Migration to the New Worlds, 1800-1924: A Perspective Using Records in The National Archives

Britain, in common with other European countries has always had a mobile population, but with the discovery of the Americas, and the opening up of trade routes to sub-Saharan Africa and the Orient, whole new vistas were created. Emigration to the New World was driven by the opportunities it offered: to seek wealth, and start over, to expand boundaries and to get rid of undesirables. The early colonists were merchants, pirates, buccaneers, and adventurers but it was not too long before large-scale free migration was encouraged to develop the land and build the economy. Since 1607 it is estimated that Great Britain and Ireland have sent well over ten million emigrants to the USA alone, along with four million to Canada and one and a half million to Australasia. In the six year period between 1845 and 1851, over one and a quarter million Irish emigrated to the USA alone as a result of the potato famine.

It is, however, important to realise that colonial populations were not static. For example, after the defeat of Britain in the American War of Independence in 1783, loyalists left for Canada, Nova Scotia, the Bahamas and England. Also, after the abolition of slavery, emigrants from the Indian sub-continent were encouraged to migrate to the West Indies to help with local labour problems, as indentured labour.

There are a number of sources in The National Archives that help us understand the motives behind emigration from the UK, especially during the period 1800-1924, known as the “century of immigration”.