Migration in Britain, c1000–present
What's covered
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Key facts
Britain in the 20th century
The 1948 British Nationality Act gave Commonwealth citizens the right to live and work in Britain, opening the post-war migration window.
Conquered and conquerors
The Domesday Book of 1086 recorded landholdings of England's new Norman elite, primarily for tax purposes.
Expansion and empire
The Great Famine of 1845–52 destroyed Ireland's potato crop, killing about a million people and driving large-scale Irish migration to British cities.
Looking west
There was a significant and continuous Black presence in Britain for centuries before the 1948 Empire Windrush, including communities of seafarers, freed people, and servants from the Tudor period onwards.
Notting Hill 1948–1970
Trinidadian activist Claudia Jones organised the first indoor Caribbean carnival in January 1959 at St Pancras Town Hall, generally regarded as the forerunner of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Britain in the 20th century
Migration law tightened: 1948 free entry → 1962 work vouchers (Commonwealth Immigrants Act) → 1968 further restriction → 1971 Immigration Act introduced "patriality" requiring a UK-born parent or grandparent.
Conquered and conquerors
Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290 by the Edict of Expulsion; the Crown seized their property and took over the debts owed to them.
Looking west
Huguenot refugees (French Protestants) fled to England in the late 17th century after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, exposing them to renewed persecution.
Notting Hill 1948–1970
The Caribbean community responded to the 1958 riots through organised self-defence, community press (West Indian Gazette), and the carnival started by Claudia Jones, not by leaving the area.
Britain in the 20th century
British responses to migration have often followed a similar pattern of initial economic welcome, then social tension and sometimes legislative restriction, as with Commonwealth migration after 1948.
Practice questions with answers
A taste of the 26 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
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 27,000 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?
- •A treaty in 1840 guaranteed every Irish worker a job in a British factory
- •Catholic persecution in Ireland forced them to seek asylum in Protestant Britain
- •The British government offered free farmland to Irish settlers in English counties
- ✓The Great Famine (1845–52) destroyed the potato crop, killing 1 million and displacing more
Why did Huguenot refugees flee to England in the late 17th century?
- ✓French Protestants fled persecution after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes (1685)
- •Huguenots came as indentured servants recruited by English textile manufacturers
- •Huguenots were Protestant merchants expelled from the Dutch Republic
- •They fled the French Revolution and sought asylum in Protestant England
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
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