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What happened on ‘Evil May Day’?

In 1517 there were a series of serious anti-foreigner riots in London that became known as ‘Evil May Day’. These riots were stirred up by preachers, especially a Dr Bell who described foreigners as “aliens and strangers" who "eat the bread from the poor fatherless children.”

Rioting was directed especially at the Hanseatic merchants and Lombard bankers around the Steelyard, as well as the rich foreigners in the royal court. Many Londoners were angry and felt that immigrants were making money at their expense, and so ordinary immigrants suffered violent attacks. After five hours, the rioting was eventually put down by government troops and, while many of those arrested were later pardoned, 14 rioters were convicted of treason and hanged.

Eventually, with the rise of English and Dutch merchants, the Crown no longer needed the Hanseatic merchants, and in 1597 they were expelled and the Steelyard was closed down.

Protestant Refugees

Not all Protestant refugees received the same welcome as the majority of Huguenots and Walloons. When 13,000 Palatine Germans arrived in the Thames estuary in 1709, £20,000 was raised by church congregations to support them because they were seen as fellow Protestants. However, their initial welcome did not last.

They arrived at a time of rising poverty in England with high food prices and rising taxes. Local authorities in London feared that Palatines would be classed as ‘vagrants’ that by law they would have to support under the Poor Laws. When it was discovered that a third of the immigrants were in fact Catholics and arriving because of poverty and not persecution, sympathy for them drained away.

In the short term, the Government set up refugee camps in Blackheath and Clerkenwell. The longer term solution was to ship the Palatine Germans to America but that proved too expensive so the Government planned to send them to Ireland instead. A few refused and managed to find their way to America. Most returned to their homeland, leaving a very few to try to survive in England. For those 3000 that did go to Ireland, it was a disaster. They were hated by local Catholics who were suffering under English rule, could not apply their farming skills in a different environment, and were as poor as they had been in Germany.

Persecution of the ‘Egyptian’ Gypsies

Gypsies suffered extreme persecution. They moved from place to place at a time when most people still lived all their lives in the same village. Their nomadic lifestyle meant that they existed outside the control of the authorities, and they were seen as a threat. They faced a lot of prejudice and in the 16th century there were several attempts to expel them from the country:

• In 1530 King Henry VIII ordered that all Gypsies should be expelled from England.
• In 1554 Queen Mary I made it a crime to be an immigrant Romanichal Gypsy, punishable by death.
• In 1577 six people were hanged in Aylesbury for mixing with Gypsies.
• In 1592 five Gypsies were hanged in Durham.
• In 1596 nine women and men in York were executed for being Gypsies.
• In the 1650s forced transportation began of Gypsies into slavery in North America and the Caribbean.

Other unwelcome immigrants

Another group who faced great danger towards the end of the 16th century were Catholic priests, many of whom came over secretly from France, Spain or Italy. If they were caught celebrating Mass they could be executed.

Although many welcomed Huguenot refugees there were also some who reacted negatively to their arrival. Weavers, clockmakers and other craftspeople feared that their jobs were threatened, while others resented the special favours given to the newcomers. During this period, there were occasional anti-foreigner riots, when poorer Huguenots were attacked.