Immigrants and refugees at Westminster: the foreign ancestry of mid-17th century MPs

With refugee crises and immigration back in the news, Dr Vivienne Larminie, assistant editor of our Commons 1640-1660 section, considers how these issues impacted on the character of the House of Commons nearly 400 years ago… Business involving immigrants and refugees was not uncommon in mid-seventeenth century Parliaments. Petitions for naturalization, the trading rights of ‘stranger’ merchants, provision for destitute fugitives arriving in England and … Continue reading Immigrants and refugees at Westminster: the foreign ancestry of mid-17th century MPs

Whispers on a landscape – Palatine migration to England, Ireland and beyond

We are delighted to welcome a guest blog from Claire McCormick, a PhD student at the University of Limerick, working on the Irish Palatines in the eighteenth century and the fortunes of the migrants who quit Europe for Britain and the New World in the early years of the eighteenth century. In 1709 more than 13,500 people left their homelands in Southwest Germany, Switzerland and … Continue reading Whispers on a landscape – Palatine migration to England, Ireland and beyond

Powell’s Predecessors: The British Radical Right and Opposition to Commonwealth Immigration in Britain, 1952-1967

Ahead of Tuesday’s Virtual IHR Parliaments, Politics and People seminar, we hear from Dr Liam Liburd, at King’s College London. On 1 December 2020, between 5:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., Liam will be responding to your questions about his pre-circulated paper on the British Radical Right and opposition to Commonwealth immigration. Details on how to join the discussion are available here or by contacting seminar@histparl.ac.uk. On 20 April 1968, … Continue reading Powell’s Predecessors: The British Radical Right and Opposition to Commonwealth Immigration in Britain, 1952-1967

Becoming a citizen: naturalizations and denizations in the seventeenth century

In the context of discussion both of ‘the Windrush generation’ and the citizenship aspects of the Brexit negotiation, Dr Vivienne Larminie of the House of Commons 1640-1660 section and co-editor of the ‘James I to Restoration’ blog page, discusses the often difficult process of becoming an Englishman or Englishwoman in the seventeenth century. This blog is part of our new series considering immigration to England … Continue reading Becoming a citizen: naturalizations and denizations in the seventeenth century

Parliament and the 1965 Race Relations Act

Passing legislation with a small majority is an ongoing problem for our current government, but this not an unusual parliamentary position. In today’s guest blog, Dr Simon Peplow discusses the difficulties faced by Labour in passing the first Race Relations Act in 1964-5 with a small majority … When Labour returned to power in 1964, they did so with a manifesto pledge to legislate against … Continue reading Parliament and the 1965 Race Relations Act