The politics of immigration, 1881-1905

Migration has been a continuous feature of Jewish history. In modern times, it reappeared after the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648-9 when numbers of Jews fled westwards from Poland and Russia. Britain’s place in Jewish migration is an exceptional and generally honourable one. Its role is admittedly much less import- ant than that of the United States of America, although it is worth noting that in 1914 more Eastern European immigrants were living in London than in any other city except New York and Chicago.1 Britain’s prime importance in this connection was as a land of transmigration, since many Jews landed at an English port on the eastern coastline only to re-embark on a transatlantic ship on the other side of the country. There had been no immigration control in Britain since 1836, when restrictions imposed in 1793 were abolished. A Jewish population which in 18 58 had numbered 36,000, rose

Written by

Cecil Bloom

Published in

Volume 33

1992

Other articles within the volume

• The establishment of the Reform Beth Din in 1948 – a barometer of religious trends in Anglo-Jewry
• References to the Holocaust in English Law Reports
• The foundation of the Jewish Historical Society of England, 1893
• The historiography of Anglo-Jewry, 1892-1992
• The politics of immigration, 1881-1905
• Popular politics’ and the Jewish question in the Russian Empire, 1881-2
• No ordinary tradesmen: the Green family in 19th-century Whitechapel
• The Jewish friendly societies of London, 1793-1993
• An Ipswich worthy portrayed by John Constable
• The Jews of Essex before 1900
• A collection of Anglo-Jewish ephemera
• The Jewish presence in the London theatre, 1660-1800
• The role of Jews in the British colonies of the Western Mediterranean
• The London Jewry: William I to John
• In Memoriam: A Memorial Tribute
• In Memoriam: Elie Kedourie (1926-1992)
• Preface