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ABSTRACT
This article examines how the India Office handled cases of destitute Indians, such as sailors and servants, who were stranded in Britain. The empire provided opportunities for work and travel, yet there were no securities for those who were taken advantage of by the system. This article highlights how the India Office was the institution expected to help distressed Indians and yet the secretary of state for India consistently refused to accept official responsibility for them. Nor did the British government try to prevent the problem from occurring in the first place. Instead, the official position taken by the secretary of state for India was to let social institutions intervene, arguing that, as British subjects, Indians could receive relief through the Poor Laws. Workhouses, however, were ill suited to Indians striving to return to their homes. This article addresses these issues through examining three key periods: the early to mid-nineteenth century; a shift in the 1880s when the India Office acknowledged a better policy was needed for the treatment of destitute Indians; and, the turn of the century when a Committee on Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects was established in 1909. Through a focused study of India Office discourses, this article addresses the ambiguity of imperial policy and assesses how it contributed to competing understandings of British responsibility over imperial subjects.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Dept. minute paper, 29 Sept. 1913, L/PJ/6/1269 No. 3493, India Office Records (hereafter IOR), British Library (hereafter BL).
2 Draft letter, 29 Sept. 1913, L/PJ/6/1269 No. 3493, IOR, BL.
3 For an overview of the field of Asians in Britain, see Visram, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes; Burton, At the Heart of the Empire; Lahiri, Indians in Britain; Visram, Asians in Britain; Fisher, Counterflows to Colonialism; Sen, Migrant Races; Hall and Rose, eds., At Home with the Empire; Fisher, Lahiri and Thandi, eds, South-Asian History of Britain; Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians; Tabili, Global Migrants; Nasta, ed., India in Britain; Boehmer, Indian Arrivals, 1870–1915.
4 Lal, ‘Indian Indenture’, 83–88.
5 Proposal for a Home for Natives of Distant Lands. For providing Christian Instruction for the Lascars, Hindoos, Africans, and others, visiting or remaining in this Country, 1858, MMS/01/02/01/79, School of Oriental and Asian Studies (hereafter SOAS).
6 See Green, Pauper Capital; Humphreys, Sin, Organized Charity; Brodie, Politics of the Poor.
7 Muller, ‘Bonds of Belonging’, 55–56.
8 See Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, 99; Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 22–23.
9 Lahiri, ‘Indian Victorians, 1857–1901’, 98; Lahiri, Indians in Britain, 2; Fisher, ‘Making London's “Oriental Quarter”’, 85; Ahuja, ‘Age of the “Lascar”’, 112.
10 Hughes, Laws Relating to Lascars, 5.
11 Fisher, ‘Making London's “Oriental Quarter”’, 88, 90.
12 ‘Treatment of Native Paupers in England’, 24 Jan. 1879, L/PJ/2/59 No. 7/567, IOR, BL.
13 25 Feb. 1869, cols 310–11, 3rd ser., vol. 194, Hansard, Commons.
14 Henry Morris, ‘Introduction’, in Salter, The East in the West, v.
15 ‘Police Intelligence’, The Morning Post, 17 Aug. 1835.
16 Examples include: ‘Crimping-Kidnapping-Sailors-Lascars’, The Friend of India, 15 July 1841; ‘The Lascars in London’, The Morning Post, 25 Jan. 1844; ‘Lascars in England’, The Times, 25 Jan. 1844; ‘Cruelty to Lascars’, The Morning Chronicle, 25 Oct. 1850; ‘Alleged Murder of Five Lascars’, Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper, 2 Oct. 1853; ‘Condition of Lascars and Natives of India in England’, The Standard 15 July 1854; ‘Treatment of Lascars in a Glasgow Ship’, Glasgow Herald, 21 Nov. 1855; ‘Protection for Lascars, from the Morning Chronicle, Oct. 20’, The Friend of India, 20 Dec. 1855.
17 ‘State of the Lascars in London’, Evangelical Magazine, 1842, 449; Page, ‘In Safe Haven’, Good Words, 1874, 460.
18 James Peggs, The Lascars’ Cry to Britain, 1844, 6, Tract 1388 G.9, BL.
19 The Times 20 Nov. 1855; ‘Lascars in England’, The Morning Chronicle, 20 Nov. 1855; John Mitchell, ‘Scandalous Treatment of Lascars’’ Glasgow Herald, 23 Nov. 1855; ‘Scandalous Treatment of Lascars, by John Mitchell’, The Times, 24 Nov. 1855; ‘The Lascars of the “Janet Mitchell”’, The Bristol Mercury, 24 Nov. 1855; ‘The Alleged Ill-Treatment of Lascars, by John Mitchell in response to a letter from Colonel Hughes’, The Times 4 Dec. 1855; ‘The Case of the Janet Mitchell’, Glasgow Herald, 16 Jan. 1856.
