Historians Call for a Review of Home Office Citizenship and Settlement Test

21 July 2020

Historians Call for a Review of Home Office Citizenship and Settlement Test

We are historians of Britain and the British Empire and writing in protest at the on-going misrepresentation of slavery and Empire in the “Life in the UK Test”, which is a requirement for applicants for citizenship or settlement (“indefinite leave to remain”) in the United Kingdom. The official handbook published by the Home Office is fundamentally misleading and in places demonstrably false. For example, it states that ‘While slavery was illegal within Britain itself, by the 18th century it was a fully established overseas industry’ (p.42). In fact, whether slavery was legal or illegal within Britain was a matter of debate in the eighteenth century, and many people were held as slaves. The handbook is full of dates and numbers but does not give the number of people transported as slaves on British ships (over 3 million); nor does it mention that any of them died. It also states that ‘by the second part of the 20^th century, there was, for the most part, an orderly transition from Empire to Commonwealth, with countries being granted their independence’ (p.51). In fact, decolonisation was not an ‘orderly’ but an often violent process, not only in India but also in the many so-called “emergencies” such as the Mau-Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-1960). We call for an immediate official review of the history chapter.

People in the colonies and people of colour in the UK are nowhere actors in this official history. The handbook promotes the misleading view that the Empire came to an end simply because the British decided it was the right thing to do. Similarly, the abolition of slavery is treated as a British achievement, in which enslaved people themselves played no part. The book is equally silent about colonial protests, uprisings and independence movements. Applicants are expected to learn about more than two hundred individuals. The only individual of colonial origin named in the book is Sake Dean Mohamet who co-founded England’s first curry house in 1810. The pages on the British Empire end with a celebration of Rudyard Kipling.

The “Life in the UK Test” is neither a trivial quiz nor an optional discussion point. It is an official requirement in the application for settlement or citizenship and provides essential information about the United Kingdom. The handbook ‘has been approved by ministers and has official status.’ It requires applicants to remember and repeat the information it contains, which is, then, tested in an official multiple choice test. The examination is ‘based on ALL parts of the handbook’, which includes the parts mentioned above.

This publication and its official view of British history is not a left over from the distant past. It is a recent innovation, and some of its most misleading passages date only from the third edition published by the Home Office in 2013 which, with minor updates, remains the official text to this day.

This official, mandatory version of history is a step backwards in historical knowledge and understanding. Historical knowledge is and should be an essential part of citizenship. Historical falsehood and misrepresentation, however, should not.

In 2019, 125,346 individuals applied for naturalisation; almost all will have had to pass the test before applying. Many thousands more took the test in order to settle here. For many, it will have been their introduction to British history. For applicants from former colonies with knowledge of imperial violence, this account is offensive. For those from outside the former Empire without prior education in history, the official handbook creates a distorted view of the British past. For those with a basic knowledge of history, whatever their background, it puts them in the invidious position of being obliged to read, remember and repeat a version of the past which is false. For British citizens in general, the official history perpetuates a misleading view of how we came to be who we are.

The aim of the official handbook is to promote tolerance and fairness and facilitate integration. In its current version, the historical pages do the opposite

As historians we believe in debate, but interpretations of the past have to be based on facts. The distortion of the past is a challenge to democratic culture and liberal values. Historical misrepresentation should not be officially sponsored by the state. We, therefore, urge the Home Office to review the “Life in the UK Test” as a matter of urgency. Until the history chapter has been corrected and rewritten, it should be formally withdrawn from the test.

We welcome support from all members of the historical profession at any stage of their career. If you are a historian and would like to add your name to a list of over 600 historians [as of 10.09.20] in support of a review of the official Home Office handbook for the citizenship and settlement test, please use the this form.

