Return migration from the United States to Britain, 1815-60

"It has been conventional wisdom for many years that very few migrants—possibly only one per cent—returned to Europe in the sailing ship era because of the hardships of the voyage. Raymond Cohn summarized the best sources in his recent book. Mass Migration under Sail (2009), pp. 10-11, and concluded that migration ‘in virtually all cases was permanent’. The long and hazardous outward voyage made return unlikely, and often there was little to go back to. Nearly all migration historians agree with this low rate, but a minority have suggested there was a larger return migration. In particular, Wilbur Shepperson, Emigration and Disenchantment (1965) researched the biographical accounts of 50 returnees – including many famous names – Cobbett, Kemble, Nuttall, Trollope etc. to show what they thought of the US, and why they left. This is convincing as social analysis, but is too small a number for statistical conclusions. Shepperson shows how they came in many varieties – farmers, mechanics, professionals etc. – each with personal reasons for return, but it is arguable they were in the main a special literary group. The aim of this paper is to buttress Shepperson’s case from more mundane sources– first from the Cope packets which kept passenger lists from all their eastbound packets – about 25000 names over 50 years; Second by checking the British press for return passenger details more fully– which probably Shepperson was not able to do,- and thirdly from some British government reports in the mid and late 1850s, not yet thoroughly utilised. For this see the final section of Killick, ‘Transatlantic steerage fares’. My thesis is that the return migration was larger than previously thought, and was strongly tied to general trade and migration conditions. A small proportion of those attracted by the booms, fled immediately during the following financial crisis, and more in the subsequent depressions. This has implications for what we think about the transatlantic crossing pre steam. This was less arduous and horrific than often painted - the new packet ships after 1818 made return relatively easy, and even re-emigration possible. Similarly frequent returns suggest the Anglo-American contrast were less marked, and the economic gains from emigration less obvious than often suggested at least in the east. The social and political contrasts remained of course, and there were huge differences between groups."