Hello and welcome to this lesson on Post-war migration to Britain.

This lesson's part of a broader inquiry where we'll be looking at how far migrants were welcomed in modern Britain.

Now for this lesson, we're just going to be focusing on the reasons for migration to post-war Britain and the experiences of three main migrant groups.

Now, before we do that, I just need to make sure that you've got a paper and a pen.

If you don't have one, absolutely not to worry, just pause the video now, go and get everything you need and then come back and press play when you're ready to go.

Brilliant.

Now you've got everything you need to get started.

Let's have a look at our lesson outcome.

And by the end of this lesson, I'm hoping that you'll be able to say that you can explain how the conditions in post-War Britain led to an increase in migration from the Caribbean and Europe.

And in order to do that, we're going to need some keywords.

And for today, we've just got one and that's Commonwealth.

And the Commonwealth is an international community made up of Britain and its former colonies.

Now we've got a lesson outcome and our key word for today, we can get started and we are going to be starting off by looking at the arrival of Empire Windrush.

Now, before we get there, we need to look at the condition of Britain after the Second World War.

And as we can see from this photo here, Britain found itself in a terrible state after the Second World War.

Although Britain had won the war, large parts of Britain cities had been destroyed and 70,000 civilians and 384,000 soldiers had died.

Consequently, Britain needed 1.

3 million more workers to be able to achieve the rebuilding goals.

This prompted the government to encourage immigration from colonies throughout the British Empire alongside former colonies, which had now become known as the Commonwealth.

Now, to address this, the government implemented policies to attract Commonwealth and colonial workers.

For instance, the British Nationality Act of 1948, really important.

That's one you want to remember.

The British Nationality Act of 1948, and it's on the slide here as well.

What this act did was that it recognised the status of people from the Commonwealth countries as British subjects, and this allowed them to settle and work in the UK, thus making migration easier.

So remember, new laws were introduced to encourage migration to help rebuild Britain 'cause they needed 1.

3 million more workers than they already had.

And it was a 1948 Nationality Act that recognised people from the Commonwealth countries as British subjects.

So it was now going to be much easier to migrate to Britain if you were from a Commonwealth country.

And since Britain had built its empire on the ideas of the motherland, and so many people in the colonies believed that Britain was a place of better paid work and better living conditions.

Many took the opportunity to resettle to Britain.

It was very, very appealing because of ideas of Britain as the motherland, where remember, they believed they'd run better paid work and better living conditions.

And this was particularly true of colonial soldiers from the Caribbean.

While some of the Caribbean troops who fought for Britain and World War II had remained in Britain, many returned home hoping to find some greater forms of independence in different ways, or at least better treatment from the colonial governors who awaited them.

However, the hoped for better living conditions and working conditions were in fact far from reality.

A hurricane had hit Jamaica in 1944, and caused a significant amount of damage to crops and land.

As a result, many Caribbean people, including ex-soldiers, began looking for economic opportunities elsewhere.

Before we go on to see how that played out, couple of questions for you.

So first, Jun is here telling us that Britain was in need of 1.

3 million workers after the war.

He's clearly been listening, but I need you to explain why he's correct.

So pause the video, get a couple of answers down for me, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

So hopefully you mention that large parts of Britain cities had been destroyed, that 70,000 civilians and 384,000 soldiers had died, and that this meant that Britain lacked the work as needed to rebuild the country and needed more.

Secondly, before we go on to look at how events played out, I'd like you to tell me which two of the following statements explains why post-War Britain was an attractive destination for Caribbean migrants.

Was it A, the 1948 Nationality Act recognised the status of people from Commonwealth countries as British subjects? B, during the war, Caribbean troops had promised work and housing in Britain? C, a hurricane had hit Britain and left the country in dire need of workers, or D, a hurricane had hit Jamaica and left crops and lands damaged? Pause the video, make a decision and come back and press play when you've got an answer for me.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said A and D, for the Nationality Act recognise the status of people from Commonwealth countries of British subjects, but also the hurricane had hit Jamaica and left crops and land damage.

Now in this context, it seemed an opportunity would arrive in 1948 when the Jamaican newspaper advertised tickets for a ship called HMT Empire Windrush, which was headed to England.

The advertisement suggested that those on board could find well-paid work as well as accommodation upon arriving in Britain.