For links to British and international media discussing the historians’ letter, please see;

List of Original Signatories

Lynn	Abrams	Professor of Modern History, University of Glasgow
Wale	Adebanwi	Professor, African Studies Centre, University of Oxford
Shahmima	Akhtar	Past and Present Fellow working on Race, Ethnicity and Equality in UK History, Royal Historical Society
Sally	Alexander	Emerita Professor of Modern History, Goldsmiths University of London
Jocelyn	Alexander	Professor of Commonwealth Studies, University of Oxford
Richard	Anderson	Lecturer in Colonial and Post-Colonial History, University of Exeter
Edward	Anderson	Lecturer in History, Northumbria University
David	Anderson	Professor of African History, University of Warwick
Clare	Anderson	Professor of History, University of Leicester, and Editor of Journal of Colonialism & Colonial History
Nir	Arielli	Associate Professor of International History, University of Leeds
David	Armitage	Lloyd C. Blankfein Professor of History, Harvard University
David	Arnold	FBA, Emeritus Professor of Asian and Global History, University of Warwick
Alison	Atkinson-Phillips	Lecturer in Public History, Newcastle University
Gareth	Austin	Professor of Economic History, University of Cambridge
Manuel	Barcia	Professor of Global History, University of Leeds
Hannah	Barker	Professor of British History, Director of the John Rylands Research Institute, SALC, University of Manchester
Angela	Bartie	Senior Lecturer in Scottish History, University of Edinburgh
Huw	Bennett	Reader in International Relations, Cardiff University
Maxine	Berg	FBA, Professor of History, University of Warwick
Helen	Berry	Professor of British History, Newcastle University
Mark	Bevir	Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for British Studies, University of California at Berkeley
Eugenio	Biagini	Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, University of Cambridge
Somak	Biswas	Early Career Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies/History, University of Warwick
Joanna	Bourke	FBA, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London
Sean	Brady	Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History, Birkbeck, University of London
John	Brewer	Eli and Edythe Broad Emeritus Professor in Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Faculty Associate Harvard University History Department
Emily	Bridger	Senior Lecturer in Global and Imperial History, University of Exeter
Peter	Brooke	Departmental Lecturer in African History, University of Oxford
Anna	Bruzzone	College Lecturer in European and World History 1800-present, Oriel College, University of Oxford
Trevor	Burnard	Wilberforce Professor of Slavery and Emancipation at the University of Hull
Elizabeth	Chatterjee	Lecturer, Queen Mary University of London
Joya	Chatterji	FBA, Trinity College, Cambridge
Simukai	Chigudu	Associate Professor of African Politics, University of Oxford
Gemma	Clark	Senior Lecturer in British/Irish History, University of Exeter
Patricia	Clavin	FBA, Professor of International History, University of Oxford
Michael	Collins	Associate Professor of Modern British History, UCL
Matt	Cook	Professor of Modern History, Birkbeck, University of London
Matthew	Cragoe	Visiting Professor, University of Lincoln
Tom	Crook	Senior Lecturer in Modern British History, Oxford Brookes University
Tom	Cunningham	Research Fellow, History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh
Gareth	Curless	Senior Lecturer in History, University of Exeter
William	Dalrymple	Author
Martin	Daunton	FBA, Emeritus Professor of Economic History, University of Cambridge
Lucy	Delap	Reader in Modern British and Gender History and Deputy Chair History Faculty, University of Cambridge
Katie	Donington	Senior Lecturer in History, London South Bank University
Wayne	Dooling	Senior Lecturer in the History of Southern Africa, SOAS, University of London
Shane	Doyle	Professor of African History, University of Leeds
Nicholas	Draper	Former Director, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, UCL
Felix	Driver	Professor of Historical Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London
Saul	Dubow	Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History, Cambridge University
Hannah	Elias	Lecturer in Black British History, Goldsmiths, University of London
Martin	Farr	Senior Lecturer, School of History, Newcastle University
Dan	Feather	Lecturer in Humanities and Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University+C61
David	Feldman	Director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antsemitism, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London
Margot	Finn	Professor of Modern British History, UCL
Robert	Fletcher	Reader in the History of Britain and Empire, University of Warwick
Professor Sir Roderick	Floud	FBA
Roy	Foster	FBA, Emeritus Professor of Irish History, University of Oxford, and Professor of Irish History and Literature, Queen Mary University of London
Jo	Fox	Director and Professor of Modern History, Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Christienna	Fryar	Lecturer in Black British History, Goldsmiths, University of London