20 Henry Venn, ‘Preface’, in Salter, The Asiatic in England, i.
21 ‘The Strangers’ Home for Asiatics’, Daily News, 7 June 1859. See also Proposal for a Home for Natives, MMS/01/02/01/79, SOAS; Strangers’ Home: Report for 1868–9, Tr 152 (c), BL; Report of the Re-Opening of the Strangers’ Home, 1870, IOL.1947 a.2622 (j), BL; Strangers Home for Asiatics, 1873, CWML O.204, SOAS; Strangers’ Home Annual Report, 1886, 1887, 1888, MT 9.362, The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA); Fortieth Annual Report, G/AC 4/4157a 1897, Church Missionary Society; Annual Report for 1915, L/PJ/6/1482 No. 1552, IOR, BL.
22 MT 9.362 (1886), 19, TNA. The crown colonies also provided £84 and the British India Steam Navigation Company contributed £100.
23 Morris, ‘Introduction’, in Salter, The East in the West, vi.
24 Proposal for a Home for Natives, MMS/01/02/01/79, SOAS.
25 Button and Sheetz-Nguyen, ‘Introduction: “Injurious to Charity”’, 8; Green, Pauper Capital, 2.
26 Button and Sheetz-Nguyen, ‘Introduction: “Injurious to Charity”’, 9.
27 Green, Pauper Capital, 3.
28 Act for the Amendment and Better Administration of the Laws Relating to the Poor, in England and Wales (Poor Law Amendment Act), 4 & 5 Will. IV c. 76, 1834.
29 Crowther, The Workhouse System, 66.
30 Nijhar, Law and Imperialism, 89; Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, 103–05.
31 Williams, The India Office, 1858–1869; Kaminsky, The India Office, 1880–1910; Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, ch. 2.
32 For a list of the committees of the Council of India, 1858–1905, see Kaminsky, The India Office, 1880–1910, Appendix G, 252–82.
33 Sen, Migrant Races, 12.
34 Nijhar, Law and Imperialism, 79–94; Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 1–32; Ahmed, ‘Equality of Citizenship’, 21–44; Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, ch.5;
35 Boehmer, Indian Arrivals, 1870–1915, 18–19; Lahiri, ‘Indian Victorians, 1857–1901’, 110; Ahuja, ‘Age of the “Lascar,”’, 112.
36 Tabili, ‘A Homogenous Society’, 69; see also Fisher, ‘Making London's “Oriental Quarter”’, 80; Lahiri, ‘Indian Victorians, 1857–1901’, 105–08.
37 Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Annual Report for 1915, 17, L/PJ/6/1482 No. 1552, IOR, BL.
38 ‘Rules passed by the Board of Directors’, 17 Feb. 1897, L/PJ/6/440 No. 346, IOR, BL; L/PJ/6/449 No. 1148, 8 June 1897, IOR, BL.
39 The India Office Records contain numerous applications from the secretary of the Strangers’ Home for assistance in relieving destitute Indians.
40 25 Feb. 1869, cols 310–11, 3rd ser., vol. 194, Hansard, Commons. Abdullah had expressed similar concerns in 1857. Daily News, 4 June 1857.
41 Ibid.
42 ‘Strangers’ Home for Asiatics’, Daily News, 30 May 1865; Tr 152 (c) 1869, BL; IOL.1947 a.2622 (j), BL; CWML O.204 (1873), SOAS.
43 25 Feb. 1869, cols 310–11, 3rd ser., vol. 194, Hansard, Commons.
44 R.W. Hughes to the Undersecretary of State for India, 12 Aug. 1868, L/PJ/2/47 No. 7/264, IOR, BL.
45 Letter, Public No. 152, 7 Oct. 1868, L/PJ/2/47 No. 7/264, IOR, BL.
46 Rubinstein, ‘Stafford Henry Northcote’.
47 Duke of Argyll to the Government of India, 1869, L/PJ/6/158 No. 1282, IOR, BL. For a discussion of the Indian Emigration Acts, see Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, 103–05.
48 ‘Treatment of Native Paupers in England’, Public Dept. Minutes, 24 Jan. 1879, L/PJ/2/59 No. 7/567, IOR, BL. ‘Treatment of Native Paupers in England’.
