Immigrants

Domestic Records Information 50

MEPO 35/16/2, Aliens Registration Office Record Cards

Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Chancery and The Exchequer (C 47 and E 106)
3. Exchequer Subsidy Rolls (E 179)
4. Exchequer Accounts Various (E 101)
5. Various Rolls
6. State Papers
7. Non-Parochial Registers (RG 4)
8. Oath Rolls (KB 24)
9. Treasury In-Letters (T 1)
10. Denizations (C 97 and HO 4)
11. French Emigres
12. Home Office
13. Aliens Act, 1836: Certificates of Aliens (HO 2), 1836-1852
14. Aliens Act, 1836: Returns and Papers (HO 3), 1836-1869
15. Entry Books (HO 5), 1794-1909
16. Registered Papers (HO 45 and HO 144)
17. Passenger Lists (BT 26)
18. Registers Of Passenger Lists, 1906-1951 (BT 32)
19. Alien Registration Cards
20. Internment Tribunal Cards
21. The Royal Patriotic Schools
22. Sources Outside The National Archives
23. The National Archives' Library Bibliography

1. Introduction

Names and information about foreigners coming during the past six hundred years to live in Britain can be obtained from various series records in The National Archives, but there is no composite index of names. Valuable assistance in tracing references to individual immigrants in the period down to c. 1800 can be obtained from several publications of the Huguenot Society of London, which include transcripts of lists and entries from many records, and are indexed; and from 1800 there are useful printed Indexes of Names which greatly assist discovery of information available from records of the Home Office. More precise mention of these and other publications is made at suitable points in this research guide; most are available in the Reader Information Services Department at The National Archives, where several series of printed Calendars of records, as well as the copies of individual series lists, may also be consulted.

Descriptions of all series of records are contained in the Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office (3 volumes, H M Stationery Office, 1963-1968), and on the Catalogue.

2. The Chancery and The Exchequer (C 47 and E 106 )

The earliest references to aliens resident in England occur in records of the Chancery and the Exchequer. In Chancery Miscellanea (C 47 ) there are documents (in bundles 15 to 21) relating to alien clergy, and others (in bundle 13) concerning foreign merchants, in the period Hen III to Hen VIII; and the Exchequer Extents of Alien Priories, etc (E 106 ) include documents about the possessions of laymen who were foreign subjects and accounts of fines imposed on the alien clergy in the period Edw I to Edw IV.

3. Exchequer Subsidy Rolls (E 179 )

These include rolls of names of foreigners living in the city and suburbs of London and details of the taxes levied on them, 1523-1561. This information has been extracted for the Huguenot Society and is included in Vol X of its Publications: Returns of Aliens in London, 1523-1625 (1900-1908).

4. Exchequer Accounts Various (E 101 )

These include accounts of transactions in which foreign merchants resident in London were concerned, and other information about them. These records extend over a long period, from Hen III to Charles I; and are listed in PRO Lists and Indexes, No. XXXV, at pages 103-107.

5. Various Rolls

Important series of Chancery enrolments which provide information about aliens are the Parliament Rolls (C 65 ) that contain a record of many Acts of Naturalisation over a long period from c. 1400; Patent Rolls (C 66 and C 67 ) on which are recorded the grants of Denizations by Letters Patent from c. 1400 to 1844; and Close Rolls (C 54 ) which have enrolments of Naturalisation Certificates granted between 1844 and 1873. Valuable indexes to these series are found in the printed Index to the Rolls of Parliament, Calendar of Patent Rolls, and Calendar of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, all published by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; and in W Page Denizations and Naturalizations of Aliens in England, 1509-1603 (Huguenot Society, Vol VIII, 1893), W A Shaw, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England, etc 1603-1800 (Huguenot Society, Vols XVIII, XXVII and XXXV).