Leigh	Gardner	Associate Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics
Anindita	Ghosh	Professor of Modern Indian History, University of Manchester
Tim	Gibbs	Lecturer, African History, UCL
Paul	Gilroy	Professor of the Humanities and Founding Director, Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism & Racialisation
Emma	Griffin	Professor, School of History, University of East Anglia
Simon	Gunn	Professor of Urban History, University of Leicester
Nicholas	Guyatt	Reader in North American History, University of Cambridge
Catherine	Hall	Emerita Professor of History, UCL, Chair of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership
Ryan	Hanley	Lecturer in Modern British History, University of Exeter
Deana	Heath	Reader in Indian and Colonial History, Department of History, University of Liverpool
Sacha	Hepburn	Teaching Fellow in African History, University of Warwick
Rachel	Herrmann	Lecturer in Modern American History, Cardiff University
Gad	Heuman	Emeritus professor, University of Warwick
Matthew	Hilton	Professor of Social History, Vice Principal (Humanities and Social Sciences), Queen Mary University of London, Co-editor, Past and Present
Julian	Hoppit	FBA, Astor Professor of British History, UCL
Anthony	Howe	Professor of Modern History, University of East Anglia
Jane	Humphries	FBA, Centennial Professor, London School of Economics, Emeritus Professor, Oxford University
Emma	Hunter	Professor of Global and African History, University of Edinburgh
Richard	Huzzey	Reader in Modern British History, Durham University
Stacey	Hynd	Senior Lecturer in African History, Co-Director of the Centre for Imperial and Global History, University of Exeter
Will	Jackson	Associate Professor of Imperial History, School of History, University of Leeds
Louise A.	Jackson	Professor of Modern Social History, University of Edinburgh
Max	Jones	Senior Lecturer in Modern History, University of Manchester
Yasmin	Khan	Associate Professor of History, Oxford
Nicki	Kindersley	Lecturer in Black History, Cardiff University
Tony	Kushner	Professor, Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton
Julia	Laite	Reader in Modern History, Birkbeck, University of London, Director of the Raphael Samuel History Centre
David	Lambert	Professor of Caribbean History, University of Warwick
Paul	Lane	Jennifer Ward Oppenheimer Professor of the Deep History & Archaeology of Africa, University of Cambridge
Miles	Larmer	Professor of African History, University of Oxford
Jon	Lawrence	Professor of Modern British History, University of Exeter
Elisabeth	Leake	Associate Professor of International History, University of Leeds
Rachel	Leow	Senior Lecturer in Modern East Asian History, University of Cambridge
Alan	Lester	Professor of Historical Geography, University of Sussex
Philippa	Levine	Walter Prescott Webb Chair of History and Ideas and Director, Programme in British Studies, University of Texas at Austin
James	Livesey	Professor of Global History, University of Dundee
Tim	Livsey	Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in History, Northumbria University
John	Lonsdale	Emeritus Professor of Modern African History, University of Cambridge
Peter	Mandler	FBA, Professor of Modern Cultural History, University of Cambridge
Gerard	McCann	Senior Lecturer in Global and African History, University of York
Helen	McCarthy	Reader in Modern and Contemporary British History, University of Cambridge
Keith	McClelland	Researcher, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, UCL
Clare	Midgley	Research Professor in History, Sheffield Hallam University
Maria	Misra	Associate Professor of History, Oxford University
Martin	Moore	Research Fellow, Department of History, University of Exeter
Renaud	Morieux	Reader in British and European History, University of Cambridge
Frank	Mort	Professor of Cultural Histories, University of Manchester
Philip	Murphy	Director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies
Kalathmika	Natarajan	Teaching Fellow in South Asian History, University of Edinburgh
Simon P.	Newman	Sir Denis Brogan Professor of History, University of Glasgow
Paul	Nugent	Professor of Comparative African History, University of Edinburgh
Patrick	O’Brien	FBA, Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Former Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London
Miles	Ogborn	Professor of Geography, Queen Mary University of London
David	Olusoga	Professor of Public History, The University of Manchester
Meleisa	Ono-George	Associate Professor of Caribbean History, Department of History, University of Warwick
Marc-William	Palen	Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
Diana	Paton	William Robertson Professor of History, University of Edinburgh
Helen	Paul	Lecturer in Economics and Economic History, University of Southampton, Honorary Secretary of the Economic History Society
Sarah	Pearsall	Senior Lecturer in American and Atlantic History, Cambridge University
Kennetta Hammond	Perry	Director, Stephen Lawrence Research Centre and Reader in History, De Montfort University
Steven	Pierce	Senior Lecturer in Modern African History, University of Manchester
Jessica	Reinisch	Reader in Modern European History, Birkbeck, University of London