49 Letter from J. Howard Bomer, 13 July 1885, L/PJ/6/158 No. 1282, IOR, BL.
50 Dept. minute paper, 16 July 1885, ibid.
51 L/PJ/6/518 No. 1676, IOR, BL.
52 Letter from Colonel Hughes, 24 Jan. 1879, L/PJ/2/59 No. 7/567, IOR, BL.
53 ‘Treatment of Native Paupers in England’, 24 Jan. 1879, L/PJ/2/59 No. 7/567, IOR, BL.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid.
56 Ibid.; see also The Solicitors’ Journal and Reporter, vol. 31, 1886–87, 706.
57 ‘Treatment of Native Paupers in England,’ 24 Jan. 1879.
58 Ibid.; Letter from the financial department, 28 Jan. 1879, L/PJ/2/59 No. 7/567, IOR, BL.
59 Ibid.
60 Lahiri, ‘Indian Victorians, 1857–1901’, 119; see also Finkelstein and Peers, eds, Negotiating India.
61 Burton, ‘Making a Spectacle of Empire’, 127–28, 132–33.
62 Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 23; Boehmer, Indian Arrivals, 1870–1915, 89.
63 Madra, ‘Singh, Duleep (1838–1893)’; see also Alexander and Anand, Queen Victoria's Maharajah. Duleep's name is also spelled ‘Dhuleep’ or ‘Dalip’ in the records.
64 Visram, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes, 71; Latif, ‘Successors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’, 110–11; Madra, ‘Singh, Duleep (1838–1893)’.
65 Alexander and Anand, Queen Victoria's Maharajah, 174.
66 Letter from Duleep Singh, 5 Sept. 1884, L/PJ/6/134 No. 1749, IOR, BL.
67 Letter (draft), 28 Oct. 1884, L/PJ/6/134 No. 1749, IOR, BL; see also‘Relief to Distressed British Subjects’,L/PJ/6/227 No.844, IOR, BL.
68 Draft reply, 5 Sept. 1884, L/PJ/6/134 No. 1749, IOR, BL.
69 Dept. minute, 5 Sept. 1884, ibid. I have found four other cases between 1868 and 1890 in which negotiations between the Strangers’ Home for Asiatics and the India Office resulted in the return of destitute Indians. L/PJ/2/47 No. 7/264; L/PJ/2/49, No.7/280; L/PJ/2/49, No. 7/305; and L/PJ/2/52, IOR, BL.
70 Draft reply, 5 Sept.1884, L/PJ/6/134 No. 1749, IOR, BL.
71 Fitzgerald to the Political Dept., ibid.
72 Public dept. minute, 23 March 1886, L/PJ/6/172 No. 432; 20 April 1886,L/PJ/6/173 No. 609, IOR, BL.
73 Extract from Report of the Political Dept. to the Secretary of State, 27 Feb. 1886, L/PJ/6/172 No. 432, IOR, BL.
74 Letter to the Local Gov. Board, 8 April 1886, L/PJ/6/172 No. 432, IOR, BL; ‘Foreigners in England’, The Newcastle Courant, 2 Nov. 1883. For more information on the social implications of food in the workhouse, see Durbach, ‘Roast Beef’; Miller, ‘Feeding in the Workhouse’.
75 Public dept. minute, 23 March 1886, L/PJ/6/172 No. 432, IOR.
76 Ibid.
77 For an example of a public nuisance case, see L/PJ/6/365 No.77, IOR, BL.
78 ‘Memorandum as to the Proposed Disposal of Natives of India’, 26 July 1886, L/PJ/6/181 No. 1099A, IOR, BL.
79 Ibid.
80 Memo of 28 July 1886, L/PJ/6/181 No. 1099A, IOR, BL.
81 Ibid.
82 Copy of a letter to Mr. Hedley, 10 Nov. 1886, L/PJ/6/209 No. 1399; see also, Letter to the Local Gov. Board, 8 April 1886, L/PJ/6/172 No. 432, IOR, BL.
83 Dept. minute, 5 July 1887, L/PJ/6/206 No. 1185, IOR, BL.
84 Ibid.
85 Ibid.
86 25 July 1887, cols 1881–82, 3rd ser., vol. 317, Hansard, Commons; J&P Department, Minute Paper, Question in the House of Commons by Mr. J.W. Lowther, 22 July 1887, L/PJ/6/207 No. 1289, IOR, BL.
