Alien Immigrant, The

“Those who want a clear statement of the problem of the alien immigrant cannot do better than turn to this.” The Daily Telegraph

At the turn of the twentieth century ‘alien’ (meaning non-national) immigration to Britain had become a highly prominent public issue on which diverse views were held. In this book, W. Evans-Gordon, Conservative Member of Parliament for Stepney in East London aims to educate the public about alien immigration, putting forward both sides of the case as impartially as he can. As well as being an MP for a constituency with high levels of immigration, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Alien Immigration 1903 and travelled Europe extensively to research how Jews lived in other countries.

W. Evans-Gordon is critical of the impact of what he calls ‘continuous alien invasion’ is having on the English population in the East End. He portrays East of Aldgate as a ‘foreign town’ where Christianity is no longer the religion, the native population has been pushed out by an immigrant population (of mainly Eastern European Jews), it is an exception to hear the English language spoken in the streets, and the immigrant population works in ‘sweated’ labour conditions (long hours for low pay in unhealthy surroundings) and lives in over-crowded and unhygienic housing. He is critical of those who associate being anti-immigration with being anti-Sematic.

In 1902 W. Evans-Gordon spent more than two months travelling to study Jewish populations in Europe, visiting places such as Berlin, St. Petersburg, Dvinsk (Dunabourg), Riga, Libau, Vilna, Pinsk, Warsaw, Lodz, Cracow, Galicia, Austria, Bucharest Budapesth Roumania, Galatz, Lemberg and Hamburg. He observed the living conditions of Jews in these numerous European settings as well as the persecution they experienced.

The book includes a large number of facts and figures relevant to a debate on immigration in Britain. One point W. Evans-Gordon stresses repeatedly is the high level of involvement of Jews in crime, especially prostitution, both in Europe and in Britain. Whilst Evans-Gordon is keen to clarify that he is not anti-Semitic, he does consider the Jews ‘a race apart’ and stresses the claim that “the settlement of large aggregations of Hebrews in a Christian land has never been successful.”

Following the publication of The Alien Immigrant, Evans-Gordon continued to campaign for restrictions on immigration. He played a leading role in the passing of the Aliens Act 1905 which introduced various immigration controls in Britain for the first time. This book is essential reading for those interested in Jewish history in Britain and Europe and British immigration history. First published by William Heinemann in 1903. This special edition is published by Lewisham Press.

Major Sir William Eden Evans Gordon was born in Chatham in Kent in England in 1857. After a successful military and political career in India and then Britain, he died in 1913 at his home in London.

“Breaks ground that will be new to the majority of Englishmen. He tells a plain tale with directness and simplicity. A useful contribution to the whole subject.” The Standard

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