The 1905 Act was passed because of fears of degenerating health and housing conditions in London's East End. The cause of the degeneration was seen as the large number of Russian and Polish Jews who had arrived in the East End after fleeing persecution in Tsarist Russia.
The Act ensured that leave to land could be withheld if the immigrant was judged to be 'undesirable' by falling into one of four categories: 'a) if he cannot show that he has in his possession ... the means of decently supporting himself and his dependents ...'; 'b) if he is a lunatic or an idiot or owing to any disease of infirmity liable to become a charge upon the public rates ...'; c) 'if he has been sentenced in a foreign country for a crime, not being an offence of a political character ...'; or 'd) if an expulsion order under this act has [already] been made'.
The Act was aimed at excluding migrants who were destitute, diseased or criminal, but it specifically made exceptions for asylum seekers. 'But in the case of an immigrant who proves that he is seeking admission to this country solely to avoid persecution or punishment on religious or political grounds ... leave to land shall not be refused on the ground merely of want of means or the probability of his becoming a charge on the rates'.
The provision for asylum seekers was seen as an inviolable British tradition that should be upheld at all costs. The young Winston Churchill was one of many who deplored any suggestion that Britain should refuse entry to those fleeing persecution. In a letter to The Times in 1904, he urged against forgetting 'the old tolerant and generous practice of free entry and asylum to which this country has so long adhered and from which it has so greatly gained'.
The 1905 Act also provided for the expulsion of undesirable immigrants and the prosecution of masters of 'immigrant ships', defined as ships bringing more than 20 immigrant steerage passengers to a British port. The Act was followed by the Aliens Restriction Acts of 1914 and 1919. Both were passed in the context of Britain being at war, and their provisions were aimed at controlling foreign 'enemy' aliens already settled in London, particularly Germans.
The Aliens Restriction Act of 1914 required foreign nationals to register with police and allowed for their deportation. The 1919 Act extended the wartime emergency powers of the 1914 Act and added further restrictions, particularly concerning the employment of alien seamen in British merchant ships.
Lascar and Chinese seamen were caught up in the Act's provisions, despite its attempt to exclude them '... where the Board of Trade are satisfied that aliens of any particular race (other than former enemy aliens) are habitually employed afloat in any capacity, or in any climate for which they are specifically fitted, nothing in this section shall prejudice the right of aliens of such race to be employed on British ships'.
Despite this, the fact of the Act fuelled anti-alien feelings. Violence against 'foreign' seamen broke out in British ports during the summer of 1919. Further unrest accompanied the 1920 Aliens Order and the 1925 Special Restriction (Coloured Alien Seamen) Order. Many African, Indian, and West Indian seamen with British nationality were arbitrarily registered as aliens.
The 1919 Aliens Restrictions Act added new restrictions to the civil and employment rights of aliens already resident in Britain. This partly reflected concern about rising unemployment. The Act prohibited foreign nationals from jobs in the civil service and jury service. It also made them subject to special provision should they wish to change their business trading name. The Act brought in prison penalties for aliens causing 'sedition or disaffection' amongst the military or civilian population; or attempting to 'promote industrial unrest in any industry in which he has not been bona fide engaged for at least two years'.
