonwealth

• In 1931, Britain created the Commonwealth of Nations

  • All members were former colony of the British Empire

• Commonwealth countries:

  • Traded with Britain

  • Shared language and education systems

  • Some countries had dual nationality rights with Britain

The European Union

• In 1973, Britain became one of the nine members of the European Economic Community (EEC)

  • This later became the European Union (EU)

• Member countries could:

  • Trade freely with each other without tariffs

  • Move freely so citizens could live, work, and study in any other EU country

• In 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union

Controlling migration

• A common theme throughout the 20th century is some native English people believing that there were too many migrants living in Britain

  • In the 1970s, anti-immigration groups such as the National Front appeared in Britain

  • The government responded by passing laws to restrict who could and could not enter the country

Immigration laws

• Aliens Act (1905)

  • Aimed at restricting Eastern European Jewish migrants

  • People could only migrate to Britain if they had money or a job

• British Nationality Act (1948)

  • Gave Commonwealth citizens the right to settle in Britain

• Commonwealth Immigrants Act (1962)

  • Only migrants with valuable skills in professions with labour shortages could live in Britain

  • Eligible migrants were given a voucher

• Commonwealth Immigrants Act (1968)

  • A reduction in the number of jobs that made migrants eligible for vouchers

  • Could only migrate if they had grandparents or parents born in Britain

• Immigration Act (1971)

  • Voucher system replaced with work permits only valid for a specified period of time

  • This rule did not apply to those with British parents or grandparents

• Nationality Act (1981)

  • Non-British citizens no longer had the right to stay in Britain

Change & continuity in Modern migration & patterns of settlements

Change

The Commonwealth

• Many migrants came from the Commonwealth

  • They were escaping war and persecution

  • They wanted a better quality of life

• India and Pakistan (1947)

  • The partition of India and Pakistan caused war

• Kenya (1967)

  • After independence, President Jomo Kenyatta made all citizens decide whether they wanted to be British or Kenyan

  • By 1968, 20,000 Kenyans migrated to Britain and settled mainly in London or Leicester

• Uganda (1972)

  • President Idi Amin ordered the removal of all Asians from Uganda, despite their input to the economy

  • After failed negotiations, the British government offered either British or Indian citizenship to all Asian Ugandans

  • 27,000 moved to Britain, many settling in Leicester

Asylum seekers

• In 1951, Britain agreed to the United Nations Convention on Refugees

  • Britain agreed to offer asylum for people facing war and persecution

• In recent decades, many asylum seekers have come to Britain from:

  • Syria

  • Afghanistan

  • Ukraine

• Many migrants come to Britain legally through asylum

• Once they have been granted asylum they are referred to as refugees

• There are a growing number of migrants who, out of desperation, come to Britain illegally by:

  • Paying smugglers to transport them in unsafe boats across the English Channel

  • Hiding in delivery vehicles, such as lorries, without the driver's knowledge

The European Union

• After 2004, nine Eastern European nations joined the EU

  • Migration from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania to Britain increased dramatically

  • Many EU migrants could find better paid jobs in Britain than what was available to them in their origin country

Continuity

• Similar to the Early Modern period, the government invited migrants from certain countries to settle in Britain

The Windrush Generation

• The government encouraged Caribbean migrants to help rebuild Britain after the Second World War

• They filled labour shortages in:

  • The NHS

  • The London Transport System

    • Migrants commonly drove buses and trains

• The name 'Windrush' comes from the third, and most well-known, boat to bring Caribbean migrants to Britain

  • This arrived in Tilbury in June 1948

• From 1948 to 1955, over 18,000 migrants had moved from the Caribbean to Britain

European migration

• Like in Medieval times, migrants continued to come from Europe

• The First World War caused 250,000 Belgians to migrate to Britain

  • Most migrants returned to Belgium in 1919

• The Second World War triggered 160,000 Polish migrants to travel to Britain

  • Many Polish migrants stayed in Britain

    • Their country had become a communist satellite state of the USSR after the war

  • Polish communities thrived, especially in Bradford, Yorkshire

• After Ireland became independent from Britain in 1922, Irish migrants continued to migrate to Britain

  • Irish migrants were exempt from the 1905 Aliens Act

  • Most joined existing Irish communities across Britain

Jewish migration

• Jewish migration continued into the 20th century

• After 'Kristallnacht', many Jewish people no longer felt safe in Nazi-occupied territories

• Between December 1938 and September 1939, around 10,000 Jewish children arrived in Britain from:

  • Germany

  • Austria

  • Czechoslovakia

  • Poland

• The evacuation of Jewish children to Britain was called Kindertransport (Children’s Transport)

• Many of the children remained in Britain permanently

  • The Holocaust killed many of their relatives

  • Their homes had been destroyed or taken during or after the Second World War