6. State Papers

The State Papers, Domestic, Edward VI (SP 10 ), Mary (SP 11 ) and Elizabeth (SP 12 and SP 13 ) include returns of strangers in London and other places, and from 1560 onwards give names of many Huguenots from France and Walloons from the Low Countries who were driven out by Spanish persecutions in those countries to find homes in England. R E G Kirk, Returns of Aliens in London, 1523-1603 (Huguenot Society, Vol X in 4 parts, 1900-1908) gives lists of names from these records (and others such as the Lansdowne MSS in the British Museum) and includes names of members of the French and Dutch churches in London, 1561 and 1562, lengthy Returns of Aliens in London in 1571, and lists of refugees settled at Norwich, Colchester, Rye, Sandwich, Canterbury and other parts of England. Some lists of these people appear also in the printed Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Edw VI to James I, Vols I to V, which each have indexes and can be searched using State Papers Online and British History Online, available on the public computers at The National Archives.

References to aliens in London and other places continue to appear in the several series of State Papers, Domestic, James I (SP 14 ), Addenda (SP 15 ), Charles I (SP 16 ), Interregnum (SP 18 ) and Charles II (SP 29 and SP 30 ). Tracing names is assisted by the indexes to the printed Calendars of these series; and by Shaw, Letters of Denization etc (Huguenot Society, Vol XVIII), mentioned above, which includes some lengthy lists of denizations, 1681-1688, of refugees from a second fierce persecution of Huguenots in France, such lists being taken from a Domestic Entry Book (SP 44/67 ).

A useful general account of the movements referred to in the two preceding paragraphs is given, with many short lists of names, by J S Burn in The History of the French, Walloon, Dutch and other Foreign Protestant Refugees settled in England from the reign of Henry VIII to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (London, 1846).

7. Non-Parochial Registers (RG 4 )

The Non-Parochial Registers (RG 4 ) received from the Registrar General’s Office include some records formerly kept in the French, Dutch, German and Swiss churches for refugees in London and other places. There are registers of births and baptisms, marriages and burials for various periods between 1567 and 1857; and these are described in a published List of Non-Parochial Registers and Records (London, 1859), reprinted as Vol 42 in the series of publications of the List and Index Society (www.listandindexsociety.org.uk/ ). RG 4 records are available to download from BMDRegisters , access is free onsite at The National Archives.

8. Oath Rolls (KB 24 )

The King’s Bench Swearing or Oath Rolls (KB 24 ) include Oath Rolls of Naturalisation, 1708 to 1712. These were taken under the statute 7 Anne, c. 5 whereby all foreign Protestants who subscribed the Oath Rolls in the Courts of Chancery, King´s Bench, Common Pleas or Exchequer, or at General Quarter Sessions, were to be deemed to be natural-born British subjects. The names have been printed in Huguenot Society, Vol XXVII, at pages 78-107. There is a similar roll of oaths taken under the same Act in the same period, but enrolled in the Court of Exchequer, in Oaths of Allegiance, etc (E 169/86 ), and also supporting Sacrament Certificates (E 196/10 ); and the names of the persons so taking these oaths of naturalisation have been printed in Huguenot Society, Vol XXX, section II.

9. Treasury In-Letters (T 1 )

In Treasury In-Letters (T 1 ) there are many references to refugees and other foreign persons in receipt of annuities, pensions and other payments for their support or in return for services rendered to the Crown Names can be traced in the indexes to the printed volumes of the Calendar of Treasury Papers, which covers the period 1557 to 1728. Special mention should be made of the Embarkation Lists (provided to the British Resident at the Hague and sent by him to England), now in a bundle of In-Letters (T 1/119 ), of Palatine subjects shipped from Holland to England in 1709.

These poor Palatines were seeking a new life in the New World, but many stayed in England.There are references to these people also amongst the State Papers Foreign, Holland (SP 84 ) and in several series of Colonial Office records, eg Board of Trade Original Correspondence (CO 388 ); and many of the lists of names traced in all these series have been printed in W A Knittle, Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration (Philadelphia, 1937), in L D MacWethy, The Book of Names especially relating to the Early Palatines and the First Settlers in the Mohawk Valley (New York, 1933), and in New York Genealogical and Biographical Records, XL and XLI (New York, 1909 and 1910).

