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Throughout the 19th century Britain was seen as a place of safety for political refugees. Many activists and thinkers who were at risk in their own countries were free to live, write and be active here. Examples included:

• the German revolutionaries Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, writers of The Communist Manifesto whose analysis of social conditions, class and capitalism had a massive influence on political systems in 20th century Russia, Eastern Europe, China, South East Asia and many parts of Africa, the Caribbean and South America
• the Italian radical Giuseppe Mazzini who helped bring about the unification and independence of Italy
• the African American writer and activist Frederick Douglass who played a leading role in the movement for the abolition of slavery in the USA

Mostly, they lived here for a time in exile and then returned to their homeland.

The most significant group of refugees in this period was the Jews from Eastern Europe. They came because they were subject to violent attacks - pogroms - in what is now Russia, Poland and Ukraine. They were desperately fleeing terror - some travelled entirely on foot - and Britain’s relatively open door meant that about 140,000 arrived from the 1880s onwards, settling mainly in urban areas such as East London, Leeds and Manchester.

Many of these Jewish refugees were - like many Irish and Scottish immigrants - hoping to travel on to the USA, but could not afford to travel further than Britain. Many others joined relatives already in the UK.