{{Short description|Act of the Parliament of Great Britain}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}} {{Use British English|date=September 2025}} {{Infobox UK legislation | short_title = Aliens Act 1793 | type = Act | parliament = Parliament of Great Britain | long_title = An Act for establishing Regulations respecting Aliens arriving in this Kingdom, or resident therein in certain Cases. | year = 1793 | citation = [[33 Geo. 3]]. c. 4 | introduced_lords = [[William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville|Lord Grenville]] | territorial_extent = [[Great Britain]] | royal_assent = 8 January 1793 | commencement = 10 January 1793{{efn|Section 3.}} | expiry_date = 1 January 1794{{efn|Section 44.}} | repeal_date = 21 August 1871 | repealing_legislation = [[Statute Law Revision Act 1871]] | related_legislation = | status = Repealed | original_text = https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XwbC08mcZ-4C&pg=PA10 }}
The '''Aliens Act 1793''' ([[33 Geo. 3]]. c. 4) was an [[Act of Parliament (United Kingdom)|act]] of the [[Parliament of Great Britain]] regulating immigration into the country, in relation with the question of the [[French emigration (1789–1815)|French Emigration]] during the [[French Revolution|Revolution]].
Introduced into the House of Lords by [[William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville|Lord Grenville]] on 19 December 1792, the act was given high priority during the parliamentary session.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |url=http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1468-2281.1968.tb01248.x?r3_referer=wol&tracking_action=preview_click&show_checkout=1&purchase_referrer=onlinelibrary.wiley.com&purchase_site_license=LICENSE_DENIED_NO_CUSTOMER |title=The Use of the Crown's Power of Deportation under the Aliens Act, 1793–1826 |last=Dinwiddy |first=J. R. |date=1968 |journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research |volume=41 |issue=104 |pages=193–211 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.1968.tb01248.x |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Despite the concerns of the opposition party, the act became law on 8 January 1793.
== Context == === French Emigration (1789-1815) === [[French Emigration (1789–1815)|French Emigration (1789-1815)]] refers to the mass movement of citizens from France to neighbouring countries in reaction to the bloodshed and upheaval caused by the [[French Revolution]] and [[Napoleon]]ic rule. To escape political tensions and save their lives, many people left France and settled in the neighbouring countries (chiefly Great Britain, Germany, Austria, and Prussia), and a few went to the United States.
The number of refugees fleeing into Britain reached its climax in autumn of 1792. In September alone, a total of nearly 4,000 refugees landed in Britain.<ref name=":0" /> The country appealed to people because it had a channel separating them from the revolutionaries and because it was known for being tolerant.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web| last1=Whittaker | first1=Callum |title = "La Généreuse Nation!" Britain and the French Emigration 1792 – 1802|url = https://www.academia.edu/2909048|website = www.academia.edu| date=5 March 2013 |access-date = 2015-11-30}}</ref>
Emigrants primarily settled in London and Soho, the latter had grown into a thriving French cultural district, complete with French hotels and cuisine, although it had long been a haven for French exiles, housing many thousands of Frenchmen from the last mass migration, of [[Huguenots]], which occurred in reaction to the [[Edict of Fontainebleau|1685 revocation]] of the [[Edict of Nantes]],<ref name=":4" /> and the ensuing [[Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act 1708]].
=== British fears about the French refugees === The uncontrolled influx of foreigners created significant anxiety in government circles.
Particularly, the British Government feared the presence of spies and [[Jacobin]] agents disguised as refugees in the country. J. W. Bruges, secretary of the Foreign Office, wrote to Lord Grenville on 14 September: "By what I can learn, the majority of these people are of a suspicious description, and very likely either to do mischief of their own accord, or to be fit tools of those who may be desirous of creating confusion".<ref name=":0" />
Additionally, the newspapers during the latter part of 1792 emphasised strong public suspicions of "Frenchmen in England" and demanded that high control and security measures be placed onto Britain.<ref name=":0" />
=== Convening of Parliament === On 1 December 1792, in response to this crisis, the King issued a [[Proclamation|royal proclamation]] pursuant to section 95 of the [[Militia Act 1786]] ([[26 Geo. 3]]. c. 107) that "the utmost industry was still employed by evil-disposed persons within the kingdom, acting in concert with persons in foreign parts, with a view to subvert the laws and constitution; and that a spirit of tumult and disorder, thereby excited, had lately shown itself in acts of riot and insurrection — And that, these causes moving him thereto, his majesty had resolved forthwith to embody the militia of the kingdom".<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |url=https://google.it.ao/books?id=Bnjlt-L7pQAC&pg=PA500 |title=Memoirs of the Reign of George III to the Session of Parliament Ending A.D. 1793 |volume=4 |pages=500–501 |language=en}}</ref> On the same day, the King issued another royal proclamation convening the Parliament (which stood prorogued until 3 January 1793),<ref name=":02" /> which met on 13 December 1792.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blackstone |first=William |author-link=William Blackstone |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEcOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA196-IA15 |title=Commentaries on the Laws of England,: In Four Books |publisher=A. Strahan |year=1800 |volume=1 |pages=187 |language=en}}</ref>
== The act == The act enforced that aliens be recorded upon arrival and register with the local justice of the peace. More specifically, those who arrived in Great Britain after January 1793 were required to give their names, ranks, occupations, and addresses.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title = The 1905 Aliens Act {{!}} History Today|url = http://www.historytoday.com/anne-kershen/1905-aliens-act|website = www.historytoday.com|access-date = 2015-12-09}}</ref> Even those who housed or roomed with an alien had to send similar details.
It further held that violators of the act could be held without bail or [[mainprise]], either to be deported or as punishment, a provision that caused critics to decry it as a suspension of ''[[habeas corpus]]''; indeed, its sponsor in Parliament had earlier called it "a bill for suspending the [[Habeas Corpus Act 1679|Habeas Corpus Act]], as far as it should relate to the persons of foreigners."<ref name=":1" />
During the war period, the act gave an extraordinary power to the government and placed all foreigners in the country at the mercy of the government. All immigrants feared deportation because of either their political views or security reasons, or, simply because they were regarded as an undesirable persons.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title = Aliens and Immigrants in England and Wales {{!}} Learn {{!}} FamilySearch.org|url = https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Aliens_and_Immigrants_in_England_and_Wales#Eighteenth_century|website = familysearch.org|access-date = 2015-12-09}}</ref>
== Consequences == Despite in theory being an emergency measured to be renewed annually, it remained in force for over thirty years.
Expulsions under the act were limited but it very substantially restricted immigration to Great Britain. Whilst designed for the fear that Jacobins might be hidden amongst royalists fleeing from the French Revolution, it caught all aliens coming to the country and hence had led to sharp decline in Jewish immigration to Great Britain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smilg |first=Jeremy |title=The Jews of England and the revolutionary era, 1789-1815 |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-912676-71-2 |location=Elstree |oclc=1237347265}}</ref>
One illustrious victim of the act seems to have been [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord]], who had to leave England to the USA.
== Subsequent developments == The whole act was repealed by section 1 of, and the schedule to, the [[Statute Law Revision Act 1871]] ([[34 & 35 Vict.]] c. 116).
==See also== *[[Alien Office]] *[[Aliens Act 1905]] *[[Alien and Sedition Acts]] *[[History of UK immigration control]]
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{GB legislation}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Great Britain Acts of Parliament 1793]] [[Category:Repealed Great Britain Acts of Parliament]] [[Category:1793 in international relations]] [[Category:Immigration legislation]] [[Category:History of immigration to the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Political repression in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville]]