Earlier in the year our Rob James participated in an outreach event hosted by Liberation Route Europe in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. LRE Foundation is an international network that brings together people and organisations who are dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of the Second World War. At the event, Rob took part in a panel discussion outlining the benefits of the organisation and its new Hiking Trails project. The southern section of the UK Hiking Trail runs from London to the South coast, and one of Rob’s PhD researchers, (now Dr) Jayne Friend, was employed by the Foundation to provide material for the trail. Jayne identified many points of interest relating to the D-Day campaign in Britain, and when the trail is officially launched you’ll be able to follow in the footsteps of those who participated in the campaign. To read more about the outreach event, visit the LRE Foundation’s newsletter here. To find out more about the Hiking Trails project, and watch a video introducing the London to Portsmouth trail, follow this link.
The panel discussion, with our Rob James seated third from the left
Recently, the internationally-renowned museum, The D-Day Story, published on their website a podcast recorded in 2022 by three second year History students, Amy Deighton, Jessie Rickman and Sam Marchetti. The students, who are now in the final year of their studies, worked with the museum’s archives as part of their assessment for the ‘Working with the Past’ module, coordinated by Mike Esbester. The second-year module encourages students to work with our local community partners where possible and produce work that has a benefit to them and the organisation they are working with. To hear the podcast, go to the D-Day Story website here.
On 14 December 2022 University of Portsmouth PhD researcher, Corey Watson, presented at the second joint Naval History/ History research seminar of the year. In the paper Corey, who is in the second year of his doctoral programme, discussed the crucial role that the small group of surveyors who worked for Lloyd’s Register in China played as middle-men in this global maritime system. If you missed the paper, the recording is available to watch here. You will need the following password MLFv8c.z to access the recording. An abstract for Corey’s paper is below. To read more about Corey’s PhD programme, generously funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, see Dr Melanie Bassett’s blog on the Port Towns and Urban Cultures website.
Shanghai shortly after opening the port to foreign trade. Wikimedia Commons.
Abstract
In 1869, a Lloyd’s Register ship and engineer Surveyor was for the first time posted to Shanghai, China. The surveyor, Joseph John Tucker, upon arriving in Shanghai marked the beginning of a rapid and global expansion of the Lloyd’s Register Society’s influence. By the end of the First World War the society had hundreds of surveyors in post across all five continents. These marine surveyors – veteran marine engineers whose expertise covered shipbuilding and maintenance, maritime safety, and maritime technology – played important roles in facilitating the ever-expanding networks of maritime knowledge, trade, and migration that increasingly connected the late 19th century world. This paper will draw on the concept of ‘new imperial history’ to investigate how these imperial maritime networks of knowledge functioned by analysing the lived experiences of these Lloyd’s Register surveyors. It also develops on a burgeoning literature which stresses the importance of these transnational networks and the ‘infrastructural globalization’ of the ‘world system’ that they underpinned. This paper will specifically engage with the themes of maritime knowledge networks, the movement of people, and the resultingly complex cultural identities that were produced. It will be shown first that by studying these maritime professionals, there can be found a number of interesting contradictions in the workings of maritime networks as the long reach of London struggled, with mixed success, to keep a degree of control over its agents far from home. Furthermore, it will be demonstrated that these surveyors, who played crucial roles as middle-men in these global maritime systems, found themselves with complicated and frequently shifting cultural identities and levels of professional agency as a result of their engagement with these networks.
In this blog, our Rob James, Senior Lecturer in History, discusses the local history project he worked on with one of our local community partners, Pompey History Society, that culminated in the publication of a book which includes a chapter written by Rob and four of our History students, Sam Ewart, Maria Kopanska, Dan Ward and Jack Woolley. Rob’s research explores society’s leisure activities and feeds into a number of optional and specialist modules that he teaches in the second and third year.
‘POMPEY Champions of England’ front cover
On 26 October 2022, I attended the launch of the book POMPEY Champions of England: The sporting and social history of Portsmouth FC’s league title wins in 1949 & 1950, edited by the chair of Pompey History Society (PHS) Colin Farmery. The book launch, held at Portsmouth City Museum, was the culmination of the project ‘POMPEY: Champions of England’, run by PHS and generously funded by the Heritage Fund.
