The importance of cross-empire trade grew during the time of British colonialism in India, known as the Raj, and was vital to Britain’s rapid industrialisation in the 19th century. The coming of steam-powered liners, and the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean and Red Sea, reduced the journey times between both countries. 

The improved connections increased the flow of goods from the subcontinent to Britain and in the other direction. This also increased the movement of people between India and Britain, which in turn led to the first South Asians arriving in Britain. In Britain, trade exhibitions, advertisements, educational pamphlets and magazine publications created a glamorous and exotic idea of an India of opulent palaces and maharajas. Below the surface lay the stark realities of the lives of workers, such as ayahs (nannies) and Indian seafarers, known as lascars, who journeyed between India and Britain. Some were transient, while some would jump ship and continue to make their life in Britain. 

One of the major commodities exported from India to Britain was tea. The East India Company began commercial tea production in Assam in the 1820s. A growing industry, by 1900 there were around 4000 tea estates in north and south India and over 2000 in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). This popular drink generated a hugely profitable industry, and a tea culture emerged in Britain with its own quintessentially English customs and rituals. The advertisement shown below from the tea manufacturer Lipton, promises a cuppa direct from ‘the tea garden to the teapot’. The romanticised image depicts a beautiful Indian woman in traditional dress consuming a comforting beverage. This depiction contrasts sharply with the harsh reality of a tealeaf pickers’ long hours of physical labour for poor pay. 

From the 1870s onwards, steam-powered passenger liners, the aeroplanes of their time, connected Britain and its Empire, ensuring the steady flow of people and goods to the remotest corners of the world. The first steam-powered ships arrived in India in the 1820s and from then onwards they became the lifeline of the British Empire, transporting troops, mail and raw materials and manufactured goods. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 shortened the sea journey between Britain and India and increased traffic. Travel on the liners was often seen as glamorous, but the harsh conditions for the South Asian mariners, known as lascars, working in the hold and firing the engines attest to a different reality. 

Indian seafarers, known as lascars, worked as able seamen, deckhands, cooks and in engine rooms. The hard labour and commitment of lascar sailors ensured the smooth flow of trade, vital to the growth of Britain’s empire. The majority of lascars initially came from the coastal regions of East Bengal, the south-west coast of India and Gujarat. But as shipping and demand for sailors increased, more were recruited from agricultural heartlands such as Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province, as well as Bengal and Assam. Lascars joined ships in the major port cities of Bombay (now Mumbai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata). 

Due to technological advances in the 19th century, work aboard ship changed. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and increasing trade and passenger traffic through shipping lines like P&O, increased demand for labour aboard ship, with more roles for lascars. On British ships, their numbers rose from 24,037 in the 1890s to 51,616 by 1914. By 1930, 56,416 lascars were employed on British merchant vessels, a quarter of the entire labour maritime force. 

Lascars’ working conditions were hard, leading some to jump ship and settle in British ports. They were the earliest South Asian working-class communities in Britain, setting up cafes and lodging houses as alternative ways to make a living in port cities such as Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool and London. These served a growing number of lascars, who could find themselves in Britain for longer periods before finding return engagements. 

South Asian nannies, known as ayahs, played an essential part in the lives of British families in India. Many were among the ship passengers between India and Britain: families returning to Britain often brought ayahs with them to take care of the children on the long sea voyage. Highly experienced and resilient women, some ayahs travelled between both countries several times. Ms Antony Pareira, for example, made the journey on 54 occasions. There was an expectation that families would arrange return passages for their ayahs, but many found themselves abandoned on arrival in Britan. The ayahs usually had no contract of employment, despite offering a crucial service to their employers. Some could even be dismissed with no pay during the journey, while others were discharged. Ayahs were often left stranded, the families failing to honour their promise. While awaiting re-employment, they normally lived in squalid lodging-houses, and many had to resort to begging.

The Mirror of British Merchandise and Hindustani Pictorial News was an Urdu language magazine published in the late 1800s. Its cover illustrates vividly the colonial relationship between India and Britain. The magazine advertised goods that were manufactured with Indian raw materials in Britain (such as cotton, jute, rubber and silks) but sold back at higher prices to the Indian market. It also featured news, articles and pictures highlighting India’s close ties with Britain, including articles on Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria’s munshi (secretary), who taught her Hindustani, the cricketer, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, known as Ranji, who achieved celebrity status in the late 19th century, or the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking, the first purpose-built Muslim place of worship in Britain. 

The subcontinent’s relationship with Britain is a long-standing one and the initial trading relationship led to many exchanges in both directions as both countries influenced each other economically, politically and socially. This relationship was built on unequal terms, in spite of the rhetoric of Empire which described India as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ and the image sold to the British public at the time through advertisements, books and exhibitions. 

Credit: Remaking Britain team (Rehana Ahmed, Aleena Din, Sumita Mukherjee, Susheila Nasta, Maya Parmar, Florian Stadtler, Rozina Visram).