10. Denizations (C 97 and HO 4 )

In two series, Chancery Original Denizations (C 97 ), 1751 to 1793, and Home Office Original Patents for Denization (HO 4 ), 1804 to 1843, there are documents that seem not to have been delivered to the grantees, or perhaps were surrendered at some time. The Chancery series list on the Map and Large Document Room shelves at The National Archives gives names, the Home Office list does not: but copies of the grants are enrolled on the Patent Rolls (C 66 ) and the names are included in the contemporary indexes to these Rolls.

11. French Emigres

Large numbers of people fled to England from France at the time of the Revolution there. Many letters and papers concerning those French emigres, 1789-1814, are amongst Home Office records in the series of Bouillon Papers (HO 69 ); and others are found in Privy Council Unbound Papers (PC 1 ), in Foreign Office Miscellanea, Series I (FO 95 ) and amongst War Office In-Letters (WO 1 ). A descriptive note about all these letters and papers, and a full list of them in typescript, is available among the additional finding aids in the Research Enquiries Room. There are also many names in registers and on pension lists, etc amongst Treasury records of the French Refugees Relief Committee (T 93 ) for the period 1792-1828: and these are described in PRO Lists and Indexes, No. XLVI (1922).

12. Home Office

The regulating of aliens was made a specific responsibility of the Home Secretary by statute in 1793; and later, in 1844, the granting of naturalisation certificates also became a function of the Home Office. A great many names of alien immigrants and some details of their origins, trades, new places of residence, etc can be traced amongst the following records received from that Department.

Denizations and Naturalisations (HO 1 ), 1789-1871.This series contains general correspondence, petitions, memorials and other denization and naturalisation papers.Indexes by name to these records can be found among Home Office series lists until 1936 – these are currently in the process of being loaded onto the Catalogue. Thereafter, until and including 1980, they can be found among series of additional finding aids in the Research Enquiries Room at The National Archives. (Naturalisation Certificates issued from 1844 to 1873 are enrolled in the Chancery Close Rolls (C 54 ) as already mentioned above). From 1870 duplicate certificates of naturalisation granted under the Naturalisation Act, 1870, British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914 and the British Nationality Act 1948, were kept by the Home Office. These duplicate certificates, 1870-1987, are now in The National Archives (HO 334 ).Related files are among Registered Papers (HO 45 and HO 144 ) described below. See also the Research Guide Naturalisation and Citizenship: Grants of British Nationality.

13. Aliens Act, 1836: Certificates of Aliens (HO 2 ), 1836-1852

These are bound-up original certificates of arrival of individual aliens in England and Scotland, arranged under the ports of arrival. Each certificate gives the alien´s nationality, profession, date of arrival and last country visited, with his signature and occasionally other details. Earlier certificates under the Aliens Act, 1826, have not survived, but several indexes to certificates under both Acts, and covering 1826-1849, exist in series HO 5/25-32 (see section 15). An alphabetical index of alien certificates of some German, Polish and Prussian persons, 1847-1852 is available on the open shelves in the Research Enquiries Room. A system of registering aliens entering the country was first introduced by the Aliens Act of 1793, and was modified by subsequent statutes. Declarations signed by the aliens were certified into the Aliens Office, which did not become part of the Home Office until 1836.The early certificates appear to have been destroyed, but aliens arriving in English ports, 1810-1811 may be traced to FO 83/21-22 . Separate accounts of aliens arriving in the port of London between July and November 1826 can be found in CUST 102/393-395 . Similarly, CUST 102/396 includes accounts of aliens arriving in the port of Gravesend between October 1826 and August 1837.

14. Aliens Act, 1836: Returns and Papers (HO 3 ), 1836-1869

This series was formerly known as Lists of Immigrants and consists mainly of returns of alien passengers made by masters of ships under Section 2 of the Act. The returns are bound up in date order and there are no indexes to the names in them.

15. Entry Books (HO 5), 1794-1909

These are entry books of out-letters relating to aliens and naturalisations, registers of applications for denization, etc and include indexes to the certificates of arrivals in series HO 2 , described above (section 13).

