Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

New Faces in Old Places: immigration to Yorkshire 1951-2011

Professor David McEvoy, Liverpool John Moores University

Joint lecture with PLACE and Royal Geographical Society

Professor David McEvoy examines the scale, location, timing, causes and consequences of immigration to Yorkshire since the Second World War using data from the decennial censuses and the results of personal fieldwork, especially in West Yorkshire. Attention will be paid to the underlying economic factors, and to the political, legal and regulatory frameworks which both facilitate and constrain immigration. The transformation of immigrant groups into ethnic minorities by the birth of new generations will be considered, and the differential transition of particular groups from ‘replacement labour’ to economic assimilation will be assessed. The talk will be illustrated by photos of churches, mosques, businesses and other visible signs of immigration, and by maps and graphics. Groups considered will include the East European displaced persons arriving in the 1940s, the Commonwealth migrants of the 1950s and 1960s, and recent ‘new migrants’ from Africa, China and the European Union.

Report

Professor McEvoy interpreted a wealth of migration and ethnicity data from the West Yorkshire 1951 and 2011 censuses. Before this period, migration had been largely internal, from the countryside to towns, including the Irish influx in the 1850s. Even in the early 1950s, many Lancastrians moved to Yorkshire for jobs in the textile industry, but West Indians and Eastern Europeans were also attracted by deliberate government policies, and employers actively recruited from the Caribbean and south Asia. Immigration became a significant political issue in the 1960s, and more so when eastern European countries joined the EU in the 2000s. By 2011, ethnic minorities averaged 14% of the population in Yorkshire/Humberside, though significantly less than in England/Wales (19%) and London (55%). Yorkshire ethnic minorities were concentrated in Bradford (36%), Kirklees (23%), Sheffield/Leeds (19%), each with different ethnic mixes, employment profiles, and interracial marriages. Interestingly, Heslington had the second highest Chinese level (12.5%) of any ward in the country.

Rod Leonard