History Department Brown Bag Colloquium: Laura Tabili

Safe Houses: Migrant Networks in Imperial Britain, 1928-1934

Scholars have shown how the British state tried and failed to prevent colonial subjects from settling in Britain by misusing the Aliens bureaucracy. Men evaded efforts to exclude them by signing on British merchant ships in the colonies and leaving those ships in Britain to seek better-paid work. Once ashore, illicit landing was facilitated by compatriot boarding housekeepers who enabled men who jumped ship to hide out until their ships departed, and then move around Britain seeking work. The evidence reveals a complex network stretching from British colonies across the globe to particular British ports and boardinghouses in them.