Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This seventh chapter’s case studies explore the port of Liverpool. It examines poor law officials who handled paupers refused embarkation to America. Four groups of immigrants are investigated: a large cohort of Greek Gypsies; Syrian refugees escaping war; Polish workers from Hamburg of Jewish descent; and an Irish diaspora in Wales. By the 1880s, racial discrimination and xenophobia was commonplace in port cities. Most guardians of the poor were confounded by the humanitarian crisis on their door-step of women and children and dignified immigrant men coming across in small boats. In the case of hard-pressed Syrian men, it has been feasible to trace their travel-lines. Their extensive sea-journeys turn out to be the exact same boat routes as current migrants crossing the Mediterranean and English Channel today. The chapter concludes by highlighting diasporas of destitution; those returning from serving the British Empire abroad, resented being treated as ‘nobodies’ when they came home to England.</jats:p>