I have been involved with the project from its inception. Many years ago now, Colin Farmery contacted me and asked if I was willing to be on the steering committee of a project that intended to capture, through undertaking oral history interviews, the memories of fans who witnessed Portsmouth Football Club’s back-to-back title wins in the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the project. It allowed me to be more closely involved with the history of the football club I’d supported for many years, and also provided me with an opportunity to get the University, and more importantly, our students, involved and working with a local community organisation.
Despite being disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the project progressed well, and around 40 interviews were conducted and archived, leading to the production of a supplement of fan memories in the local newspaper The News, and the unveiling of a permanent exhibition at Fratton Park in late 2021.
Pompey: Champions of England exhibition at Fratton Park
The final aim of the project was to publish a book that placed the fans’ memories within the social and sporting context of the time they were visiting Fratton Park to watch Pompey achieve their incredible feat of consecutive title wins. The book was divided into the themes that had been drawn out from the testimonies of the supporters who were interviewed, and these included their memories of living in war-torn Portsmouth, the match-day experience, and the important role the football club played (and continues to play) in the local community. As editor, Colin Farmery had already commissioned a number of the chapters, but he approached me and asked if our students would like to be involved in writing a chapter on the theme of ‘Women and Football’. Of course, I said yes!
First page of the chapter written by Rob, Sam, Maria, Dan and Jack
Fortunately, one of our second year core modules, ‘Working with the Past’, is specifically designed to enable our students to work with the many local organisations who the History team are involved with. My colleagues and I work with the module’s coordinator, Mike Esbester, to offer students a suite of choices that allow them to gain valuable experience by working with these community partners.
One of the choices I put forward was the opportunity to work with Pompey History Society, and we recruited four students, Sam Ewart, Maria Kopanska, Dan Ward and Jack Woolley, to work with the organisation. Colin invited the students to Fratton Park so that he could introduce them to the aims of the project. He also gave them a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium, which included showing them the project’s permanent exhibition as well as a look at the Society’s archive. The task was set: the students were to be given access to all of the interviews that were conducted with female fans so that they could begin the research for their chapter.
History students visiting the exhibition at Fratton Park
For the project, four female fans – Joan Elder, Audrey Hawkins, Joan Phillips, and Maggie Thoyts – were interviewed. The students each took one of the testimonies, evaluated it, and wrote up a section for the chapter, which also coupled as part of their assessment for the module. I came back in at the end of the process and edited the students’ contributions so that the chapter ran along a thematic line, introducing additional contextual material to build a full picture of the women’s experience of being a female football fan in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Lady Mayor Maria Costa speaking at the book launch
So, there we have it, the book has been launched and the students are now published authors. That’s something to catch the eye of a prospective employer! Pompey History Society are thrilled with the work the students have done, and we are currently discussing what future projects our students could be involved with (I’m on the ‘125 Committee’ which is planning a series of activities to coincide with the 125th anniversary of the formation of Portsmouth Football Club in 1898). All in all, it’s been a great experience and I am so proud of our students’ achievements. Well done Dan, Jack, Maria, and Sam!
Colin Farmery, Sam Ewart and Rob James at the book launch
On 19 October 2022 our own Dr Cathryn Pearce, Senior Lecturer in Maritime History, presented at the first History research seminar of this academic year with a thought-provoking paper looking at the grounding of the coastal brig Lord Nelson at Liverpool, UK, and the civic and social responsibility for seafarers and the shipwrecked in a port dominated by shipping interest. If you missed the paper, the recording is available on the Port Towns and Urban Cultures website here (scroll down to find Cathy’s paper).
In this blog, recent BA (Hons) History with Politics graduate Phil Matthews reflects on the impact immigration has had on British culture in the post-Second World War era. Phil, who wrote the blog as part of his assessment for the second year module ‘Working with the Past’, coordinated by Dr Mike Esbester, describes how many aspects of British culture changed as a result of mass immigration into the country in the latter half of the twentieth century. Britain, Phil notes, transformed into a multi-ethnic society and benefitted massively from immigrants bringing their own country’s cultures with them. The twentieth century normalised the multi-cultural society that we live in today, Phil concludes, and also normalised public figures of colour from various different cultural fields.
