Historical immigration to Great Britain

Historical immigration to Great Britain concerns the inward movement of people, cultural and ethnic groups into Great Britain before 1922, when the Irish Free State became independent. Immigration during and after 1922 is dealt with at the article Immigration to the United Kingdom (1922-present day).

Immigration to Great Britain has been from across Europe and the world. Over the millennia successive waves of immigrants have come to the Great Britain seeking economic prosperity or to escape persecution or hardship. Their impact has shaped the course of history of Britain itself.

Modern humans first arrived in Great Britain during the Palaeolithic era. They were followed by the Beaker people (3rd millennium BC), Celts (2nd millennium BC), Romans (1st century BC), Anglo-Saxons (c. 5th century AD) and Vikings (8th century AD). In 1066, the Normans successfully took control of England and, in subsequent years, there was some migration from France. In the 19th century, immigration by people outside Europe began on a small scale as people arrived from the British colonies. This increased during the 20th century.

Despite these great movements of people, some early DNA investigations have shown that the biological influence of 11-20th century immigration on Britain may have been rather small, marked more by continuity than change.

Immigration until the Black Death

Main articles: Prehistoric settlement of Great Britain and Ireland and Genetic history of the British Isles

Ice age

Modern humans arrived in Great Britain 35,000 years ago during the Palaeolithic. During the following Ice Age, they may have been forced out, returning about 15,000 years ago as the Ice Age ended. Further immigration occurred in the Mesolithic, becoming the Neolithic with the advent of farming. Genetic research suggests that these migrations had the greatest effect on the modern population of Britain. As sea levels rose, these first immigrants would have been isolated from mainland Europe and Ireland.

The Oxford archaeologist David Miles states that 80% of the genetic makeup of Britons probably comes from "just a few thousand" nomadic tribesmen who arrived 12,000 years ago, at the end of the Ice Age. This suggests later waves of immigration may have been too small to have significantly affected the genetic homogeneity of the existing population. However, Miles acknowledged himself that the techniques used to explore genetic ancestry are still in their infancy and that many more samples are needed to fully understand the origins of the British people. Stephen Oppenheimer has recently argued that neither Anglo-Saxons nor ancient Celts may have had much impact on the genetics of the inhabitants of the British Isles, and that British ancestry can largely be traced back to ancient peoples similar to the modern-day Basques instead.

The Beaker people

Defined by a style of pottery from the 3rd millennium BC, found across most of Europe in archæological digs, the Beaker people were considered to represent early immigration to Great Britain during the Bronze Age, although not as a mass migrationary group.

It was originally thought that the settlers that came with these beakers also had other defining features that showed they were distinct from earlier dwellers of the British Isles, such as the development of metalworking and the mode of burial of the dead that came into use at about this time. However, it is generally accepted by archeologists today that the beakers and other artefacts found across Europe that are attributed to the Beaker people are indicative of the development of particular manufacturing skills, possibly by the influence of neighbouring peoples, rather than as a result of mass migrations that spread independently of any population movement.

Celtic settlement

Main article: Celtic invasion of Great Britain

See also: Urnfield, Hallstatt culture, and La Tène culture

The Celts are now considered to be a number of interrelated peoples in Europe sharing a branch of Indo-European languages indicative of a common origin in a Proto-Celtic language. The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as keltoi or hidden people, is by the Greek Hecataeus of Miletus in 517 BC. It is generally thought that Celtic people arrived in Britain between 1500 BC and 400 BC during the iron age, however some recent linguistics studies have suggested an arrival in the Neolithic. The name Celtic was not attached to them until the 18th century. In the late 19th century the Celts were associated with various archaeological cultures occurring in Britain.

The conventional historical view holds that the Celtic influence in the Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries. The nature of their interactions with the indigenous populations of the isles is unknown. However, by the Roman period most of the inhabitants of the Isles were speaking Goidelic or Brythonic languages with close counterparts to Gaulish languages spoken on the European mainland. The degree to which the spread of Celtic languages was due to peaceful cultural interaction, or to military conquest, is a debated point among historians. The relative paucity of surviving information about the inhabitants of the British Isles prior to Celtic influence suggests conquest.

Roman Empire

The first Roman invasion of Great Britain was led by Julius Caesar in 55 BC; the second, a year later in 54 BC. The Romans had many supporters among the Celtic tribal leaders, who agreed to pay tributes to Rome in return for Roman protection. The Romans returned in AD 44, led by Claudius, this time establishing control, and establishing a province Britannia. Initially an oppressive rule, gradually the new leaders gained a firmer hold on their new territory which at one point stretched from the south coast of England to Wales and as far away as southern Scotland (though they did not hold the latter for long).

Over the 400 years of Roman occupation of Britain, the majority of settlers were soldiers garrisoned on the mainland. It was with constant contact with Rome and the rest of Romanised Europe through trade and industry that the elite native Britons themselves adopted Roman culture and customs, though the majority in the countryside were little affected.

