Why people left Britain
Starting over in a new land
Just after the Second World War (1939-45), ships such
as Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth
sailed from Southampton and other British ports packed with young
women. These were the `GI Brides` who had met US servicemen
stationed in Britain during the build-up to the invasion of Europe
in 1944. They were off to a new life with their husbands in
America. One of the most recent waves of emigration from Britain has been
to Australia and New Zealand. In the years after the Second World
War their governments began `assisted passage` schemes, which
subsidised ticket costs. For as little as £10 a family could sail
out to Australia or New Zealand and begin a new life. It was not
merely economics, and the hope of a better-paid job, that drove
these emigrants. There was also a strong feeling that they could
truly begin again in a new country. There, they felt, many of the
class distinctions of `the old country` and `knowing one`s place`
simply did not apply.
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