Overview of Passports

August 2020.  With scores of people arriving back home from France to the United Kingdom to avoid the 14-day quarantine requirement that would have been required.  Along with France, other countries that were in the list with isolation measures, were Netherlands, Monaco, and Malta to name but a few. 

The need for the quarantine was the named countries were having a rise in their infections rates due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The subject matter of this blog will be the history of the British Passport. 

October 2019, the red British Passport was going to be changed to a blue one.

King Henry V is credited to have invented the Passport. He provided help who were travelling to foreign lands.  They were to feature in an Act of Parliament passed in 1414.

It was during the 1540s that the term “Passport” was first used, when the granting of travelling documents in England was the role of the Privy Council of England.  Passports were still signed by the monarch until 1685, when this role was given to the Secretary of State. 

 

 

 

 

Passports ere written both in English and Latin until 1772, then French until 1858.  From this date all Passports have been written in English.



Thomas Cook Continental Timetable

Since the late 19^th century, with the advances of the trains in the United Kingdom, large number of Britons started to travel abroad.  1873, the introduction of the Thomas Cook Continental Timetable first published.  It was during this period that, with passengers who crossed multiple borders, made it difficult for the counties to passport laws, and many travels did not carry passports!

The outbreak of the First World War, paid end to that, with the introduction of the border controls, and in the United Kingdom, with the introduction of the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act, 1914.

 

 

 

 

The Act, which came into effect on 1^st January 1915, required that

1.       Birth within His Majesty’s dominions

2.       Naturalisation in the United Kingdom or a part of His Majesty's dominions which had adopted Imperial naturalisation criteria

3.       Descent through the legitimate male line (child born outside His Majesty's dominions to a British subject father). This was limited to one generation although further legislation in 1922 allowed subsequent generations born overseas to be registered as British subjects within one year of birth.

4.       Foreign women who married British subject men

5.       Former British subjects who had lost British subject status on marriage or through a parent's loss of status could resume it in specific circumstances (e.g. if a woman became widowed, or children immediately upon turning 21)

British subject status normally was lost by

1.       Naturalisation in a foreign state, such as the United States of America and France

2.       In the case of a woman, upon marriage to a foreign man. Prior to 1933, British subject status was lost even if the woman did not acquire her husband's nationality.

3.       A child of a father who lost British subject status, provided the child also had the father's new nationality.

4.       Renunciation

The format of the British Passport during 1915 was also changed.  The government of the day found a way how the British passport could be mass produced and it would have been easier to identify the user. it included a description of the person, and a space for a photograph, which had to be renewed every 2 years. 

October 1920, the League of National held the Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets.  It was during this conference that a set of standards for all passports were issued to all 42 members of the League.  The passport requirements were that they were to be a 32-page booklet, with the first four pages providing information into the bearer.  The size of the passport, were 15.5 cm by 10.5 cm.

 

The British government during 1921, formed the Passport Service and started to issue a navy-blue hardcover passport and on the cover was embossed the Coat of Arms, with BRITISH PASSPORT printed on the top.  This passport was the standard until 1988 with the introduction of the machine-readable passports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the Second World War as well as use of Passport, National Registration Act, 1939.  The Act established the National Register, first started on the 29^th September 1939.  The requirements of the Register were the introduction of identity cards.

 

The main reasons for their introduction were

 

      

1.       The major dislocation of the population caused by mobilisation and mass evacuation and also the wartime needs for complete manpower control and planning in order to maximise the efficiency of the war economy.

2.       The likelihood of rationing (introduced from January 1940 onwards).

3.       Population statistics. As the last census had been held in 1931, there was little accurate data on which to base vital planning decisions. The National Register was in fact an instant census and the National Registration Act closely resembles the 1920 Census Act in many ways

 

After the Second World War, passports, details off all travel were handed written, which included the holder’s name, “accompanied by his wife” and her maiden name, “and” (number) “children”, national status.  Other information included profession, place and date of birth, country of residence, height, eye and hair colour, special peculiarities, signature and photograph. Names, birth dates, and sexes of children, list of countries for which valid, issue place and date, expiry date, a page for renewals and, at the back, details of the amount of foreign exchange for travel expenses

It was not until 1973, when the United Kingdom, joined the European Economic Council, that the members states agreed that Passports, should be burgundy in colour and had the heading of EUROPEAN COMMUNITY, with the addition country name.

It was during that period that with the rapid growth of air travel, and the technical changes, that passports first became machine read.  This was first seen in the United Kingdom on 15^th August 1988, with the first burgundy coloured machine-readable passport issued.  These passports were 32 pages.  The words “EUROPEAN COMMUNITY” were changed to “EUROPEAN UNION” in 1997.

These passports were issued until 2006, when biometric passports were introduced.    

What is a biometric passport?  It is a passport which contains a microchip containing the biometric information to authenticate the identify the passport holder.

Passports have come a long way since their introduction in 1414.