Migrants to, from and within Britain

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A is Natal (in South Africa) and B is Fiji.

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Source A is useful because it describes important features of the transportation system. It refers to the assignment system, under which convicts were sent to work as servants for settlers, and says that their treatment depended on their master and that flogging was common. It mentions the harshest penal settlements, such as Norfolk Island, where convicts who reoffended in the colony were sent. This fits what I know. After the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in 1788, about 160,000 convicts were sent to Australia, most for theft, and those who reoffended could be sent to brutal places like Norfolk Island and Port Arthur. The source is also useful for showing why transportation ended: the committee argued that it did not deter crime and recommended ending it in New South Wales, which happened in 1840.

The provenance affects its usefulness. It is the report of a parliamentary committee that heard many witnesses, so it is based on evidence and shows serious official concern. However, Molesworth was a Radical who already opposed transportation and preferred free emigration, so the committee was likely to choose evidence that supported its view. It is also only a summary.

The source leaves out important parts of the story. It does not show that many convicts earned tickets of leave and built new lives; some, like Mary Reibey, became wealthy. It does not explain why Britain began transportation, with crowded prisons and hulks after the American colonies were lost in 1783. It also says nothing about the devastating effects on Aboriginal peoples, who lost their land and suffered from violence and disease. Overall, Source A is very useful for the harsh features of transportation and the arguments that led to its end in New South Wales, but it is one-sided and must be balanced with other evidence.

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The Aliens Act of 1905 was significant because it was the first modern law to control immigration into Britain. It was passed after about 150,000 Jews fleeing pogroms in the Russian Empire had settled in Britain, many of them in the East End of London. Campaigners such as the British Brothers' League claimed that the immigrants caused overcrowding, high rents and low wages, and a Royal Commission reported in 1903. Balfour's government responded with the Aliens Act.

The Act allowed immigration officers at ports to inspect passengers on ships carrying more than 20 poorer 'alien' passengers, and to refuse entry to 'undesirables': people who could not support themselves, the sick or insane, and those with criminal records. Refugees fleeing religious or political persecution were exempted.

In the short term, its effect was limited. Most immigrants were still allowed in, wealthier passengers were not checked, and the Liberal government that took power in 1906 enforced the Act loosely, so only small numbers were refused. However, it was significant because it targeted poor immigrants and showed that anti-immigrant campaigns could influence the law.

In the long term, the Act was very significant because it established the principle that the government decides who may enter and live in Britain. Its powers were greatly extended by the Aliens Restriction Acts of 1914 and 1919, which shaped how Britain responded to Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The same principle was later applied to Commonwealth citizens in the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968. The debates of 1905 about overcrowding, jobs and the right of asylum have continued in arguments about immigration ever since.

Model answer

Government has played an important and growing part in shaping migration to and from Britain, and since the early 20th century it has largely decided who can come. However, for most of the period it was not the main factor. Government rarely made people want to move; the desire for work and land, and the need to escape persecution and war, usually did that.

In the medieval and early modern periods, rulers sometimes shaped migration directly. Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290, and Cromwell allowed them to return in 1656. Edward III invited Flemish weavers in the 1330s, and Elizabeth I allowed Protestant refugees from the Netherlands to settle in Norwich in the 1560s. James I's government organised the Plantation of Ulster from 1609, settling English and Scottish Protestants in Ireland. Government also forced people to move: about 160,000 convicts were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868.

In the 20th century, government became much more important. The Aliens Act of 1905 was the first modern law to control immigration, and controls were extended in 1914 and 1919. After the Second World War, the British Nationality Act of 1948 confirmed the right of people in the colonies to come to Britain, and government bodies such as the NHS and London Transport recruited abroad. Then the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968 and the Immigration Act of 1971 restricted Commonwealth immigration. In 1972 the government accepted the Asians expelled from Uganda, and from 2004 EU free movement allowed many Europeans to come, until Britain left the EU in 2020.

However, other factors usually caused migration. The economy was the most important: Irish migrants came to escape the Famine and find work in the 1840s, millions emigrated to the USA and the dominions in search of land and work, and the Industrial Revolution drew people from the countryside to the towns without any government plan. Religious persecution caused major migrations, such as the Huguenots after 1685 and Jews fleeing the Russian Empire after 1881. War brought refugees, such as about 250,000 Belgians in 1914. Individuals also mattered: Louis XIV's persecution drove the Huguenots out of France, and Idi Amin's decision forced the Ugandan Asians to leave. Technology made movement easier, as steamships and later air travel made long journeys cheaper.

Overall, government has not been the main factor in causing migration, but it has been increasingly important in shaping it. Before 1900 it more often allowed or encouraged migration, while economic need and persecution made people move. Since 1905, however, government laws have decided how many people can come and from where, so in the modern period government has become the main factor shaping migration to Britain.