Between the two World Wars nearly 1,500,000 people left the United Kingdom to seek a new life in the white settler societies of the Empire. Mass migration was encouraged by the imperial government, and this book examines the motives, the obstacles encountered at home and in the dominions, and the achievements. It explores the ex-servicemen's assisted passage scheme, the Empire Settlement Act of 1922 and the attempts to increase the emigration of single women. It assesses the response of governments and interest groups in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa to these programmes. Some of the characteristics and experiences of Empire migrants are also examined.Anxieties about the social, economic and international problems facing Britain largely inspired the idea of State-assisted emigration to the Empire. It was a distinctly imperial method of social reform and economic reconstruction. The response of the dominions, however, indicates the limits of imperial co=operation. The book shows how Empire governments were pressed to keep their immigration policies in tune with their own national economic and political needs.The book will be of interest to students and teachers in higher education concerned with the history of Britain and the Empire-Commonwealth or European imperialism, and those specialising in social administration, population movements and women's studies. It will also appeal to a more general audience, not least the families of those who took the decision to emigrate to Empire destinations between the wars.
