SOUTH ASIANS

Lascars (South Asian seamen) were a feature of London life in the late 18^thC and throughout the 19^thC. Many of them served on East India Company vessels. In the late 19^thC Indian princes began to visit Britain. Some of them sent their sons to its schools, universities, and Inns of Court.

In the 1920s and 1930s a permanent settled South Asian population began to develop. In Indian terms, it was a diverse community from a broad range of places. Many of these small groups were the nuclei around which larger communities of people from their home states gathered. The division of Indian and Pakistan at Independence in 1947 acted as a stimulus for displaced South Asians to come to Britain.

In 1972 there was an addition to the U.K.'s South Asian population when Idi Amin expelled Uganda's South Asian-descended population. 30,000 settled in Britain.

B.R. Ambedkar

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891-1956), an untouchable, was the chairman of the committee that drafted Indian's constitution. He helped set the country on the path to democracy. In Britain he is an overlooked figure despite have studied at both the London School of Economics and Gray's Inn.

Location: 10 King Henry's Road, NW3 3RP

Anglo-Indian

Some Anglo-Indians denied their Indian origins. Their voices had a slight lilt. They became known as the Bombay Welsh.

Ayahs' Home

There was a home for ayahs whose employers had discarded with their services. It appears to have operated from 1891 to 1947.

Location: 6 Jewry Street, c.EC3N 2EX (blue, grey)

4 King Edward Street, E9 7SF

26 King Edward Street, E9 7SF

Bengalis

Containerisation and air freight meant that Bengali sailors spent more time on land. This led to settlement. Mass migration of women and children followed.

The British Tamils Forum

Location: Tamil House, Fountayne Business Centre, Broad Lane, N15 4AG

Website: www.britishtamilsforum.org

Browning Up

In 2024 a podcast was released in which Sanjeev Bhaskar was interviewed by the rapper Louis Theroux. During it, the conversation strayed onto White actors browning up to play South Asian roles. The writer and actor stated that he had not had a problem with it so long as the characters were the hero and not the target. He had enjoyed Peter Sellers s performances in the movies The Millionairess (1960) and The Party (1968), as well as Michael Bates's (1920-1978) as Rangi Ram in the television sit. com. It Ain t Half Hot Mum (1974-81). Bates had been born in India and in adulthood could speak both Urdu and Hindi fluently. Bhaskar had found the Johnny Speight (1920-1998)-written Til Death Us Do Part (1965-75) troublesome. While the show was regarded as having had an undertow of trying to promote racial harmony, all the best lines were delivered from the mouth of a bigot. On the day after an episode had been broadcast, some of them were repeated to the young Bhaskar by his teachers. Speight had also written the Spike Milligan (1918-2002) vehicle Curry & Chips (1969), which had been cancelled after a single series because of its racist humour.

Website: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-louis-theroux-podcast/id1725833532

Cultural Diversity

The cultural diversity within Britain's South Asian population is wide. Of Britain's population of South Asians and people of South Asian descent over half are Indian, just under a third are from Pakistan, and just over a tenth are from Bangladesh. Most Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are Muslims, while the Indians are a mixture Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs. There are also Christians and Buddhists. Some South Asian families have come to Britain circuitously their progenitors having settled in regions such as West Indies, South America, East Africa, or Fiji.

Historically, different cultural groups tended to settle in different parts of Britain. Indians were inclined live in west London, Slough, Wolverhampton, and Leicester, Kashmiris and Pakistanis in Birmingham and Bradford, and Bangladeshis in the East End and Camden. Tower Hamlets's Bangladeshis are principally from Sylhet in north-eastern Bangladesh. The Sikh population in Britain is disproportionately large within the South Asian population in comparison to the Sikh population in India although within that country they have exercised a prominent role.

Daytimers

In the 1990s South Asian raves would take place during the day so that more young women could attended them. Different cultural groups would wear distinctive items. Pakistanis would wear green and white Rebok Classics, Sikhs would have orange and black Adidas. Sped-up Bhangra would furnish some of the music.

Location: Zenith, Kendal Avenue, Royale Leisure Park, Western Avenue, Acton, W3 0PA

See Also: NIGHTCLUBS

Dutch Sri Lankans

The advertising and animation producer Lee Stork (1913-2010) was born in Sri Lanka of Dutch descent.

Hindu Council U.K.

Location: 22 King Street, Southall, UB2 4DA

Website: www.hinducounciluk.org

The Indian National Congress

Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) was a Parsee. He travelled to Britain to study law. In 1855 he was the first South Asian to be appointed a Professor of Mathematics. In 1874 he became the senior minister of Baroda. He became Professor of Gujarati at University College London. He believed in British justice and fair play. He wished to enable there to be a form of appeal for Indians against the actions of the East India Company.

In 1892 Naoroji stood for election in Finsbury Central. During the campaign Lord Salisbury, the Conservative Prime Minister, referred to him as a Black man and declared that Britain was not ready to elect one to Parliament. This made Naoroji a household name. The story was reported internationally. Queen Victoria was annoyed by the peer's conduct. In 1892 Naoroji was elected the Liberal M.P. for Finsbury Central by five votes; this and the nature of his surname led to him being dubbed Mr Narrow Majority.

He was close to Keir Hardie, who was the first leader of the Labour Party. They travelled to India together where he introduced the Scot to the Tata family. They furnished finance for the Fabian Society.

In 1895 he lost his seat. In 1905 he stood as a Labour candidate.

By the time that he returned to India, he believed India should seek independence. He helped found the Indian National Congress. He was the orgasnisation's president three times. He influenced Gandhi and Jinnah. He initiated passive aggression as a means of promoting Indian independence.