Subsequently, many Jamaicans rushed to find the money for a ticket thinking that it would lead to a better life.

And we can see a photo of the HMT Empire Windrush here.

The ship left in Jamaica on the 24th of May, 1948, and we can see its journey on the slide here.

The ship then arrived at Tilbury, Essex on the 22nd of June in 1948.

The 492 Jamaican passengers were expecting to find work and housing in the motherland.

These Jamaican migrants would become part of what is known as the Windrush generation.

Thousands of Caribbean migrants who settled in post-war Britain.

Today, there are around 1 million people of Caribbean descent living in the country.

Now, before we go on to look at what their experiences were like on landing in the motherland, I'd just like you to pause because I've got a quick question.

"True or false? Caribbean migrants rushed to get a ticket for the Empire Windrush when they were advertised in May, 1948." Pause the video, make a decision, and come back and press play, and you can tell me whether it's true or false.

Brilliant.

We know that this statement is true, but I need you to have a think about why.

So again, take a minute or two to jot down a quick explanation as to why this statement is true.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said something like this.

"Ideas of Britain as the motherland and the advertisement for jobs gave many Caribbean migrants hope that better and living working conditions awaited them in Britain." Really, really well done.

So although they had expected to find well-paid jobs in Britain, Caribbean migrants had great difficulty in finding this and often had to settle for low paying jobs despite many being skilled experienced workers.

Some Caribbean migrants did become nurses in the newly formed National Health Service, or took on various roles in the transport services.

For example, Daphne Steele, who was a Guyanese nurse who came to Britain in 1951 as part of the British government's NHS recruitment campaign and later became the NHS' first Black matron in 1964.

Similarly, the reality of good quality accommodation was also very different to what was promised as many landlords refused to rent to Black people.

And so, Caribbean migrants were forced into poor quality housing.

The warm welcome they expected from the motherland was another area of disappointment.

In fact, the experiences of Caribbean migrants was one of constant hostility and racism, a reflection of the attitudes of the British government who had in fact intended for the 1948 Nationality Act to attract large groups of migrants from White colonies.

That said, experiences of migrants in Britain in the post-war period was sometimes not much better.

Now, before we put what we've learned into practise, I'd love you to have a look at Izzy's statement.

She said that, "On arriving in Britain, Caribbean migrants found their new life was even better than expected." We know that's not true.

So what I'd like you to do for me is help Izzy out, and explain to her why her statement is incorrect.

So jot down a couple of quick ideas for me, and then come back and press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

Hopefully your answer included some of the following.

"That they faced great difficulty finding well-paid work and often had to settle for low paying jobs despite many being skilled, experienced workers, or that they struggled to find good quality accommodation as many landlords were unwilling to rent to Black people, or that they face constant hostility and racism from local communities." Any of those would explain why her statement is incorrect.

So really well done.

Now I'd like you to put what we've learned here into practise.

And in order to do that, I'd like you to add some detail to each of these statements.

So for example, the first one that says, "Britain was in dire need of workers after the war," you might tell me why or how many workers they needed after the war as the detail to add to that statement.

So pause the video now, give yourself five to 10 minutes to complete the task and come back when you're done.

Brilliant.

Now let's have a look at what your completed table could have looked like.

So like I said, the detail for the first one you might have added that "Large parts of cities had been destroyed and thousands killed, and that Britain needed 1.

3 million workers to rebuild." For the second statement, "Caribbean migrants expected to find better work and housing in Britain." You might have added that "It was the idea of the motherland that encouraged migrants to believe that they would find better work and housing in Britain." "In May, 1948, Empire Windrush set sail in Jamaica." You might have added that, "Jamaican migrants bought tickets hoping to find a better life in Britain." And then fourth, "For many Caribbean migrants, their reality was far from their expectations." You might have added that, "They struggled to find work and housing and face constant racism and hostility." So in the second part of the lesson, we're going to be looking at post-war migration from Ireland.

Now, Irish people made up the majority of migrants from Europe to Britain in the post-war period.

They were a large part of the workforce recruited to rebuild Britain.

Although Ireland itself had remained neutral in World War II, many Irish people had contributed to the war effort in Britain, and some of them had stayed after the war ended.

As the demand for workers in post-war Britain became clear, many more migrated.

In the first six years after World War II, over 70,000 Irish people migrated to Britain, and most of them were migrating in search of work.

