# Aliens Act 1905

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Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Aliens Act 1905[a] Act of Parliament Parliament of the United Kingdom Long title An Act to amend the Law with regard to Aliens. Citation 5 Edw. 7. c. 13 Territorial extent United Kingdom Dates Royal assent 11 August 1905 Commencement 11 August 1905 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Repealed 23 December 1919 Other legislation Repeals/revokes Registration of Aliens Act 1836 Repealed by Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919 Status: Repealed Text of statute as originally enacted

The **Aliens Act 1905** ([5 Edw. 7](/source/5_Edw._7). c. 13) was an [act](/source/Act_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) of the [Parliament of the United Kingdom](/source/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom).[1] The act introduced [immigration](/source/Immigration) controls and registration for the first time, and gave the [Home Secretary](/source/Home_Secretary) overall responsibility for matters concerning immigration and nationality.[1] Those who "appeared unable to support themselves" or "likely to become a charge upon the rates" were declared "undesirable". The act also allowed to turn away potential immigrants on medical grounds. Asylum-seekers fleeing from religious or political persecution were supposedly exempted from the act but, nevertheless, their claims were often denied.[2][3]

While the act was ostensibly designed to prevent entry of [paupers](/source/Pauperism) or [criminals](/source/Crime) and to set up a mechanism to deport those who slipped through, one of its main objectives was to control [Jewish](/source/Jews) immigration from Eastern Europe.[2] Jewish immigration from the Russian Empire significantly increased from 1881[4] which served as some basis for the creation of the Aliens Act 1905. Although it remained in force, the 1905 act was effectively subsumed by the [Aliens Restriction Act 1914](/source/Aliens_Restriction_Act_1914) ([4 & 5 Geo. 5](/source/4_%26_5_Geo._5). c. 12), which introduced far more restrictive provisions. It was eventually repealed by the [Aliens Restriction (Amendment) Act 1919](/source/Aliens_Restriction_(Amendment)_Act_1919) ([9 & 10 Geo. 5](/source/9_%26_10_Geo._5). c. 92).

Some of the border control mechanisms established with the Aliens Act 1905 remained throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century.[5]

## Demands for restriction

Anti-immigration poster from 1902, advertising a speech by [William Evans-Gordon](/source/William_Evans-Gordon).

In the 19th century, the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) was home to about five million [Jews](/source/Jews), at the time, the "largest Jewish community in the world".[2] They were obliged to live in the [Pale of Settlement](/source/Pale_of_Settlement), on the territory of the former Polish State adjacent regions of Russia. In the aftermath of the [assassination of czar Alexander II](/source/Assassination_of_Alexander_II_of_Russia) and subsequent [pogroms](/source/Pogroms_in_the_Russian_Empire), large scale emigration ensued, mostly for the [United States](/source/United_States), but many – about 150,000 – arrived in the United Kingdom, mostly in England.[2] This reached its peak in the late 1890s, with "tens of thousands of Jews ... mostly poor, semi-skilled and unskilled" settling in the [East End of London](/source/East_End_of_London).[2]

By the turn of the century, a media and public backlash had begun.[2] The [British Brothers' League](/source/British_Brothers'_League) was formed, with the support of prominent politicians such as [William Evans-Gordon](/source/William_Evans-Gordon), MP for [Stepney](/source/Stepney_(UK_Parliament_constituency)), organising marches and petitions.[2] At rallies, its speakers said that Britain should not become "the dumping ground for the scum of Europe".[2] In 1905, an editorial in the *[Manchester Evening Chronicle](/source/Manchester_Evening_Chronicle)*[2] wrote "that the dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil and rates simultaneously, shall be forbidden to land". [Antisemitism](/source/Antisemitism) broke out into violence in South Wales in 1902 and 1903 where Jews were assaulted.[6]

Aside from antisemitic sentiments, the act was also driven by the economic and social unrest in the East End of London where most immigrants settled. Work was difficult to come by and families required all members to contribute.[7]

Future Prime Minister [Winston Churchill](/source/Winston_Churchill) opposed the bill. He stated that the bill would "appeal to insular prejudice against foreigners, to racial prejudice against Jews, and to labour prejudice against competition" and expressed himself in favour of "the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained".[8] On 31 May 1904, he [crossed the floor](/source/Crossing_the_floor), defecting from the Conservatives to sit as a member of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons.[9]

## See also

- [Edict of Expulsion](/source/Edict_of_Expulsion)

- [United Kingdom immigration law](/source/United_Kingdom_immigration_law)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Section 10(1).

