Who migrated to Britain in the age of empire and industry, and what was their experience c.1700 to 1900?
Migration in the age of empire and industry, including Irish, Jewish and Black migrants and people from across the Empire, the role of industrialisation and empire, their contribution to towns and industry, and the experience of poverty and prejudice.
A focused answer to the industrial and imperial section of OCR's Migrants to Britain thematic study, covering Irish, Jewish, Black and imperial migrants, the role of industrialisation and empire, their contribution to industry and towns, and the experience of poverty and prejudice c.1700 to 1900.
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What this dot point is asking
This is the third period of the Migrants to Britain thematic study, the age of empire and industry. You need to explain who came (the Irish, Eastern European Jews, Black and Asian people, and others from across the Empire), how industrialisation and empire drove migration, their contribution to industry and towns, and their experience of poverty and prejudice. The focus remains change and continuity: how industrial-era migration differed in scale and pattern from before.
Who came, and why
The role of industrialisation and empire
Their contribution
Poverty and prejudice
Try this
Q1. What event in the 1840s drove a huge surge of Irish migration to Britain? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. The Great Famine (the Irish Potato Famine).
Q2. Explain why Jewish refugees came to Britain from the 1880s. [Short explanation]
- Cue. They fled violent persecution (pogroms) in the Russian Empire, seeking safety, and many settled in cities such as London's East End, where they entered trades like tailoring.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR SHP 20194 marksDescribe two features of Irish migration to Britain in the nineteenth century.Show worked answer →
The thematic study opener (4 marks, two features, 2 marks each). Reward two distinct, developed features.
Feature one. Many Irish migrants came fleeing poverty and famine, above all the Great Famine of the 1840s, when starvation drove hundreds of thousands to British cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.
Feature two. They often took hard, low-paid manual work (building railways and canals as "navvies", and labouring in factories and docks), and faced poverty, overcrowding and anti-Irish and anti-Catholic prejudice.
Top marks. Two separate features, each with a precise supporting detail.
OCR SHP 20218 marksExplain why industrialisation and empire increased migration to Britain between 1700 and 1900.Show worked answer →
The thematic study "Explain why" question (8 marks). Reward two or three developed, supported reasons.
Reason one. Industrial jobs: the growth of factories, mines, docks and railways created huge demand for labour, drawing migrants, especially the Irish, into Britain's booming industrial cities.
Reason two. Empire and trade: Britain's growing empire and global trade brought people from across the world, including Black and Asian sailors (lascars), servants and students, to British ports and cities.
Reason three. Refuge: persecution abroad, especially the pogroms against Jews in the Russian Empire from the 1880s, drove large numbers of Jewish refugees to Britain.
Top band. Link each reason to increased migration and judge which was most important.
Related dot points
- Early modern migrants including Huguenot refugees, the Dutch, the readmission of the Jews, and the beginnings of a Black presence, the reasons they came, their economic and cultural contribution, and the experience of refuge and prejudice.
A focused answer to the early modern section of OCR's Migrants to Britain thematic study, covering Huguenot and Dutch migrants, the readmission of the Jews, the early Black presence, the reasons for migration, the economic and cultural contribution, and the experience of refuge and prejudice.
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A focused answer to the medieval section of OCR's Migrants to Britain thematic study, covering Jewish, Flemish, Italian and Hanseatic migrants, the reasons they came, their economic contribution, the experience of welcome and hostility, and the expulsion of the Jews in 1290.
- Modern migration including post-war Commonwealth migration and the Windrush generation, refugees, European and other migrants, the role of war, empire and labour shortages, the experience of integration and discrimination, and changing immigration laws.
A focused answer to the modern section of OCR's Migrants to Britain thematic study, covering post-war Commonwealth migration and the Windrush generation, refugees, European and other migrants, the role of war, empire and labour shortages, the experience of integration and discrimination, and changing immigration laws.
- The economic, cultural and social impact of migration across the whole period, the factors that shaped migrants' experience, change and continuity in attitudes to migration, and how to weigh interpretations of migration's significance.
A focused case study within OCR's Migrants to Britain thematic study, examining the economic, cultural and social impact of migration across the whole period, the factors shaping migrants' experience, change and continuity in attitudes, and how to weigh interpretations of migration's significance.