Aliens Act 1905

Aliens Act, 1905

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to amend the Law with regard to Aliens.
Citation	5 Edw. 7 c. 13
Dates
Royal assent	11 August 1905
Other legislation
Repealed by	Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919
Status: Repealed

The Aliens Act 1905 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The Act for the first time introduced immigration controls and registration, and gave the Home Secretary overall responsibility for immigration and nationality matters.

While the Act was ostensibly designed to prevent paupers or criminals from entering the country and set up a mechanism to deport those who slipped through, one of its main objectives was to control Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe saw a significant increase after 1880 which served as some basis for the creation of the Aliens Act 1905. Although it remained in force, the 1905 Act was effectively subsumed by the Aliens Restriction Act 1914 that introduced far more restrictive provisions. It was eventually repealed by the Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919.

Demands for restriction

Anti-immigration poster, from 1902

In the 19th century, Tsarist Russia was home to about five million Jews, at the time, the "largest Jewish community in the world". Subjected to religious persecution, they were obliged to live in the Pale of Settlement, on the Polish-Russian borders, in conditions of great poverty. About half left, mostly for the United States, but many - about 150,000 - arrived in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, mostly in England. This reached its peak in the late 1890s, with "tens of thousands of Jews ... mostly poor, semi-skilled and unskilled" settling in the East End of London.

By the turn of the century, a popular and media backlash had begun. The British Brothers League was formed, with the support of prominent politicians, organising marches and petitions. At rallies, its speakers said that Britain should not become "the dumping ground for the scum of Europe". In 1905, an editorial in the Manchester Evening Chronicle wrote "that the dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil and rates simultaneously, shall be forbidden to land". Anti-semitism broke out into violence in South Wales in 1902 and 1903 where Jews were assaulted.

Aside from anti-semitic sentiments, the act was also driven by the economic and social unrest in the East End of London where most immigrants settled. Work was difficult to come by and families required all members to contribute. The undercutting of British labour was a central driving force to the passing of the Aliens Act 1905.

Further reading

• Bernard Gainer, The Alien Invasion: The Origins of the Aliens Act of 1905, (London, Heinemann Educational books LTD, 1972)
• Feldman, David. "Was the Nineteenth Century a Golden Age for Immigrants?" in Andreas Fahrmeir et al., eds. Migration Control in the North Atlantic World: The Evolution of State Practices in Europe and the United States from the French Revolution to the Inter-War Period (2003), pp 167–77 shows the actual impact of the 1905 law was small and largely bureaucratic.
• Garrard, John A. The English and Immigration, 1880-1910 (1971)
• Gartner, Lloyd A. The Jewish Immigrant in England 1870-1914, London (1960): Simon Publications.
• Pellew, Jill. "The Home Office and the Aliens Act, 1905," The Historical Journal, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), pp. 369–385 in JSTOR

External links

• Channel 4 Immigration by David Rosenberg
• Moving Here: British Immigration law repository
• UK Immigration Service