Giorgio	Riello	Professor of Early Modern Global History, European University Institute
Mark	Roodhouse	Reader in Modern British History, University of York
Tirthankar	Roy	Professor in Economic History, London School of Economics
Jan	Rüger	Professor of History and Head of Department, School of History, Classics & Archaeology, Birkbeck, University of London
Anita	Rupprecht	Principal Lecturer, University of Brighton
Jonathan	Saha	Associate Professor Southeast Asian History, University of Leeds
Laura	Sangha	Senior Lecturer in British History, University of Exeter
Hilary	Sapire	Senior Lecturer, Birkbeck, University of London
Aditya	Sarkar	Associate Professor of History, University of Warwick
Catherine	Schenk	Professor of Economic & Social History, University of Oxford, President of the Economic History Society
Bill	Schwarz	Professor of History & Literature, Queen Mary University of London
Chandak	Sengoopta	Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London
Leigh	Shaw-Taylor	Senior Lecturer Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Economic and Social History, University of Cambridge
Alex	Shepard	Professor of Gender History, University of Glasgow
Sujit	Sivasundaram	Professor of World History, University of Cambridge, Director, Centre of South Asian Studies,
Graham	Smith	Professor of Oral History, Oral History Unit and Collective, Newcastle University
Matthew	Smith	Professor of History, Director, Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, University College London
Ljubica	Spaskovska	Lecturer in European History, University of Exeter
Gareth	Stedman Jones	FBA, Professor of the History of Ideas, Queen Mary University of London, Director, Centre for History and Economics, Cambridge, Fellow King’s College, Cambridge
Sarah	Stockwell	Professor, Department of History, King’s College London
Julie-Marie	Strange	Professor of Modern British History, Durham University
Jean	Stubbs	Co-Director, Commodities of Empire, British Academy Research Project, University of London
John	Styles	Professor Emeritus in History, University of Hertfordshire
Florence	Sutcliffe-Braithwaite	Lecturer in twentieth-century British history, University College London
Simon	Szreter	Professor of History and Public Policy, University of Cambridge
Naomi	Tadmor	Professor, Lancaster University and Chair, The Social History Society
Becky	Taylor	Reader in Modern History, University of East Anglia
Natalia	Telepneva	Lecturer in International History, University of Strathclyde
David	Thackery	Associate Professor in History, University of Exeter
Pat	Thane	FBA,Visiting Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London
Martin	Thomas	Professor of Imperial History, University of Exeter
Natalie	Thomlinson	Associate Professor of Modern British Cultural History, University of Reading
James	Thompson	Reader in Modern British History, University of Bristol
Jim	Tomlinson	Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Glasgow
Richard	Toye	Professor of Modern History, University of Exeter
Robert	Travers	Associate Professor, Cornell University
Frank	Trentmann	Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London (contact person)
Guido	van Meersbergen	Assistant Professor in Global History, University of Warwick
Megan	Vaughan	FBA, Professor of African History and Health, Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL
Chris	Vaughan	Senior Lecturer in African History, Liverpool John Moores University
James	Vernon	Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
Pippa	Virdee	Reader in Modern South Asian History, De Montfort University
Jelmer	Vos	Lecturer in Global History, University of Glasgow
Brodie	Waddell	Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History, Birkbeck, University of London
Kim A.	Wagner	Professor of Global and Imperial History, Queen Mary University of London
David	Washbrook	Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge University
Rob	Waters	Lecturer in Modern British History, Queen Mary University of London
Ruth	Watson	Lecturer, History Faculty, University of Cambridge
Anthony	Webster	Professor in History, Northumbria University
Nicholas J.	White	Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Liverpool John Moores University
Jerry	White	Professor of Modern London History, Birkbeck, University of London
Christine	Whyte	Lecturer in Global History, University of Glasgow
Philip	Williamson	Professor of History, Durham University
Justin	Willis	Professor in History, Durham University
Phil	Withington	Professor in Social and Cultural History, University of Sheffield
Waseem	Yaqoob	Lecturer in the History of Political Thought, Queen Mary University of London
Hannah	Young	Lecturer in nineteenth-century British history, University of Southampton
Natalie	Zacek	Senior Lecturer in American Studies, University of Manchester
Nuala	Zahedieh	Professor of Economic and Social History, University of Edinburgh

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Banner image (cropped). Entrance at 2 Marsham Street, Westminster, London, taken by Steph Gray. Understood to be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 2.0

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