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‘Scots and Scabs from North-by-Tweed’: Undesirable Scottish Migrants in Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century England

Brown, Keith; Kennedy, Allan; Talbott, Siobhan

Authors

Keith Brown

Allan Kennedy



Abstract

While very prominent in the contemporary world, anxiety about the potentially negative impact that immigrants might have on their host communities has deep historical roots. In a British context, such fears were particularly heightened following the regal union of 1603 when large numbers of Scots began settling in England. This article offers a fresh perspective on these issues by exploring the experiences and reception of poor, deviant or otherwise ‘undesirable’ Scottish migrants to England during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Focusing in particular on chapmen, vagrants and criminals, it suggests that, while in general Scots were able to integrate relatively easily into English society, there existed an unwelcome subset surviving by dubious means. Though not usually attracting unduly severe treatment on account of their nationality, these unwelcome migrants had a disproportionate effect on English perceptions of and attitudes towards the broader cohort of Scottish migrants in their midst.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 26, 2018
Publication Date Sep 1, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Scottish Historical Review
Print ISSN 0036-9241
Electronic ISSN 1750-0222
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 98
Issue 2
Pages 241-265
DOI https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2019.0402
Publisher URL https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/shr.2019.0402