700-Years of English Blood, and Still No British Passport!

By Ross Dix-Peek

It is one of life's many anomalies that although I may bear an English Surname, can trace my English lineage to 1296, and thus have over seven-hundred-years of English Blood coursing through my veins (not to mention the vast oceans of Irish and Welsh Blood) , and my native tongue, my "Lingua Franca", happens to be English, I am still not entitled to a British Passport. You see, according to British legislation, I am not eligible because none of my immediate grandparents were born in the British Isles. I am of "Colonial" stock, my British-born ancestors coming out to Africa during the nineteenth century (the last of them emigrating to South Africa at about the time of the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) to help further the cause of the British Empire (and a fat lot-of-good that did them!).

So, four-generations on, and here we sit, in "dear old" Africa. Now, that is fine, for I am very proud to be a southern African, one of the much-maligned "White African's". But, what I find galling, is that (so it seems) every Tom, Dick and Harry, from the far corners of the world (Pakistani's, Indian's, Bangladeshi's, West Indian's together with armies of Refugee's), with not a drop of British blood in their veins, is ever-so-easily able to enter Britain, and literally showered with British Passport's; the British government falling over themselves in a frantic bid to bequeath these folk with that much-prized "little red book". The British then complain of the incessant flood of foreign immigrants, who can not even speak a word of English (not to mention the enormous amount of money spent on their upkeep), while not so awfully far away, sit two-million Anglo-Africans, Britain's kith-and-kin. Not only are these "Anglo-Africans" not at all afraid of hard work, they can obviously converse in English, and are often more British than the "British"! All so delightfully ludicrous, don't you think. Oh well, one can only but laugh!

About the Author

Born in Salisbury, Rhodesia, in 1970. Resident in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. An Archivist by profession, and freelance writer. Interested in History, Military History, the English Language and its etymology,Books, and other pursuits. contact details: e-mail address- dix-peek@webmail.co.za