And whereas the 1948 Nationality Act had encouraged the migration of Caribbean workers, the 1946 Ministry of Labour Scheme encouraged Irish workers as it recruited them to work in British coal mines.

The scheme was set up to solve some of the post-war labour shortages by encouraging the migration of White European workers over Black and Asian workers from the Commonwealth.

To clear up any uncertainty about the government's preference from migrants, The Royal Commission on Population in 1948 explicitly discouraged the migration of Black and Asian people in favour of White European migrants.

Now, before we go on to look at how far Irish migrants were favoured by the law and how far this was reflected in their experiences, I've just got a couple of questions.

First, how many Irish migrants settled in Britain from 1946 to 51? Was it A, over 100,000? B, over 70,000, or C around 50,000? Pause the video now make a decision and then come back and press play when you're done for me please.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said 70,000.

Second, I'd love you to have a discussion.

Now, if you're doing this lesson by yourself, just have a go at articulating response out loud.

But if you're doing this lesson in a classroom or with someone else, have a go at having a paired discussion.

So the question for our discussion is, "What does the 1946 Ministry of Labour Scheme reveal about government attitudes towards migrants in post-war Britain?" So pause the video now and give yourself enough time to articulate a response out loud or for both of you to contribute.

Brilliant.

Hopefully in your discussions, you mentioned the British government wanted to encourage economic migrants to solve labour shortages, but also that the government wanted to recruit White European workers to encourage the migration of White Europeans over Black and Asian migrants through the scheme.

Now looking at the laws that were introduced to encourage Irish migrants to come and work under the Ministry of Labour Scheme, you might assume that they then, had entirely positive experiences.

Now you would be right.

They were clearly favoured by immigration laws and employment schemes, but they still also faced great hostility from local communities.

For example, they experienced similar discrimination from landlords as Caribbean migrants with signs that read "No Blacks, No Irish" hung in the windows of available accommodation.

So the situation with Irish migrants was clearly more complicated.

On the one hand, they were favoured by laws and employment schemes, but on the other hand, that did not translate to entirely positive experiences.

They still faced significant discrimination from local British communities.

So this should be fairly straightforward.

"Irish wish migrants had entirely positive experiences.

True or false?" Brilliant.

We know that that is false, but the brain work here is gonna go to explaining why.

So very quickly in a nice sentence for me, why is this statement false? Hopefully you said that, "While they were favoured by immigration laws and employment schemes, they face great hostility from local communities, especially landlords." Really well done for getting that there.

So now I'd like you to put what you've learned about post-war Irish migrants into practise.

So Alex has said, "Irish migration to Britain was not encouraged.

This is shown by the negative experiences and discrimination Irish migrants faced particularly from British landlords." Now, I'd like you to explain how far you agree with his description of Irish migration to post-war Britain.

He's clearly got some things mixed up, but you might have been able to see that there are elements of truth to what he's saying.

And so I'd like you to explain how far you agree and help him unmuddle some of these clear misconceptions that he's showing here.

Pause the video and give yourself about five to 10 minutes to do so.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your answer looks something like this.

"I largely disagree with Alex.

This is because he failed to acknowledge the ways in which Irish migration was favoured by British government immigration laws and employment schemes.

The Ministry of Labour Scheme was introduced in 1942 to solve some of the World War II labour shortages, and focused on encouraging the migration of White Europeans.

Subsequently, Irish migrants were actively recruited to work in British coal mines.

The government's preference for White European workers was even reinforced in 1949.

That year, the Royal Commission on Population explicitly discouraged Black and Asian migrants, further showing a preference for Irish migrants." However, Alex was not wrong to acknowledge the hostility that Irish migrants faced in post-war Britain.

Their negative experiences were the result of hostility from local communities, particularly landlords who were unwilling to rent to Irish migrants in the same way that they discriminated against renting to Black people.

So while the government did encourage Irish migration, the experiences of many Irish migrants in Britain remain negative.

Therefore, Alex correctly identifies Irish migrants' experiences, but not the reason for their migration to post-war Britain.

So really well done so far.

For the last part of the lesson, we are going to look at post-war migration from Poland.

Now we can see Poland circled here on a map showing Nazi occupied Europe in 1943.

And the reason we've used this map will become evident in a moment.

