Departures - exploring 400 years of emigration from Britain

• History

DEPARTURES

exploring 400 years
of emigration from Britain

British emigration has been one of the largest movements of people in modern history. Tens of millions of people have left the British Isles over the past 400 years. Today, some 75 million people across the world self-identify as having British ancestry, greater than the population of the UK itself.

But while immigration dominates debates, Britain’s emigration story is often overlooked. Why is this? Who are the many millions who have departed these shores and why did they go? Can exploring their motivations help us better understand the motivations of people who arrive? What impact has this mass movement had on the world – and on Britain?

You already know....

You are going to learn...

Do!

Retrospect

Watch

Click on the hotspot

Enlarge image

Navigating through the lesson

AFTER THIS LESSON YOU WILL KNOW

○ reasons why people choose to migrate,

○ what you have to consider before moving abroad

Learning aims

What do you think about when you hear the word
emigration ?

Mindmap

Question: What do you think

about when you read 'transportation'?

Do: Let each students write down at least three words.

How do you prepare for a journey?

Moving to another country isn't nothing. You have to leave your friends en family behind. You possibly can't take all your belongings with you... How would you prepare to go on such a journey?

Questions to help the students think:

• What would you take with you? 
• What would you need to survive/be happy in another country?

Extra information: Nowadays you can find lots of information about  where you are going. In the past the opposite was the case: people were often undertaking a voyage into the complete unknown.

© Bridgeman Images

Which poster would motivate you most to move to another country? Click on the posters to enlarge them.

To prepare to move to another country. You would first have to know where you would want to go. These posters and advertisements used to encourage people to emigrate from the United Kingdom.

Do: Look at these posters with the class. Divide the six posters between your students. Let each student/team write down at least three things about that poster that would motivate them to migrate to that country. Let each student/team share what they saw. Which poster motivates the class the most to move? Choose your destination.

Extra information: These posters gave a sense of the spaciousness of the countries being promoted and suggested possibilities for health, wealth and comfort, while projecting an image of these countries that was totally white,

thereby perpetuating the imperial dream.

Marie Anne Beausoleil’s passport

© National Archives

You can not forget your passport nowadays if you want to move. Click on Marie Anne's passport to enlarge it. 

Now that we decided where we want to move to, we need to pack our belongings. There's one thing you can't travel without nowadays: your passport! 

Look at this passport from Marie Anne Beausoleil. What are the differences between our passports and this one?

Extra information: Passports are so familiar and necessary that we forget that they are quite a recent invention – the modern passport was born in the First World War. Before then, overseas travel was less common and official documentation was not required.

WHY LEAVE?

reasons to leave your home

Learning aims

Introduction video

ESCAPE - DREAM

Many people have left Britain because they felt unable to practise their faith or express their political views. Their dreams of a new life were not always realised – and when they were, it was often at the expense of indigenous communities.

Sailing of the Mayflower

The sailing of the Mayflower in 1620 is a symbol of the flight from oppression to freedom. Like many English men and women who risked the Atlantic journey in the 17th century, the Pilgrims, as they came to be known, were not fleeing persecution but were in search of a better life, hoping to preserve their pious community and maintain their Englishness.

FORCED MIGRATION

Almost half a million people from the Caribbean moved to Britain after the Second World War as citizens of the former British Empire. Seventy years later, many were forced to prove their right to stay in Britain, and some were unjustly detained and deported.

Do: click on the hotspot and let the kids read out loud what they see.

Start a conversation with the following questions:

• What do you think this notice says?
• Why do you think these kids have to leave?
• How do you feel after seeing that these kids between the ages of 1 and 12 were forced to leave their homes?

Picture: Notice listing children being prepared for emigration by the Poplar Union, 1884 , © National Archives

What would you miss most if you had to leave?

DESPERATION - OPPORTUNITY

Many people have left Britain over the past 400 years as a result of declining opportunities – or even desperate conditions – at home, coupled with the promise of making it big in a new land.

I would leave my country if I were given the following opportunity:

Let each student write down for which opportunity they would leave their country.

EMPIRE

The first East India Company ship set sail for the west coast of India in 1607. This voyage was the start of the creation of the British Empire, sending Britons, and others, across the world – in some cases against their will.

Today, many Britons have family ties to countries that
were formerly part of the Empire.

How has the Empire effected you personally?

A lot

A little

It hasn't

Poll: ask the students how much the empire has effected them personally.

THE GOOD LIFE

People leave for many reasons – better weather,

adventure, love or to ‘find themselves’. They rarely think that they are leaving home for good. Some do end up migrating permanently, while others return for a few months every year.

What will the future of emigration from Britain look like?

Until recently, this increased movement seemed part of an unstoppable trend towards a more globalised identity. But the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing nationalism and heightened concerns over climate change have called this mobility into question.

What are two things you have learned from this lesson?

Until recently, this increased movement seemed part of an unstoppable trend towards a more globalised identity. But the Covid-19 pandemic, increasing nationalism and heightened concerns over climate change have called this mobility into question.

After this lesson I want...

to hear the explanation once more

to know more examples of migration

to know something about another subject

to know more about this subject

to go to the Migration Museum

Poll