19 February 2025 6pm

SS Great Britain and British Emigration

Robert Fletcher (Professor of History and Kinder Professor of British History, University of Missouri)

In the nineteenth century, steam power revolutionized transport upon the ocean. Britons spilled out onto the seas in unprecedented numbers. Between 1815 and 1914, more than 20 million departed the British Isles. This evening talk explores some of the motives and ideologies driving British emigration in the long nineteenth century. It examines the impact of the passage itself, considers how migrant experiences varied, and asks whether a larger, ‘Greater Britain’ emerged as a result.

Robert Fletcher is Professor of History and Kinder Professor of British History at the University of Missouri. His work explores the history of Britain and its empire in the modern period, and the interplay of national, transnational, and global histories.