Friendly Aliens on the Home Front: Migrants, Refugees and Colonial Workers in Scotland During and After the First World War

Abstract

At the outset of the First World War central government issued the Aliens Restriction Act designed to place limitations on the movement and access to jobs of enemy aliens. This article will consider the extension of wartime aliens’ restrictions policy to people living in Scotland who were from friendly nations. In order to explore how far government wartime actions affected these groups, and using a range of archival resources, the article will discuss the process of arrival, access to employment and the post-war repatriation from Scotland of migrants and refugees from Lithuania and Belgium and colonial Britons from Africa and the Caribbean.