Hampshire has always been a popular destination for immigrants, with the ports at Portsmouth and Southampton receiving immigrants from all over Europe and being the starting point for voyages to the New World. Southampton Docks rapidly expanded since their creation in 1850, and saw increasing traffic with South Africa, Australia and the Americas.
Poles In Portsmouth
In 1834 a group of Polish immigrants came through the Portsmouth docks. The Poles who arrived in Portsmouth had previously been staying in Prussia seeking refuge from war when they were ordered back to Poland, but many Polish soldiers refused, and a lot of them were consequently killed. Prussia then received them back, but as labourers on public works along with criminals. They were then offered the choice of return to Poland or passage to America; the Poles chose America. Three ships left Prussia, one, the Elizabeth, stopping at Le Havre, another, the Union, stopping at Harwich, and the third, the Marianne, docking at Portsmouth due to prolonged bad weather. When the winds abated the Poles passively resisted their Prussian Captain's insistence of transportation to America as they preferred to remain in Europe, closer to Poland.
They were then offered entry into French foreign legion to fight in Algiers, but were unwilling to join.
The people of Portsmouth and Portsea welcomed them immediately. Without encouragement from the authorities, the people of Portsmouth assisted and supported these exiles, army officers particularly treating the Polish refugees with kindness and propriety. One article states "Not the rich and great alone have contributed, but perhaps many a hard- earned shilling has been dropped into the subscription boxes by the artisan or labourer". Many in the town subscribed to support the Poles financially as well, including the body of liberal politicians in Portsmouth. Efforts were at once made to collect funds for the support of the poor foreigners.
Schools in Portsmouth made collections and held charity events to raise money for them. The non-commissioned officers of the 12th regiment contributed £7 and the 77th Depot gave £12, while a concert at the Green Row Rooms brought in £60. "The civil and moral character of the country was sustained by the reaction to the Poles’ arrival from the locals."
A memorial was built, but only half completed before funds ran out and it remained unfinished until 2004. The Polish Memorial Fund succeeded in raising funds to complete the New Memorial, and produced a pamphlet to commemorate the occasion.
Poles in Southampton
After the outbreak of the Springtime of the Nations in 1848 Poles actively supported many European revolutions of that time. A Polish Legion numbering some 2,000 soldiers served under Lajos Kossuth in the Hungarian insurrection. After its defeat Poles and Hungarians fled from Hungary, crossed the border into Turkey and became detained on its territory. The main place of their imprisonment was the citadel of Kutayah in central Turkey where a few hundred Poles and Hungarians, with their leader, Kossuth, were kept for over three years. Thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Viscount Palmerston these soldiers became finally released in 1851 and came to England on board many different ships (Sultan, Mississippi, Euxine). Different groups of refugees have arrived in ports of England between February and October of that year.
By 6 May only about 40 Hungarians remained in Turkey. According to the statistics of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland 464 Poles arrived in Great Britain in 1851 and over 200 left the country. At that time the general number of Polish refugees numbered about 800 people. The refugees from Turkey came to different English ports: Liverpool, Leeds and Southampton. Many of them decided to emigrate to US.
The Southampton City Council had to spend 1232 – 9 – 6 on those refugees. They were also supported by the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland, which offered a donation of 8 – 5 – 0. There are also records stating that the group of 30 Poles who decided to stay in Southampton received an additional payment of 216 – 14 – 6 in August of that year.
General Bulcharyn and his fellow soldiers arrived in Southampton to find themselves in very miserable conditions. They went to London and sent a special letter to Sir George Grey, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary in which they presented their situation and "humbly begged to extend to them that protection which was granted to many of their fellow countrymen". In support of his petition, Bulcharyn provided the list of the soldiers and their servants, asking for a grant of £10 for each of them.