Bloody foreigners: the story of immigration to Britain: Robert
Winder. Abacus, 2005. ISBN: 0-349-11566-4
Immigrants tend to be entrepreneurial risk-takers and rule-flouters,
with a keen sense of individual liberty. However, migration can also be forced, either directly
(war, famine, political) or indirectly (poverty).
The first settlers of the UK, some 25,000 years ago, probably
came from the south. Later waves of settlement followed from the Rhine basin, from
southern Europe (dark colouring) and the Celts (fair skin and red hair, from east
of the Alps. (Those with dark ‘Celtic’
colouring are actually likely to be Mediterranean
in origin.)
The Roman invasion: the Roman army had few
Italians; the majority of the troops were Gauls, Hungarians, Germans and some
North Africans. The next invasions were from Northern Germanic tribes – Jutes from
northern Denmark, Angles
from central Denmark and
Saxons from northern Germany,
and Vikings. The Celtic language all but vanished and Latin was little used. The
Norman (themselves Danish in origin) invasion formed the basis of the English
aristocracy.
In the 12th C migrants were typically Dutch textile workers. Other migrants were Jewish money lenders, though
tensions eventually led to their expulsion in 1290. In the 13th C migrants were Italian financiers and German, Dutch, Italian and French traders
and craftsmen. The first gypsies were recorded in c.1480.
The next centuries saw religion influencing migration. The French
Huguenots fled persecution, especially from 1685; the French textile and allied
trades suffered from this. Dutch and German migrants brought printing and paper making
and artists. At the Restoration, German and Prussian scholars were joined by
Jews fleeing persecution in Europe. When
William III took the throne, Dutch migrants followed.
In 1709, the Poor Palatines (farmers) came from Germany, fleeing persecution by the new
(Catholic) Elector; some intended to go further and try their luck in America. The
Hanoverian period saw the arrival of Germans, Dutch, Italians and some Jews
from north and eastern Europe. The formation of the East India Company resulted
in small numbers of Indians being brought back as servants and seamen, as did
the slave trade with African servants. The Acts of Emancipation took down
barriers to migration (1829 Roman Catholics; 1853 Jews).
In Europe, Britain
had a reputation for being a good (if grudging) friend to the displaced. The 19th
C saw ‘clever’ refugees from the failed continental revolutions of 1848:
Italian, French, Hungary, Poland, and Russia. Victoria’s marriage to Albert saw further
German migration. Italians first came as street urchins (organized by
gangmasters) and builders and allied trades; later migrants sold ice-cream and
fish and chips. The Irish came as seasonal workers and manual labourers,
especially at the time of the Potato Famine in the 1840s; Ireland was part of Britain from 1707 to 1922.
The 20th C saw a Jewish exodus from Poland, Russia,
the Baltic and Eastern Europe. There was a
drift of Chinese seamen and African and Caribbean students, plus doctors,
lawyers, scholars and entrepreneurs from India. More Jews came in the 1930s
as the Nazi party gained power; some went on to the USA. After WW2, some Poles stayed
on. West Indians came for better prospects. Indians, especially Anglo-Indians,
arrived after India/Pakistan partition in 1948. Hungarians fled the Soviet
takeover (1956) and Cypriots fled the Greek / Turkish partition. Other groups
were actually or virtually expelled: Asians from Kenya
(1967) and Uganda (1971),
Chinese via Hong Kong (1960’s) and Vietnam (1970’s). More recent
migrants have been refugees from war-torn areas and economic migrants from
eastern Europe.
Germany and Italy are both federations of once competing
sovereignties, while the US
is a mix of recent immigrants; Europe is
currently promoting the federal model instead of separate nations. On contrast, in
other places ethnic pride has been at the forefront and resulted in enmity:
India/Pakistan, Israel/Palestine, Cyprus,
Sri Lanka, Hutu/Tutsi in Rwanda.
This should raise warning signs over the current separatist feelings in Scotland and Wales.
Children of migrants are more outgoing than their parents but their
own children occasionally revive rather than abandon the convictions of their
grandparents. It seems that the original immigrants need to die before their
descendants can accept themselves – or be accepted – as British. Most earlier
migrants were keen to blend in, but some recent migrants are not so keen;
examples are fundamentalist Muslims who wish to retain Islamic culture and
laws, and the northern Punjab Muslims who are reluctant to sever ties with
their homeland and family-based culture.
The 2001 Census showed that 7.9% of the population had an ethnic
origin, but of these more than half were born in the UK. Immigrants do tend to cluster
in certain areas, such as large cities but are often uncommon in the more rural
communities. The Census also showed that the population of Scotland had declined by 2% as people moved to London. Headlines on
immigration issues rarely note that nearly as many people emigrate each year as arrive as immigrants.
Policies to govern immigration often backfire. Restrictions on
short-term economic migrants and human rights acceptance of re-uniting families
led to more young men settling and then bringing in wives and children. Since
there is a clear correlation in recent British history that when unemployment
rises, immigration falls, there could be an argument for self-regulation.
Migrants tend to have larger families; ‘British’ families remain at an average
of 2.4 children. There has been more acceptance of, and actual rates of,
‘cross-breeding’ in the UK
than in other cultures.
Interesting facts:
- Irish Aran jumpers were a marketing invention by a German entrepreneur in the 1930s, who chose Aran as the name of a new knitwear range after seeing a documentary on the island. When Irish wool proved unsuitable, they were made in the Scottish Hebrides.
- Tartan is a criss-cross patterned fabric, originally woven wool. Patterns were designed by local weavers with locally available dyes, so varied regionally and were not attached to specific clans. Tartan and other aspects of Gaelic culture were banned in 1746, and the law repealed in 1782. In the mid 19th C many patterns were created and artificially associated with Scottish clans, families or institutions that were (or wished to be seen as) associated with a Scottish heritage. These new patterns reflected the new chemical dyes that became available.
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