Government-financed factories and the establishment of industries by refugees in the special areas of the North of England 1937-1961

Abstract

The industries established by refugees who arrived in Britain before, and to a smaller extent, during and after World War II have become part of the industrial history of the Special or Development Areas of the North of England and of their efforts to change their industrial structure. The foundation of these industries was closely connected with the establishment of Government-financed factories and with the provision of other inducements aimed at facilitating this change. The causes and effects of the industrial decline and of the depression which forced the State to intervene are examined, as also the first Special Areas legislation of 1934 and of the Government-financed factories on Trading Estates and elsewhere which resulted from this legislation. The problem of finance for the new ventures and partial solutions are briefly outlined. The Special Areas Amendment Act 1937 and its consequences are discussed. The appearance of refugees in Britain after 1933 cannot be properly understood without some discussion of the background. We give, therefore, a brief outline of the origin of the refugee problem and discuss British policies towards refugees at some length. We examine public and private attitudes and trace the development of the refugee problem in the light of political events in Europe after 1933. We contrast the welcome given to refugee industrialists with the general policy, provided they were willing to settle in one of the depressed areas of Britain. The start of refugee industries in the North is described next, as are some of their problems, both those which were intrinsic and those which were created by the War. The work of the Refugee Industries Committee is examined in some detail. Post-War developments of firms started before and after the War are briefly described. Next, we are summing up the information arising from the Case Histories which we collected. We discuss aspects of the settlement of refugee industries and justify our view that this settlement has been successful. The Case Histories of all firms founded by refugees and still in existence in the North on 1 November 1974 follow, as also brief notes on firms which were no longer in existence on that date. Our study ends with some general conclusions. The appendices provide data in support of some of our findings, as also some documents which are unlikely to be available even to the more specialised students of this general subject.