The migration of the Jews

The experiences of the Huguenots and the Jews were quite different. The Jews had a long historical relationship with Britain, which stretched back as least as far as the Domesday Book (Hinde, 2003; JHSE, 2010; Vallely, 2006). However, over the centuries their migration to and settlement in Britain was not always welcomed and was often met with resentment, animosity, violence and expulsion. Their changing fortunes are exemplified by their forced removal from England by Edward I and his Edict of Expulsion

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in 1290, yet their cautious welcome back in the mid seventeenth century by Oliver Cromwell.

Since the eighteen century the Jewish community in Britain had progressively increased, sometimes at a cautious pace, at other times as an unyielding flow. In the mid-eighteenth century there were about 8,000 Jews residing in England (Hinde, 2003). During the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, the rate of Jewish immigration increased. Many arrived from Germany, Poland and Russia, mainly as refugees fleeing persecution, famine, warfare and revolution (Miles, 2006; Walvin, 1984). In the early nineteenth century it is estimated that there were about 18,000 Jews living in London (Miles, 2006). According to Graham, Schmool and Waterman (2007), the number had increased to around 60,000 by 1881. The numbers arriving grew rapidly, according to Miles, by some 150,000 Jews fleeing Russia following the assassination of Alexander II in 1881 (Miles, 2006). Between 1880 and 1914, Feldman (1994) more modestly estimated that over 120,000 Jews came to Britain, half settling in the East End of London. A higher estimate of the Jewish population is offered by Cohen (2006) who considered there were around 70,000 Jews in Britain in 1880, and that by 1914 this had increased by 200,000 to a total of 270,000.

Walvin (1984) provided further data using different time periods. He indicated that 59,000 Jews arrived between 1891 and 1901, 67,000 during the next five years, but just 30,000 for the subsequent eleven years. He attributed the decline after 1906 to the effect of The Alien Act of 1905. He calculated that the British Jewish community had grown to 250,000 by 1919.

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The population estimates by Walvin (1984),Graham et al. (2007), Hinde (2003), and Miles (2006) vary. However, when considered together these estimates do reveal a clear demographic profile of the Jewish community in Britain spanning the last 250 years.

The 2001 Census provides the most recent national data on the numbers and distribution of Jews in Britain. The number of Jews identified by religion, ethnicity and upbringing in the census totalled 270,499. The census calculated that 267,340 people stated that they were Jewish by religion. The census figures were considered by Graham and Waterman (2005) in ‘Underenumeration of the Jewish Population in the UK 2001 Census’ to be an ‘undercount’ within the region of 10 to 15 per cent.

These figures are very close to those of the early twentieth century as indicated by Cohen (2006) and Walvin (1984) and could be interpreted to show that the number of Jews in Britain remained constant for nearly one hundred years. However, the Jewish community in Britain is claimed to have peaked in the mid twentieth century when some estimates were as high as 450,000, although other sources considered these numbers to be too high (Graham, Schmool and Waterman, 2007).

Throughout the whole period of Jewish settlement in Britain, the vast majority of Jews lived in specific areas of London, with smaller, but significant, settlements in cities across the country, particularly in Manchester and Liverpool (Feldman, 1994; Julios, 2008; Miles, 2006; Waterman and Kosmin, 1986).

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The 2001 Census confirmed the historical demographic settlement patterns of the Jewish community in Britain. It showed that nearly a quarter of British Jews lived in the two London Boroughs of Barnet and Redbridge. In 2001, over 65 per cent of British Jews lived in Greater London. Two-thirds of the Jewish population of Greater Manchester lived in ten neighbouring wards (Graham, Schmool, and Waterman, 2007; ONS, 2003a,b,c, / 2004a,b). The concentration pattern within specific areas of cities has had important implications for the provision of facilities for religion and education.

The arrival of large numbers of Jews in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century provoked considerable disquiet amongst the general populace and resulted in the introduction of the Alien Act of 1905. This Act is important as it was the first of a long line of Parliamentary acts designed to control immigration flows into Britain and represented a significant step in the management and control of immigration (Julios, 2008; Walvin, 1984). Tranter (1996) concluded that:

...no attempt was made to curb immigration until the Aliens Act of 1905, an essentially racist measure designed to reduce the influx of poor Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe in response to native working-class resentment over rising unemployment and housing shortages in the East End of London where most of these immigrants had settled (p.32).

Moreover, Julios stated in ‘Contemporary British Identity’ (2008) that “...the Alien Act 1905 was passed to prevent mainly Jewish and gypsy refugees from seeking asylum in Britain...” and he concluded “The Act represented a first attempt by the British state to manage alien intake by labelling different groups of immigrants according to their perceived desirability; a trend that has lasted to this day” (p. 82).

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The comment by Julios (2008) that the trend set in place by the Alien Act 1905 has lasted until today is only partially correct. When Britain became part of the European Union, it relinquished its right to manage and control its own borders in respect of EU citizens. (Galgoczi, Leschke and Watt, 2009; Handoll, 1995). Therefore, state management of migration flows are restricted to non-European Union citizens.