Our main views about the nature of emigration from England and Wales in the late nineteenth century are set out below. Our conclusions do not depend on our migration estimates achieving exceptional accuracy and would all hold at the limits of the errors inherent in the estimates.

Between 1861 and 1900 about million natives of England and Wales sailed from English and Welsh ports for a destination outside Europe. A very large number of these passengers were not emigrants or were temporary emigrants. Since nearly 50% of outward passengers returned, permanent emigrants from England and Wales must have numbered about million persons in the period. The rate of return rose sharply in the 1870s, which was the first decade when virtually all emigrants on the North Atlantic were carried by steamships. From the 1870s until 1914 it is likely that about 40% of emigrants returned. This was probably the highest rate in Europe for those forty-five years.

About 35% of all the permanent emigrants from England and Wales in the period had been born in London, the West Midlands or Lancashire, and just under 25% had been born in other counties that were highly urbanised. It is likely that the majority of emigrants had been born and brought up in an urban environment.