South Asian Heritage Month was launched in 2020 and is now celebrating its third year. The month this year begins on Monday 18 July and runs until Wednesday 17 August 2022. This year’s theme is Journeys of Empire. This is a subject which resonates with many family historians. From the two world wars, long-term military service, civil service roles, business positions, trade, domestic service, marriage, education, missionary work and more, the reasons for our ancestors’ journeys across empires are numerous.
South Asian Heritage Month encourages all of us to look at connections with people from South Asia who journeyed from empires, including the Mughal, the Duranni, the Vijayanagar and the British. They may have been indentured labourers forced to travel to the Caribbean and East Asia, other migrants who travelled by choice to Africa and beyond, or those families who made the journeys to the UK with just £3 in their pockets.
For 2022, the theme is particularly important for considering two major anniversaries taking place:
- The 75th anniversary of the independence of India, Partition, and the creation of East and West Pakistan
- The 50th anniversary of the expulsion of Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin.
Sidden Death of a Lascar at Dundee
Aiym Misson (30), depute deck tindal, or petty officer of the Lascar crew on board the s. s. Manoar, at present lying at the Eastern Wharf, Dundee, died very suddenly this morning.
Shortly after six o’clock the scrang called upon A Misson and gave him orders for putting the men to work.
Soon afterwards deceased complained about feeling unfit. He was put to bed, but expired within a few minutes. The body was re-moved to the mortuary.
This short paragraph provides some insight into the life of a lascar, as well as some vital details. It is not surprising to discover traces of a lascar in Dundee. As a port town with a strong history of maritime trade, Dundee was home to many lascars over the centuries.
There are records of lascars in Britain going back to the 16th century. Many were employed by the East India Company for lower wages than those paid to British sailors. Lascars would often be left in Britain for weeks while waiting for work on a returning ship. As a result of their poor treatment, many lascars abandoned ship and settled in port towns and cities across the UK. Thus South Asian and mixed communities emerged in London’s East End, Liverpool, Cardiff, and Glasgow. By the 1900s, it is estimated that lascars comprised around 20% of the British maritime workforce.
Did your ancestors travel from South Asia? Or have you been working on a local history project that includes connections with that part of the world? Do let us know via email or on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Everyone is encouraged to organise their own events for South Asian Heritage Month. The official online calendar will list all events taking place across the UK.
Sources
- South Asian Heritage Month official website https://www.southasianheritage.org.uk/
- 7 May 1920, Dundee Evening Telegraph, page 1 (Findmypast/ British Newspaper Archive)
- Rozina Visram, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes: The Story of Indians in Britain 1700-1947 (Routledge, 1986)
- Shahida Rahman’s Lascar (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2012)
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