So many Polish people had come to Britain during World War II and made enormous contributions to the war effort, building the fourth largest armed forces against Germany.

As a result of their contributions, the British government supported Polish migrants with new laws and organisations post-war, especially as it had become clear that many did not wish to return home due to the Nazi destruction and the continued presence of Soviet troops.

The German invasion opponent in 1939 had led 80% of the capital, Warsaw, being destroyed and 20% of the population being killed.

This meant challenging economic conditions and fewer opportunities.

So that's why this map is here on the slide.

We can see this right next to what would have been Nazi Germany and Poland very quickly became part of Nazi occupied Europe with its capital, Warsaw, largely destroyed.

In addition to the Soviet forces persecuted anyone fighting for independence from the USSR, and as many Polish people in Britain opposed communism, they feared persecution if they chose to return.

So Polish people who had supported Britain and her allies were therefore recruited to work in Britain through the Polish resettlement called PRC, which was set up in 1946.

Additionally, the British government agreed that Polish veterans would be found work by the Ministry of Labour Scheme.

However, it was not just the support of the Ministry of Labour that would encourage 150,000 Polish soldiers and their families to settle in Britain.

In 1946, the Polish Resettlement Act was passed, which supported Polish migrants with employment, health services, pensions, and access to education upon settling in Britain.

Polish migrants also received funding from the Committee for the Education of the Poles.

This committee was set up in 1947 to help prepare Polish migrants for work and life in Britain and to support them in maintaining and protecting Polish culture and tradition.

Although some Polish migrants still faced hostility from British residents, these government efforts enabled many polish people to settle into British society, and make significant contributions to the post-war economy.

Now, before we move on to our final practise task of today, I'd like you to tell me which two reasons best explain why many Poles did not return to Poland after the end of World War II.

Was it A, many opposed the communist government in Poland and feared persecution if they returned? B, Poland no longer existed as a country as it had been divided between Germany and the USSR, or C, the huge destruction in Poland caused by the war meant there were fewer opportunities.

Pause the video now, make a decision, and then come back and press play.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said A and C.

Now I'd like to tell me which one of the following was not an organisation introduced to support Polish refugees.

A, Polish Resettlement Corps of 1946? B, the Polish Resettlement Act of 1947? C, the Ministry of Labour Scheme introduced in 1946, or D, the Committee for the Education of the Poles in 1947.

Pause the video and make a decision and then come back and press play when you have an answer for me.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you said C, the Ministry of Labour Scheme, although they did agree to support Polish veterans, it was not introduced for the sole purpose of supporting Polish refugees.

Now for our final task today, I'd like you to explain why Polish migrants had a largely positive experience in post-war Britain.

Include the following in your response.

Polish Resettlement Corps, health services, pensions, and access to education, 150,000 polish migrants, and Polish culture and tradition.

Pause the video now.

Give yourself about 10 minutes to write a response and then press play when you're done.

Brilliant.

So hopefully your answer looks a little like this.

"Many Poles were unable to return home after World War II due to fear of communist persecution and lack of opportunities.

In recognition of their wartime contribution, the Polish Resettlement Corps called PRC was set up in 1946, and the British government agreed that Polish veterans would be found work by the Ministry of Labour Scheme.

In addition, the 1947 Polish Resettlement Act was introduced to support 150,000 polish workers and their families to settle in Britain.

It provided them with health services, pensions, and education.

Despite some hostility, Polish migrants experiences were also largely positive as they were helped by the Committee for the Education of the Poles to help prepare them for life in Britain and to protect Polish tradition and culture." Really, really well done.

If there's anything in there that you didn't get to add, just pause the video and you can add it now.

Absolutely brilliant.

So looking at a summary of what we've covered today, we know that "Britain faced a huge labour shortage after World War II.

The country needed 1.

3 million workers to rebuild.

The 1948 Nationality Act was introduced to encourage migration by giving Commonwealth systems the same rights to work and settle in Britain as British citizens.

We also know that new laws and schemes introduced post-war.

We also learned that new laws and schemes introduced post-war, also encouraged migration from European countries, particularly Ireland and Poland, and that despite the British government's actions to encourage migration to support post-war rebuilding, those who came to Britain often faced hostility from local communities." So really, really well done.

We have covered so much today.

You've done a brilliant job.

You should be very proud of the work you've done.