On a flying visit to England, I had a bit of time to spare so I went to the Bedford library and browsed ....
I found this book:
Immigration and Aliens from The National Archives (TNA)
It gives masses of details about the different Immigration and Alien legislature, and information about which records were and are available for different time periods.
One
VERY interesting fact: before 1905 there were almost NO controls for entering and staying in the UK.
The first Aliens Act was passed in 1905, but it wasn't till 1914 that alien registration became mandatory !
The book gives lots of sources both within the TNA (Record groups, etc) and others,
as well as internet links e.g.
www.movinghere.org.uk with details of what will be found on these sites.
This book covers:
- Naturalisation and Denization,
- Internees
- Refugees (Huguenots, French emigrés, Rformation, 19th Cent. Refugees, Polish, Spanish and Russian and Polish Jews)
- Aliens and Registration
- Spies
- Deportees
- POWs
- Passenger lists (immigrants and emigrants)
There is an appendix listing all County Records Offices, complete with a summary, which records each CRO (still) has.
Whether you buy it, or lend it out from your local library, this book is a must for anybody with Immigrant ancestors !
Immigration and Aliens
Roger Kershaw and Mark Pearsall
Pub.: The National Archives GBP 12.99
UK Library number: 929.3 Ker