87 Saint George's Union to Cross, India Office, 27 July 1887, L/PJ/6/208 No. 1335, IOR, BL.
88 Foreign Office to the Under Secretary of State for India, 15 July 1887, L/PJ/6/207 No. 1247, IOR, BL.
89 Public Dept. Meeting Minutes, 16 July 1887, ibid.
90 Extract from a letter sent to the Foreign Office, 24 Aug. 1877, ibid.
91 Foreign Office to the Under Secretary of State for India, 15 July 1887, ibid.
92 Letter to the Colonial Office, 26 July 1887; Circular from the Foreign Office, 26 Feb. 1869, ibid.
93 Foreign Office to the Under Secretary of State for India, 15 July 1887, ibid.
94 Letter, 20 July 1887, ibid.
95 Letter to the Under Secretary of State, Foreign Office, 4 Aug. 1887, ibid.
96 Letter, 23 May 1888, L/PJ/6/227 No. 844, IOR, BL.
97 Draft Circular to Consuls, June 1888, and Public Dept. Draft Letter, 4 July 1888, ibid.
98 Ibid.
99 L/PJ/6/287 No. 1775, IOR, BL.
100 L/PJ/6/323 No. 1066, IOR, BL
101 L/PJ/6/395 No. 608, IOR, BL.
102 Cundall and Riley, Reminiscences, 1–2.
103 Royle, Report on the Indian Section, 14–15.
104 Hoffenberg, Empire on Display, 2.
105 Letter from the Dover Union, 17 March 1900, and Telegram, 15 March 1900, L/PJ/6/535 No. 560, IOR, BL.
106 Minute Paper, 20 April 1900, and letter from the Strangers’ Home, 19 April 1900, L/PJ/6/538 No. 738, IOR.
107 Minute Paper, 27 Nov. 1903, L/PJ/6/653 No. 2665, IOR, BL.
108 Ibid.
109 L/PJ/6/965 No.3611; see also L/PJ/6/1179 File 2664, IOR, BL.
110 Letter from the British Consulate at Paris, 13 Jan. 1900, L/PJ/6/529 No. 99, IOR.
111 Ibid.
112 Letter from the British Consulate, 16 Jan. 1900, ibid.
113 Draft letter, 18 Jan. 1900, ibid.
114 ‘Report of the Committee on Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects’, 1, April 1910, L/PJ/6/925 No. 830, IOR, BL; Committee on Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects, 1910, Cd. 5133; ‘Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects’, The Times, 13 May 1910.
115 Davis, ‘Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Marquess of Crewe (1858–1945), Politician’.
116 Ibid.
117 Ibid. Curzon Wyllie was supposed to be the India Office's representative but he passed away prior to the committee's first meeting. For more on Wyllie, see Brown, ‘Sir (William Hutt) Curzon Wyllie’. Theodore Morison joined the Strangers’ Home Board of Directors in July 1910. Strangers’ Home Annual Report, 1915, L/PJ/6/1482 No. 1552, IOR, BL.
118 ‘Report of the Committee on Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects’, 3, April 1910, L/PJ/6/925 No. 830, IOR, BL.
119 Ibid., 3–8; see also the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 c.60 (57&58 Vic).
120 Ibid., 14.
121 Ibid.
122 Ibid., 16.
123 Ibid., 17; see also, Lahiri, Indians in Britain, 66–71.
124 Ibid., 15.
125 Ibid., 16.
126 Ibid., 15–16.
127 Ibid.
128 Ibid., 18–19.
129 Ibid., 19.
130 Ibid.
131 Ibid., 20.
132 Ibid., 21; see also Fitzgerald's response in 1899, letter dated 2 Sept. 1899, L/PJ/6/518 No.1676, IOR, BL.
133 ‘Report of the Committee on Distressed Colonial and Indian Subjects’, April 1910, 21, L/PJ/6/925 No. 830, IOR, BL.
134 Banerjea, 14 Jan. 1893, quoted in Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 1.
135 Brown, The Nationalist Movement, 15.
136 L/PJ/6/1269, No. 3493, IOR, BL.
137 Pratt, Imperial Eyes, 4.
138 Potter, ‘Empires, Cultures and Identities’, 56–57.
139 Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 22–28; Rose, Which People's War?, ch. 7; Putnam, ‘Citizenship from the Margins’, 165–68; Muller, ‘Bonds of Belonging’, 52–6; Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, 100–10.
140 Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 16–22.
141 Chatterjee, Politics of the Governed, 38.
142 Wainwright, ‘Better Class’ of Indians, 36–44.
143 Banerjee, Becoming Imperial Citizens, 23–24.