Keele historian receives fellowship to create first global history of British nationality

A Keele historian has been awarded a prestigious Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship to create the first meta-analysis of the peoples, places, and processes of legal Britishness globally.  

This Leverhulme award supports well-established, distinguished researchers in the humanities and social sciences to complete a piece of original research, through a full-time replacement alongside Open Access and research costs. This year, they have awarded one of the Fellowships to Dr Rachel Bright, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Keele, to examine British nationality between 1844 and 1948; from Britain’s first naturalisation act to its first citizenship act and the beginnings of decolonisation. 

The three-year project, which begins in September 2026, aims to develop a deeper understanding of the hidden histories of British citizenship and to create a blueprint for future digital archives.  

Britain and its colonies developed their own systems for identifying who was British and for granting or revoking nationality; many of these systems continued decades after independence. Most of the paperwork ended up in London, while some remained in former colonies, such as Australia, where Dr Bright conducted a pilot project. 

Britain is unlike most countries, as it does not require documentation for all residents, and has often not preserved the documents that did exist. The issue was brought to the fore during the Windrush Scandal in 2018, when many of the so-called “Windrush Generation” who arrived from Commonwealth countries in the mid 20th century were wrongly classed as illegal immigrants. 

Historians and scholars researching migration have long called for the surviving paperwork to be reviewed, with Dr Bright saying that simply recognising which records have survived, and where and how they are archived, would be a major step forward. Using over 300,000 records at The National Archive in Kew, Dr Bright’s project will involve writing the first ever global history of British nationality.  

By making this history accessible, we can better address its legacies and innovate in managing big data. She will adapt Caroline Sinders’ slow programming approach, interrogating every step of data organisation and use of digital tools. At stake are vital questions of energy efficiency, user-accessibility, and data management, issues facing all organisations as data volumes explode. 

Dr Bright said: “I can’t wait to get started. This generous grant allows vital research at a time when ‘who is British’ is increasingly political, alongside pressing concerns about the implications of the digital revolution.”