Angles, Saxons and Jutes

Main article: Anglo-Saxon invasion of Great Britain

Germanic (Frankish) mercenaries were employed in Gaul by the Roman empire and it is speculated in a similar manner, Germanic immigrants to Britain arrived at the invitation of the ruling classes. In the Post-Roman period the traditional division into Angles, Saxons and Jutes (Anglo-Saxons) is first seen in the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum by Bede, however historical and archæological research has shown that a wider range of Germanic peoples from the coast of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland and Southern Sweden also moved to Britain in this era.

After the withdrawal of the last Roman soldiers from Britain in the early 5th century, the number of newcomers increased, and it is speculated that relations with the ruling Romanised Britons became strained. By about 449, open conflict had broken out, and the immigrants began to establish their own kingdoms in what would eventually become the Heptarchy.

Scots

During the 5th century, the Dál Riatan Scots started raiding north-western Britain from their base in north-east Ireland. After the Roman withdrawal, this developed from piracy to full-scale invasion and, within a hundred years, they had established a kingdom in Argyll.

Vikings

Further information: Nordic migration to Britain

The earliest date given for a Viking raid of Britain is 789 when, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Portland was attacked. A more reliable report dates from June 8, 793, when the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of England was pillaged by foreign seafarers. These raiders, whose expeditions extended well into the 9th century, were gradually followed by armies and settlers who brought a new culture and tradition markedly different from that of the prevalent Anglo-Saxon society. These enclaves rapidly expanded, and soon the Viking warriors were establishing areas of control to such an extent that they could reasonably be described as kingdoms.

The Danelaw, established through the Viking conquest of large parts of England, was formally established, as a result of the Treaty of Wedmore in the late 9th century, after Alfred the Great had defeated the Viking Guthrum at the Battle of Edington. The Danelaw represented a consolidation of power for Alfred; the subsequent conversion of Guthrum to Christianity underlines the ideological significance of this shift in the balance of power. The Danelaw was gradually conquered by the Anglo-Saxons in later years. In parts of England today, the influence of the Vikings can still be seen, particularly in place names in the East Midlands and the north.

Between 1016 and 1042 England was ruled by Danish kings but the Anglo-Saxons then regained control until 1066.

Normans

The Norman invasion of Britain is normally considered the last successful attempt in history by a foreign army to take control of the Kingdom of England by means of military occupation. From the Norman point of view, William the Conqueror was considered the legitimate heir to the realm (as explained in the Bayeux Tapestry), and the invasion was required to secure this against the usurpation of Harold Godwinson.

In the years following the invasion to 1204, Normandy and England kept their close connection. This was in part secured by granting aristocrats lands in both domains, giving an incentive on all levels to maintain the union. The influx of Norman military and ecclesiastical aristocracy changed the nature of the ruling class in England, leading to the creation of an Anglo-Norman population.

There was further immigration and emigration during the time of the Angevin Empire from much of the west coast of France. After the loss of much of the Angevin lands in 1202, the strong trade links between Gascony and England led to a flow of people between the lands.

Population Analysis

Y chromosome analysis

From Genetic analysis section, Sub-Roman Britain

Modern genetic evidence, based on analysis of the Y chromosomes of men currently living in Britain, the Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland, Friesland, Denmark, North Germany, Ireland, Norway and the Basque Country, is consistent with the presence of some indigenous component in all British regions. For the sake of this study samples from the Basque Country were considered indigenous (a putative paleolithic Y chromosome). These studies cannot significantly distinguish between Danish, Frisian and German (Schleswig-Holstein) Y chromosomes although the Frisians were slightly closer to the indigenous samples. Areas with the highest concentration of Germanic (Danish-Viking/Anglo-Saxon) Y chromosomes occurred in areas associated with the Danelaw and Danish-Viking settlement, especially York and Norfolk. In these areas, about 60% of Y chromosomes are of Germanic origin.

It should be noted that this indicates an exclusively male component. The extent of Danish/Anglo-Saxon contribution to the entire gene pool of these areas is also dependent on the migration of women. For example, if it is assumed that few or no Germanic women settled in these areas, then the Germanic contribution to the gene pool is halved to 30%, and in turn if greater numbers of women did settle, the contribution could be even higher than 60%.

Current estimates on the initial contribution of Anglo-Saxon migrants range from less than 10,000 to as many as 200,000, although some recent Y-chromosome studies posit a considerably large continental (Germanic) contribution to the current English gene pool (50-100%). A recent study by a team from the Department of Biology at UCL based on computer simulations indicate that an apartheid-like social structure in early Anglo-Saxon England provides a plausible explanation for a high-degree of continental male-line ancestry in England.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis

This indicates that a majority of maternal lines in the population go back to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. The lines tend to be similar in all parts of Britain, though with Norse input in the Northern and Western Isles of Scotland. The source of many of the other lines is thought to be the Iberian Peninsula, but there has been some input from the Germanic areas into the east coast of England.

