British and Irish Migration and Integration in Ferrol: A Survey of British and Spanish Documentary Sources

Abstract

[Abstract] This article documents the participation of British and Irish immigrants in an ambitious programme of naval reform in eighteenth-century Spain. In so doing, it explores their integration in their new host country in the town of Ferrol, located in north-west Spain. This town grew up around the royal dockyard which was established there by the middle of the century. In this period, the government of the Spanish monarchy actively developed a policy to attract and import foreign labour for the dockyards in order to face serious competition with foreign countries, gain supremacy over the seas, defend the country and protect its interests abroad. The migration of technicians and craftsmen from British yards to Ferrol has been often analysed on the basis of foreign experience and technology for the development of the shipbuilding industry but little attention was paid to the internal structure of this immigrant population and to the nature of the motivating factors behind these individuals's decision to move to Spain. Based on this argument, this study addresses the presence of women in this migration process, analyses the incentives for migrating and considers the role of social networks as a channel for migration and integration. These issues have been dealt with using data from primary sources which provide a more complete picture to understand this migration to Ferrol and to study the identification and adaptation of immigrants within their new social and cultural environment.