16. Registered Papers (HO 45 and HO 144 )

HO 144/407/B23729, Nationality and Naturalisation Certificate, 1897

HO 45 includes papers about denizations and naturalisations issued between 1841 and 1878. From 1879 similar material is amongst files in the series of Registered Files, Supplementary (HO 144 ). Records later than 1922 are not open to public inspection. Useful indexes available in The National Archives research enquiries room include a typescript Index to Denizations, 1801 to 1873, and to Acts of Naturalisation, 1801 to 1900; the already mentioned printed Index to Names: Certificates of Naturalisations, 1844-1900; and similar Index to Names, printed for 1901 to 1914 and typed for 1915 to 1936 (all these indexes are currently being loaded onto the Catalogue). Between 1937 and 1980, the indexes form bound volumes presented to Parliament and are on the open shelves in the research enquiries room; there are no name indexes after 1980 in The National Archives. Copies of indexes to naturalizations up to 1961 are included on Parliamentary Papers , access is free onsite at The National Archives.

17. Passenger Lists (BT 26)

BT 26/1425, Board of Trade Inward Passenger List, March 1959

Finally, modern records of the Board of Trade give assistance in tracing immigrants. The Passenger Lists, Inwards (BT 26 ), 1878 to 1888 and from 1890 onwards, contain the names of all persons arriving in the United Kingdom from places outside Europe and not within the Mediterranean Sea, unless the vessels sailed originally from outside Europe and picked up passengers in a European or Mediterranean port en route. The lists are copies furnished by ships´ masters, as required by law, to port officers of the Ministry of Transport and sent to the Board of Trade for use in compiling statistics. The information given in the lists includes age, occupation and sometimes the address in the United Kingdom of each passenger, and date of his/her entering the country: but there is no indication as to how long he/she intended to stay. The lists are arranged under the names of the ports of arrival. Many lists earlier in date than 1890 were irregularly destroyed by order of the Board in 1900, but a few accidentally escaped destruction and are included in this series. In addition, ADM 30/35 contains passenger lists of H M steam packets carrying passengers to, from and within the Mediterranean area 1831 to 1834.The keeping of passenger lists was discontinued in 1960.

The BT 26 record series has been digitised and is fully searchable by name, ship, port and date. These records are available to download from www.ancestry.co.uk. Access is free onsite at The National Archives.

There are separate lists for British (and Commonwealth) passengers and Alien passengers. The Moving Here website www.movinghere.org.uk contains digitized images of inwards passenger lists between March 1948 and October 1960 which brought groups of Indian and Caribbean migrants to the UK - these lists have been indexed by ship and by person and are free to search and download online.

18. Registers Of Passenger Lists, 1906-1951 (BT 32)

These contain names of ships for which passenger lists exist in BT 26 and BT 27 . The entries are not complete, however - the earliest years have entries for a few ports only, and there are omissions. For readers hoping to find the name of a passenger in BT 26 they are of limited use, and may only be helpful if the name of the ship is already known. They do not contain the names of passengers, nor the destination of ships. Before October 1908 the registers relate only to the ports of Southampton, Bristol and Weymouth. The date shown against each list is the date on which the passenger list was received by the Board of Trade, not the date of embarkation or docking.

BT 27 can be accessed by name, ship, ports of departure and destination and date of departure from ancestorsonboard. Access is free onsite at The National Archives

There are no comparable lists or registers concerned with persons arriving in the United Kingdom by air.

19. Alien Registration Cards

MEPO 35 : Metropolitan Police: Aliens Registration Office: Sample Record Cards, contains the surviving aliens' registration cards for the London area. These represent some 1,000 cases out of the tens of thousands of aliens resident in London since 1914. Although the cards are a small sample they do include some notable cases including Joe Coral the book maker (MEPO 35/16/1 ). There appears to be a heavy concentration of cases around the late 1930's, as Germans and east Europeans fled the Nazi persecutions. For example MEPO 35/29/4 consists of cards for Ernst Freud and his family.