Renaissance to 1922

Romani

See also: Romnichal

Mainly Sinti (as opposed to the Roma, who are more common in parts of Central and Eastern Europe), consisting of tribes originating in South Asia (the Indian subcontinent) around 800, began arriving in sizable numbers in Western Europe in the 16th century, including in the British Isles. Mostly speakers of a dialect of the Romani language (a language very similar to Sanskrit and other Indic languages) and initially mainly travellers largely working as Hawkers, Basket Weavers; also as Ostlers, Jockeys and many other occupations working with horses.

Although not normally included as British Asians, the Roma and Sinti (also known as "Gypsies") originated in parts of what are now North India and Pakistan. They began travelling westward around 1000, though they have mixed with West Asians and Europeans over the centuries.

Huguenots

The Huguenots, French Protestants facing a new wave of persecution, began arriving in England in numbers around 1670. King Charles II offered them sanctuary, and in all some 40–50,000 arrived. Many settled in the Spitalfields area of London, and, being former silk-weavers, brought new energy to this industry in the area and raised silk to an important fashion item in Britain. It has been estimated that as many as a quarter of London's population today have a Huguenot ancestor.

Asians

See also: British Asian and Lascar

People from South Asia, also known as the Indian subcontinent, have settled in Great Britain since the East India Company (EIC) recruited lascars to replace vacancies in their crews on East Indiamen whilst on voyages in India. Many were then refused passage back, and were marooned in London. There were also some ayahs, domestic servants and nannies of wealthy British families, who accompanied their employers back to "Blighty" when their stay in Asia came to an end.

The number of Indian seamen employed on British ships was so great that the British tried to restrict this by the Navigation Act of 1660, which restricted the employment of non-British sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships. Baptism records in East Greenwich suggest that young Indians from the Malabar Coast were being recruited as servants at the end of the seventeenth century, and records of the EIC also suggest that Indo-Portuguese cooks from Goa were retained by captains from voyage to voyage. In 1797, 13 were buried in the parish of St Nicholas at Deptford.

Since the 17th century, the East India Company brought over thousands of South Asian scholars, lascars and workers (who were mostly Bengali and/or Muslim) to Britain, most of whom settled down and took local white British wives, due to a lack of Asian women in Britain at the time. Due to the majority of early Asian immigrants being lascars, the earliest Asian communities were found in port towns. Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali immigrants to Britain was Sake Dean Mahomed, a captain of the British East India Company. In 1810, he founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom.

By the mid-19th century, there were at least 40,000 Indian seamen, diplomats, scholars, soldiers, officials, tourists, businessmen and students arriving to Britain, more than 25,000 of whom were lascar seamen (in 1855). By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were around 70,000 South Asians in Britain, 51,616 of whom were lascar seamen (when World War I began).

Blacks

See also: Arrival of black immigrants in London

During the 18th century, a substantial population of black people, thought to number about 15,000 by mid-century, were brought to Britain initially largely as the captain's share of the cargo of transatlantic slave ships. Many of these people became servants in aristocratic households and are frequently depicted in contemporary portraits of the family - often depicted in a similar manner to family pets. Many black people became part of the urban poor and were often depicted in the caricatures and cartoons of William Hogarth, but others attained highly respected positions in society, e.g. Ignatius Sancho and Francis Barber - a servant to Dr Samuel Johnson who became a beneficiary of his will. These ships stopped carrying blacks to Britain after it banned slavery in 1807.

Following the British defeat in the American War of Independence over 1,100 black troops who had fought on the losing side were transported to Britain by the summer of 1786, but they mostly ended up destitute on London's streets and were viewed as a social problem: a few years later, 400 of them were transported to Sierra Leone with their (often white) wives, but within two years all but 60 had died.

Germans

Over the nineteenth century a substantial population of German immigrants built up in Britain, numbering 28,644 in 1861. London held around half of this population, although other notable communities existed in Manchester, Bradford among others. The German immigrant community was the largest group until 1891, when it came second only to Russian Jews. There was a mixture of classes and religious groupings, and a flourishing culture built up, with the growth of middle and working class clubs. Waiters and clerks were two main occupations, and many who worked in these professions went on to become restaurant owners and businessmen, on a large scale. This community maintained its size until the First World War, where public anti-German feeling became very prominent and the Government enacted a policy of forced internment and repatriation. The community in 1911 had reached 53,324, but fell to just over 20,000 after the war.

Russian Jews

England has had small Jewish communities for many centuries, subject to occasional expulsions, but British Jews numbered fewer than 10,000 at the start of the 19th century. After 1881 Russian Jews suffered bitter persecutions, and British Jews led fund-raising to enable their Russian co-religionists to emigrate to the United States. However, out of some 2,000,000 who left Russia by 1914, around 120,000 settled permanently in Britain. One of the main concentrations was the same Spitalfields area where Huguenots had earlier congregated. Immigration was reduced by the 1905 Aliens Act and virtually curtailed by the 1914 Aliens Restriction Act.