HMT Empire Windrush. historyextra.com
Culture involves the characteristics, traits and habits of a group of people. Many aspects of British culture changed as a result of mass immigration into the country in the latter half of the twentieth century. Spencer highlights a massive change in the population demographic due to migration, stating that ‘between 1940 and 1990, communities of Indian subcontinental, Caribbean and African origin have grown from a small fraction of 1% of the total population of Britain to almost 6%’.[1] As a result of immigration, Britain transformed to a multi-ethnic society, thus leading to greater cultural diversity as a result. This blog will emphasize the transformation that multi-culturalism had on several cultural facets, including sport, cuisine, music, and entertainment.
It would be beneficial to state initially why mass immigration occurred. Britain encouraged mass immigration from the Commonwealth countries after the Second World War via the 1948 British Nationality Act, which was described by Hanson and Desmond as a step towards the ‘world’s most liberal immigration regime’.[2] Britain chose to introduce this legislation due to labour shortages as a result of the war. This led to ‘the consequent creation of new ethnic minority communities in Britain’.[3] Transport systems and other institutions, such as the newly founded NHS, needed staffing. The ‘Windrush generation’ were one such group that came in 1948 to make a new life in Britain. The 1948 Act has been amended many times to tighten up immigration controls, but throughout the twentieth century, Britain saw a migration boom, which later changed British culture in numerous ways.
Image: John Barnes playing for England. nationalfootballmuseum.com
One cultural aspect that changed massively as a result of immigration and cultural diversity in the twentieth century was sport. Sport became more diverse and culturally inclusive as the century progressed into its latter years. In the 1970s and 1980s, there were not many non-white and foreign players, and it was not welcomed by everyone as racism was rife in football. John Barnes came from Jamaica and emigrated to London with his family aged 12 years. Barnes was only the second black player to play for Liverpool, which led to frequent racial abuse. Bananas were thrown at him even by his own team’s supporters, and he was subject to abuse from opposition supporters and players and club staff. [4] Football became more tolerant for two reasons. The first reason is anti-racist bodies being set up in the 1990s, including the Commission for Racial Equality, the Professional Footballers Association, the Football Trust and the Football Task Force, which ‘organised or endorsed campaigns such as Kick Racism Out of Football and Show Racism the Red Card’.[5] These organisations helped enforce and punish racist behaviour in football. The second reason is that more foreign and British players of colour feature in the Premier League today. A current example that can be used is Manchester City’s and England’s Raheem Sterling. Sterling moved to London from Jamaica with his parents when he was five years old. He is widely regarded as one of the best players in the Premier League and suffers less racial abuse than John Barnes had to endure. While it is still far from perfect, racism in football has become less frequent since the 1970s and 1980s. This shows how immigration and the cultural diversity that came with immigration changed sporting culture, particularly in football.
Image taken from Unsplash
Another cultural aspect that changed hugely as a consequence of immigration and cultural diversity is food and cuisine. Food from the countries of migrants, particularly food from the Commonwealth, has been brought and adopted into British culture, for example curries. Increased immigration changed eating habits in Britain. This was partially as a result of the British Empire, but as Panayi argues, the development of cuisine in Britain was most prominent after 1945, because of ‘increasing international trade or the influence of multinational companies’.[6] The influx of immigrants, particularly after the 1948 British Nationality Act, also contributed heavily to this, Panayi notes, arguing that ‘[b]efore 1950 in an age of Total War and before the spread of affluence, concepts of British – as opposed to foreign foods – hardly existed. This situation changed as a result of post-war immigration and brand labelling’.[7] This shows that immigration changed the culture of cuisine, by making British cuisine more varied over the course of the twentieth century.
