The Flight of American Loyalists to the British Isles

Over the past several centuries much been written about the greatest losers in the American Revolution--the Loyalists. It is well known that thousands withdrew from the scene of conflict and settled for longer or shorter periods in the British Isles, or in some of the British possessions.

By the end of the war, these refugees were to be found in large numbers in Upper and Lower Canada and in the Maritime Provinces, in East Florida, the Bahama Islands and the West Indies, and in Great Britain. These Loyalists had been subjected to general conditions of denunciation and persecution, and later of banishment and confiscation of property.

In 1911, Ohio State Professor Wilbur Henry Siebert published a short 15-page work titled "The Flight of American Loyalists to the British Isles," with the goal of casting light on the local conditions under which the migration to Great Britain took place, pointing out the chief centres of embarkation, and viewing the evidence, say what may be said of the magnitude of the movement.

Siebert notes that, although "it would be interesting no doubt to know the total number of refugees contributed both permanently and temporarily by the loyalist ports of exit of the United States and Canada to the population of Great Britain, the problem is full of unknown factors."

By Siebert's own estimations, "without going beyond our meagre data, one might estimate a minimum number of from two to three thousand loyalists and neutrals received by Great Britain from these places of embarkation."

About the author:

After graduating from Harvard in 1889 and receiving his A.M. at Harvard in 1890, in 1898, Professor Wilbur Henry Siebert (18661961) became associate professor of European history at the Ohio State University, becoming a full professor and chairman of the history department in 1902. He served in this capacity until 1923 when he became a research professor.

He was secretary of the University faculty from 1902 to 1906, and acting dean of the College of Arts, Philosophy and Science from 1907 to 1908. He was dean of the graduate school in 1917 and 1918. His father and brothers, who manufactured books, helped fund the Siebert Library of German History at Ohio State.

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