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-MH_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-MH_2-1) Moving Here

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-C4_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-C4_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-C4_3-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-C4_3-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-C4_3-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-C4_3-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-C4_3-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-C4_3-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-C4_3-8) David Rosenberg, '[Immigration](https://web.archive.org/web/20070514215717/http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/O/origination/immigration.html)' on the [Channel 4](/source/Channel_4) website

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** [Migration: Britain’s hospitable past](https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/migration-britains-hospitable-past)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Bernard Gainer, The Alien Invasion: The Origins of the Aliens Act of 1905, (London, Heinemann Educational books LTD, 1972) Preface.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Smith, Evan (2023), ["From the Aliens Act to the 'hostile environment': The making of the British border control system"](https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003350255-3/aliens-act-hostile-environment-evan-smith), *UK Borderscapes*, Routledge, [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.4324/9781003350255-3](https://doi.org/10.4324%2F9781003350255-3), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-003-35025-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-003-35025-5){{[citation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Citation)}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_work_parameter_with_ISBN))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** David Cesarani, *The Jewish Chronicle and Anglo-Jewry 1841-1991*, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994) p. 98.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Bernard Gainer, *The Alien Invasion: The Origins of the Aliens Act of 1905*, (London, Heinemann Educational books LTD, 1972) pp. 19-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Gilbert, Martin (1991). *Churchill : a life*. London: Heinemann. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-434-29183-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-434-29183-8). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [27434589](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/27434589).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Jenkins, Roy (2002). *Churchill*. London: Pan Books. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-330-48805-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-330-48805-8). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [50232043](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/50232043).

## Further reading

- Bashford, Alison, Gilchrist, Catie. “The Colonial History of the 1905 Aliens Act”, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 40:3 (2012), 409-437.

- Bernard Gainer, *The Alien Invasion: The Origins of the Aliens Act of 1905* (London, Heinemann Educational books Ltd, 1972)

- Feldman, David. "Was the Nineteenth Century a Golden Age for Immigrants?" in Andreas Fahrmeir et al., eds., *Migration Control in the North Atlantic World: The Evolution of State Practices in Europe and the United States from the French Revolution to the Inter-War Period* (2003); pp 167–77 shows the actual impact of the 1905 law was small and largely bureaucratic.

- Garrard, John A. *The English and Immigration, 1880-1910* (1971)

- Gartner, Lloyd A. *The Jewish Immigrant in England 1870-1914*, London (1960): Simon Publications.

- Hartnett, Lynne Ann. “Alien or Refugee? The Politics of Russian Émigré Claims to British Asylum at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”, Journal of Migration History, 3:2 (2017), 229-253.

- Pellew, Jill. "The Home Office and the Aliens Act, 1905," *The Historical Journal,* Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), pp. 369–385 [in JSTOR](https://www.jstor.org/stable/2639607)

- Vincenzi, Christopher. “The Aliens Act 1905.” Journal of ethnic and migration studies 12, no. 2 (1985), 275–284.

- Wray, Helena. “The Aliens Act 1905 and the Immigration Dilemma.” Journal of law and society 33, no. 2 (2006), 302–323

## External links

- [Text of the Aliens Act 1905](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/id?title=Aliens+Act+1905) as originally enacted or made within the United Kingdom, from [legislation.gov.uk](/source/Legislation.gov.uk).

- Channel 4 [*Immigration* by David Rosenberg](https://web.archive.org/web/20070514215717/http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/O/origination/immigration.html)

- [UK Immigration Service](/source/UK_Immigration_Service)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aliens Act 1905](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_Act_1905) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliens_Act_1905?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.