Migration in Britain, c1000–present

Why did Ugandan Asians come to Britain in 1972 and how did the British government respond?

• ✓Idi Amin expelled around 80,000 South Asians; the Heath government accepted around 28,000 as British passport-holders despite Conservative backbench protests.
• •They came as economic migrants seeking factory work; the Heath government refused entry to all Ugandan Asians under the 1971 Act.
• •They fled famine in Uganda; the Heath government resettled them across the Commonwealth, with only a few thousand reaching Britain itself.
• •They were invited by Britain to staff the new NHS; the Heath government welcomed all 80,000 with full citizenship within a week.

How did the Norman Conquest of 1066 reshape the language of England?

• ✓Norman French became the language of the court and law, while English absorbed thousands of French words, eventually creating Middle English.
• •Norman settlers adopted Old English within a generation and French had no lasting influence on the English vocabulary or grammar.
• •Old English was banned by William the Conqueror in 1070 and replaced entirely by Latin as the spoken language of the people.
• •Welsh became the official language of England after 1066, displacing both Old English and Norman French within fifty years.

Why did large numbers of Irish people migrate to Britain in the 1840s?

• •Catholic persecution in Ireland forced them to seek asylum in Protestant Britain
• •Industrial factories actively recruited Irish workers with higher wages
• •The Act of Union 1800 allowed Irish people free movement to Britain
• ✓The Great Famine (1845–52) destroyed the potato crop, killing 1 million and displacing more

What was the triangular trade that linked Britain, West Africa and the Americas?

• ✓British ships carried goods to West Africa, enslaved Africans across the Atlantic, and brought sugar, tobacco and cotton back to Britain.
• •British ships carried tea from India to Africa, enslaved Africans to Britain, and finished goods from Britain to the American colonies.
• •British ships ferried spices from the Caribbean to Africa, enslaved Africans to India, and Indian textiles back home to Britain.
• •British ships moved gold from the Americas to Africa, enslaved Africans to British India, and Indian opium back to British ports.

Why were Caribbean migrants concentrated in Notting Hill in the 1950s?

• •Caribbean migrants were directed there by a government resettlement scheme that allocated them new council homes built for the Windrush generation.
• ✓Landlords refused them homes elsewhere, so unscrupulous landlords like Peter Rachman crowded migrants into decaying houses in Notting Hill.
• •Notting Hill had the largest existing Caribbean community before 1948 and migrants chose it freely for cultural and family connections.
• •The London County Council reserved Notting Hill specifically for Commonwealth migrants under a 1951 housing law that ran until 1965.

How did British immigration legislation change between 1948 and 1971?

• ✓1948 free entry → 1962 work vouchers → 1968 tighter rules → 1971 patriality required
• •Immigration law was unchanged until 1968 when Labour banned all Commonwealth migration
• •Legislation became progressively more welcoming — Commonwealth citizens gained full rights
• •Only European migrants were restricted — Commonwealth citizens always had free movement