Bob Marley stockfreeimages.com
A third cultural aspect that varied tremendously as a result of immigration and cultural diversity is music. As multiculturalism became more prominent in Britain, music became more diverse. As Scheding notes, migrants brought ‘their music with them’.[8] One example of music that became prominent in Britain is hip-hop, which originated in the Bronx in the 1970s. It was often provocative and politically powerful. Scheding states that ‘In the UK, rap music transformed from an imitation of US styles in the 1980s to carving out something more unique’.[9] It has become more popular in the twenty-first century too, enjoying ‘a renaissance in the mid-2010s’.[10] Another example of increased cultural integration in British music was the introduction of reggae music from the Caribbean. As Curley notes, Chris Blackwell was the ‘single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music.’[11] He founded Island Records in Jamaica in 1958 and returned to England a few years later with Bob Marley, a global figure not just in music, but in popular culture in general. These two examples show how much music varied across the century alongside more cultural integration and immigration.
In the entertainment industry, there are now more people of colour on the screens to reflect the more multi-cultural society that we live in today. Policies were brought in to make television more diverse, such as public service broadcasting which ‘included recruitment measures, targets and specialist slots and multicultural departments’.[12] Some entertainment companies sought to reflect the increasing cultural diversity in Britain, such as the BBC, which had ‘separate African-Caribbean and Asian Program Units for a period’.[13] This policy was aimed to specifically better Black and Asian representation in the media. This shows increased efforts to be culturally diverse in the entertainment industry, in line with a more multi-cultural society as a result of immigration.
It is important to note that mass immigration was not supported by everybody in Britain. Toby Skevington notes that at times receptions for immigrants of colour were ‘generally unwelcoming’.[14] Lauren Mclaren also notes that immigration created ‘widespread concern about political and social community and about social identities’.[15] Hostility and discontent towards mass immigration was prominent in the 1950s amongst some White communities in Britain. This led to disturbances such as race riots occurring in Nottingham and London. Notting Hill of 1958 was an example of a ‘white riot against Notting Hill’s Afro-Caribbean community’.[16] Nine White youths received five-year prison sentences for these acts but this did not change some of the public’s desire to cut immigration. Enoch Powell referred to immigrants as ‘dependents’ in his infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech in 1968 and called for immigration controls to be tightened.[17] Some people saw this as racist and hysterical, but others supported what he said which made Powell’s speech extremely divisive. The later years of the twentieth century saw more distancing from the 1948 British Nationality Act, which was extremely inclusive towards migrants coming in.
Immigration controls were tightened over the course of the twentieth century, and mass immigration was not wholly supported, but this did not change the huge cultural impact that immigrants would have over British culture. Immigrants brought their own country’s cultures with them to Britain, such as sport, cuisine, music and entertainment. The twentieth century normalised the multi-cultural society that we live in today and normalised public figures of colour from various different cultural fields.
Notes
[1] Ian R G Spencer. 2002. British Immigration Policy since 1939 the Making of Multi-Racial Britain. Routledge.
[2] Randall Hansen and Desmond King. 2000. “Illiberalism and the New Politics of Asylum: Liberalism’s Dark Side.” The Political Quarterly 71 (4): 396–403.
[3] David A Coleman. 1987. “U.K. Statistics on Immigration: Development and Limitations.” The International Migration Review 21 (4): 1138–69.
[4] John Goddard and John O.S. Wilson. 2008. “Racial Discrimination in English Professional Football: Evidence from an Empirical Analysis of Players’ Career Progression.” SSRN Electronic Journal 33 (2).
[14] Tony Skevington. 2000. “Immigration into the United Kingdom since 1945.” English and American Studies, (35), 95-110.
[15] Lauren McLaren. 2011. “Immigration and Trust in Politics in Britain.” British Journal of Political Science 42 (1): 163–85.
[16] Camilla Schofield and Ben Jones. 2019. “‘Whatever Community Is, This Is Not It’: Notting Hill and the Reconstruction of ‘Race’ in Britain after 1958.” Journal of British Studies 58 (1): 142–73.
[17] Liu and Elliott. 2014. “Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ Speech This Is the Full Text of Enoch Powell’s So-Called ‘Rivers of Blood’ Speech, Which Was Delivered to a Conservative Association Meeting in Birmingham.