The information provided on the cards includes full name, date of birth, date of arrival into the UK, employment history, address, marital status, details of any children, and date of naturalisation with Home Office reference if applicable. The cards usually include at least one photograph and for some cases there are continuation cards.

Because of the sensitive nature of many of the cards, they are closed during the lifetime of the individuals concerned or until they can be assumed to be deceased (i.e. their 100th birthday). Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, you can request a review by using the Request Review link in the Catalogue.

20. Internment Tribunal Cards

HO 396 : Aliens Department: Internees Index consists of 307 sets of records which give details of mostly Germans, Austrians and Italians and their spouses who were interned or considered for internment by internment tribunals. The slips, which date from 1939 to 1947, are available on microfilm in the Microfilm Reading Room. The records are usually grouped by nationality, and are in alphabetical order within each set. The slips within these binders give personal information on the front and sometimes details of the individual´s case on the reverse side. Details usually include date of birth, address, occupation and details of employers. Slips concerning aliens who were considered by internment tribunals to be exempt from internment are open without restriction. Only the front of slips where a decision was made to intern an individual are open without restriction. See the Research Guide Internees: First and Second World Wars for more information. The section of HO 396 relating to those aliens who were not interned and at liberty in the UK is available on the website Moving Here (www.movinghere.org.uk) where it can be searched and downloaded free of chargeby name of alien. These mainly relate to Jewish aliens who had fled the persecution of Nazi Germany some years earlier (see the Research Guide Refugees and Minorities) .

21. The Royal Patriotic Schools

This collection of six weeded files detail the development of policy for the Royal Patriotic School (RPS) from its opening in January 1941 through to its closure in June 1945. RPS (also known as the Royal Victoria Patriotic School and the London Reception Centre) was established to process aliens arriving in the UK to gather intelligence from them on conditions in occupied Europe, and to screen arrivals for possible enemy agents. It replaced the previous ad hoc scrutiny by individual officers, and gathered together all the relevant interested bodies in one location. RPS was located at Trinity Road, Wandsworth for men, and at nearby Nightingale Lane for Women.

The files include correspondence and minutes of meetings of the sub-committee of the Home Defence (Security) Executive set up to run the RPS, and includes items such as lists of categories of persons required to be processed by RPS (for example at serial 4A in KV 4/339 - the categories changed throughout the war as screening techniques improved or the pressure of numbers passing through RPS altered) or reports of inspection visits to the School (for example at serial 19A in the same file). There is a list of the administrative staff at RPS in May 1941 at serial 68B (KV 4/240 ); and a detailed note on the history of RPS at serial 211A (KV 4/342 ). A comment of March 1941 at serial 49A (KV 2/339 ) summarises the Security Service view of the schools: "...the conditions there should be as good as they can possibly be made…the Patriotic School should be regarded not as a detention camp, but as a comfortable and well equipped centre..."

Though the main files contain passing references only to individual cases, there is one complete case preserved as an example in KV 4/344 - that of Breton journalist and resistance activist Jean Abel Louis Pomeau de Lafforest. This includes his interrogation reports giving a detailed account of his wartime activities, the documents he brought with him out of France and other related correspondence. The file includes photos of Lafforest, of scenes in Brittany, and one of General de Gaulle. Correspondence on this file indicates that other RPS files were either destroyed, or were absorbed into Security Service personal files.

22. Sources Outside The National Archives

Many other records about foreigners settling in this country are preserved at the Guildhall Library, London; at the Bodleian Library, Oxford; at the Cambridge University Library; by the Huguenot Society of London; at Lambeth Palace Library, and at other places. A description of the material to be found at such places is given in the Genealogists' Magazine, Vol XII (1956) at pages 149-154 and 185-188. Also, The National Archives of Ireland) hold quite a large number of inward passenger lists arriving from North America for the period 1858 to 1870.

23. The National Archives' Library Bibliography

The following recommended publications are available in the The National Archives' Library. Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop.

(ri2157) Last updated: 15 May 2009 | © Crown Copyright 2002