The Aliens of England 1320-1800

The  United States, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia started out as colonies of England. If you want to know about your origins, and you come from one of these countries, there is a good chance your family either came from England or transited through England.  

One of my projects is the Aliens of England database. A little explanation is necessary for this to make sense. England, from the time of the Romans, was a place filled with immigrants. But from 1440 through the 1800, aliens were registered, in many cases taxed at different rates than citizens. This system followed by the 1793 Aliens Registration Act results in much. I have en massed a database of of over 500,000 registered aliens, in England, and very often in London. This database is crucial as many of these aliens moved to the colonies to loose their alien status. Many early colonial families can be found a the alien rolls of Tudor England. May people who think their family were English colonists are surprised to discover in fact, they were Italian aliens in London who immigrated to America and adopted an English facade. 

Many people were charged with legitimate crimes or trumped up charges and deported to the colonies starting in the 17th century. Though Australia is famous for receiving convict immigrants, until the American revolutionary war, America was the favorite spot for "disposing" of convicts. I have created a database of people deported to the colonies, due to criminal activity, real or imagined, from England and Scotland. I currently have a database of people sentenced to transport that is 300,000 persons long and growing. 

Lastly, England, with its colonies, offered a jumping off ground for many waves of immigrants. Spanish Conversos(17th century), French Huguenots(17th century), German Jewish immigrants(18th century), and Russian Jewish immigrants(19th century) would make their way from Spain, France, Germany, or the Russian Pale of Settlement, eventually transiting to the English speaking colonies. I maintain a database of those groups of people who may have lived in England for a time, before making their way to the New Worlds. This database is 250,000 persons long and is also growing. 

If your family came from England to an English speaking colony, they probably have a history in England, and records of their existence in England often survive until this day. 

London is a wealth of information regarding immigration to the Colonies, the Edinburgh Court records, The Old Bailey Court Records, the London Archives, The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland, The Jewish Genealogical Society, the the Romany and Traveller Family History Society (RTFHS), and more. 

At the moment, we are conducting extensive research into the Aliens of England. The reason is that many of them became colonists. One way to loose your Alien status in England was to move to the colonies. And many did. But the aliens can be broken into groups and looked at individually; which church they attended(the London Italian Church, the French Church, The Dutch Church, etc.) and their occupation(musician, physician, weaver, goldsmith, gem cutter, etc.) 

Below is an articles about some of the aliens that would make their way to the colonies.