European migrants and government institutions in Scotland , 1885-1939

What is it about?

Before 1939 continental Europeans were settling in Scotland, in a part of the United Kingdom that had been shaped was by distinct religious and legal traditions. Government bodies in Scotland that had emerged in the nineteenth century also gained significant significant powers over welfare, public health and local government before that date. This article, as the foundation for a wider study on migrants in Scotland, uses government records to examine attempts by these bodies to engage with migrants and also to develop ideas on managing 'foreignness'. It concludes that although officials largely engaged on the basis of increasingly restrictive UK-wide legislation from 1905, this was also a period in which migrants could benefit from the efforts of both ministers and mandarins to act in line with what they saw as the particular traditions, practices and priorities of Scotland.

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Why is it important?

Migration is one of the great issues of our time. The UK , in particular, has a past shaped by migration and in the last thirty years or so has been particularly shaped by migration from the European continent. This article is attempting to look further back, before WW2, and to examine migration from Europe into one particular part of the UK. Importantly, the article takes account of the distinct nature of public bodies in Scotland and examines their attempts to manage contacts with those deemed to be 'foreigners', and with foreignness itself. Beginning to understand the nature of these contacts may help us to understand the role of public bodies in the formation of identities, 'hybrid' or otherwise, in modern Scotland.

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