Location: Naoroji Street, WC1X 0GB (blue, red)

Finsbury Town Hall, Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4QT (blue, pink)

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)

Location: 60 Elgin Crescent, W11 2JJ (red, brown)

The India Workers' Association

The India Workers' Association was formed in 1956 by members of the Communist Party of India.

The I.W.A. acquired the Dominion Cinema, which screened Bollywood movies.

See Also: RIOTS The Southall Riot

Website: www.iwagb.org

London Mela

The London Mela is an arts festival. The first one was held in 2003.

The event takes place in late August or early September.

Location: Southall Park, Uxbridge Road, Southall, UB1 3AF

Westport Street, Stepney Green, E1 0RA

Website: https://londonmela.org

Moslem

Deobandi

The Moslem Deobandi movement is the largest component of South Asian Islam is Britain. It was born out of two participants in the 1857 Indian mutiny. They founded a seminary in Deoband.

Website: www.deoband.org

The Newham Eight

In 1983 white racialists were increasingly victimising South Asians in Newham. Anticipating further violence, a group of young Asian men gathered outside Little Ilford School in Manor Park. Local residents became concerned at what might be about to happen and contacted the police. The first officers who responded were in plain clothes. The Asians mistook them for racists and an affray ensued. At the end of it, eight of the youths were arrested. At their trial the defence pointed at how the police had repeatedly chosen not to deal with the preceding incidents of racist harassment. Four of the men were acquitted while the others were given community service sentences.

Location: Rectory Road, Manor Park, E12 6JB

Pakistanis

Mirpuris

Mirpuris are the largest group among the U.K. Pakistanis. Many of them came because their homes disappeared below dam flood waters.

Professional Pronunciation

The immigrant generation of South Asians tended to be ambitious for their children, wanting them to enter a well-paid profession. As a young child, Sanjeev Bhaskar realised that he wished to become an actor and expressed this desire to his father, who replied We pronounce it doctor. The parent took to whispering into his child's ear I want to be a businessman. The youth studied marketing at university but went on to become a popular comic actor. His roles have included Dr Jafri in the movie Paddington 2 (2017).

Punjabi

Khalistan

Jagjit Singh Chauhan (1927-2007) was the leading figure in Khalistan, a movement that accepted the use of violence as a means of establishing an independent Punjab. It soon degraded into gangsterism and lost its support among the Punjabi population. From 1971 to 1977 Chaudan lived in Britain. He spent 1980-2001 living in the U.K. before being allowed to return to India.

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh

Princess Sophia Duleep Singh was a daughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh of The Punjab. In 1849 he had been required to sign away his state and fortune.

The Maharaja abandoned his family for a chambermaid who was called Ada Wetherill.

The India Office furnished Sophia with an allowance.

Location: Hampton Court Palace, Hampton Court Way, East Molesey, KT8 9AU. A grace and favour residence, the use of which was granted to her by Queen Victoria.

The U.K. Punjab Heritage Association

Website: www.ukpha.org

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

The ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was an atheist, Anarchist, internationalist who lived in Hampstead. He and Gandhi once ate a meal with one another. In the 1920s and 1930s he underwent an ideological transformation and created a secular doctrine that became the core of much of Hindu nationalism. It informed the creation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S.) movement. It was an individual who was associated with the R.S.S. who killed Gandhi. The R.S.S. is seen by some as lying at the B.J.P. s heart.

Location: 65 Cromwell Avenue, N6 5HS. Savarkar lived at the address from 1905 to 1910. Several other figures in the Indian independence movement also lived there.

David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre

Walter Sombre Reinhardt was a German mercenary, whose middle-name was Indianised to Sumru. He was granted a large estate in the Doab to the north of Delhi. He acquired the Kashmiri-born dancing girl Farzana Zeb un-Nissa (1751-1836) as his mistress. She became the Begum Sumru of Sardhana. She converted from Islam to Roman Catholicism. She raised his great-grandson.

Following her death in 1836, the East India Company declined to recognise David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre (1808-1851) and seized the Kingdom of Sardhana.

Dyce Sombre was the first South Asian and the second non-White person to be elected an M.P.. However, his return was nullified. His wife's family had him declared to be insane and took control of his wealth. He engaged in several years of litigation without regaining control of it.

Following his death, his lawyers won a succession of victories. His executors acquired possession of his wealth.

Dyce Sombre's life inspired stories by Sir Walter Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jules Verne.

Southall

The R. Woolf rubber factory was based in Hayes. The general manager had served with Sikh soldiers during the Second World War and had developed a high regard for the them.

In 1954 Pritam Singh Sangha became the first South Asian to open a corner shop in the U.K..

The Southall Black Sisters

The Southall Black Sisters campaigns against racism, sexism, and domestic violence. The organisation was formed in 1979.

Location: 21 Avenue Road, Southall, UB1 3BL

Website: https://southallblacksisters.org.uk

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore lived in Hampstead.

Location: 3 Villas on the Heath, Vale of Heath, Hampstead, NW3 1BA

The Tagore Centre U.K.

The Tagore Centre U.K..

Location: Alexandra Park Library, Alexandra Park Road, Wood Green, N22 7UJ

Website: www.tagorecentre.org.uk

Temples

The Neasden Temple

Umrish Patel designed a Gujarati style temple. Patel had worked for Fosters. Italian marble and Bulgarian limestone was shipped to India to be carved and then brought to the U.K.. It took two and a half years to construct the building.

Location: Pramukh Swami Road, Neasden, NW10 8HW

Website: https://londonmandir.baps.org

Wimbledon

Europe s longest-established Hindu temple held its first service in 1981.

Location: 125-133 Effra Road, SW19 8PU

Website: https://ghanapathy.co.uk

David Backhouse 2024