By Abi Husainy
Last updated 2011-02-17
Many historians have documented a full account of Asian settlers in Britain. However, finding information on South Asian family history is still a new and partially explored subject for the community. This article will examine this issue and make your family history research in Britain a rewarding experience.
To understand your Asian history, it is helpful to know how your ancestors may have arrived in Britain. The following groups below will all have left documents and records which will help in tracing your family tree:
The vast majority of the South Asian population who arrived in Britain from India came after the 1947 partition of India, and there were many later arrivals from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Post-war arrivals also included Indian indentured labourers who had migrated to sugar-producing colonies during the colonial period and Indian workers who had gone to work in East Africa.
After the independence of Uganda in 1962, Kenya in 1963 and Tanzania in 1964, there were many upheavals. In 1966, Kenya terminated settlement rights for British passport holders of South Asian descent, creating the first exodus of East African Asian migrants to Britain. This was followed by the expulsion of Asian citizens from Uganda in 1972.
Post-war Asian migrants were skilled workers such as artisans, teachers, medical doctors, and ex-Indian and British Armed Forces personnel. Their spouses and relatives came to join their families who were now living in Britain.
Most of the Asian migrants were Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist Zoroastrian (Parsis or Parsees) and Christian (particularly Anglo Indians).
In the 19th century, Asians encountered challenges when they tried to integrate, as their religions were different from the mainstream community.
Many converted to Christianity and some did not change their religion but took anglicized names, as they wanted to fit in and be accepted by the host community. The vast majority did not change their names legally.
Ashoka Gupta being interviewed ©
To help get you started, it is well worth speaking to all your relatives. Oral family history is extremely important, but you must remember that although it carries some truth, it can get distorted from generation to generation.
Finding any information on your Asian ancestors will require persistence in perusing the many archives available. It is also worth remembering that finding any information on working class Asians can be difficult, as their direct involvement with the government administration is often small. However, it is possible to piece together scattered fragments of information.
For records relating to South Asian women, this can be even harder. Females can be traced through their employment or through the records of their husbands.
It is necessary to understand that Asians who lived in this country were liable to the legal system and the rules and regulations of Britain. Therefore, many of their names and details have been recorded in British government and local records. These may include the following:
The following archives will also help you find genealogical information:
Once you have discovered the region and place name of your ancestors’ origin in India, you can build a local history of that place.
During British rule in India, the Office of the Surveyor General and other administrative officials created many maps as well as unpublished histories of different parts of India. Some are available at the British Library, OIOC, and others can be found at The National Archives.
The British Library, OIOC also hold published rare books including Gazetteers for India. Bombay Gazetteer, Madras Gazetteer and Bengal Gazetteer can all give the name and brief history of a place.
The abolition of slavery created a shortage of labourers in the colonies and Britain decided to emigrate a very large amount of Indian indentured labourers to the sugar producing colonies.
The National Archives holds:
Indian students pursued a range of studies in Britain, particularly in legal, medical and technical fields.
Asians at first came to Oxford, Cambridge, London and Edinburgh universities, and then in the early 20th century to Glasgow University and the Manchester School of Technology.
Therefore, it may be useful to consult the admission registers of these universities.
Cambridge University alumni up to 1900 and Oxford University alumni up to 1886 are available at www.ancestry.co.uk on a pay-per-view basis.
As a general example, an application from Amar Singh, a Punjabi student at the Manchester College of Technology, for an allowance of £6 per month for 10 months to enable him to complete his course of study is held at the British Library, ref. IOR/L/PJ/6/899, File 3902, dated 1908.
A group of Royal Indian Air Force pilots at Miranshah Airfield North West Frontier in December 1943 © With the British Empire spanning several centuries, military service remains one of the most productive means of tracing ancestors.
Britons often forget that South Asians fought on several fronts and at sea in World Wars One and Two, as well as in many colonial-era skirmishes.
The most exalted order of the Star of India was given to many Maharajahs, Nawabs, Rajahs, and Nizams of Hyderabad as well as to civilians. The Kaisar-I-Hind medal and Order of India medal are listed in the India Office list. The Indian Army Quarterly List for 1 January 1912, printed by the Superintendent Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1912, is available at www.ancestry.co.uk. It lists the names of British and Indian officers as well as their regiments.
The Lascars, or Indian seamen, served on the British merchant ships as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries. Several references to South Asian Lascars can be found in the:
Due to the harsh conditions and ill treatment on board, many Indian seamen upon landing in seaport towns of Britain remained and did not take the ship back home.
Many of these became destitute and were sent to local workhouses. Relevant records are kept locally with the appropriate local County Record Office.
A Lascar deserter normally stayed at the Indian lodging houses in the East-end of London. Some applied for a pedlar’s licence at the local metropolitan police office.
Those Lascar deserters who did not renew their licences were tried at the Local Quarter Session Court. Relevant records may be found at the appropriate Local County Record Office.
The Special Certificate of Nationality issued to coloured seamen are held at The National Archives under record series HO 45. A keyword search can be conducted using the surname of the person on the The National Archive's online catalogue.
It was a family tradition in India to keep genealogical tables. Special attention was devoted to hereditary connections with the local governing administration.
On occasion these connections might help in claiming rights, privileges or for winning disputes.
In order to determine the heirs for succession to a village headman or local chief or religious leader, it was custom to use genealogical tables. Some records go back two or three centuries.
For example the Rajput royal families kept the lineal succession of kings from very early times.
Some genealogical tables of Hindu rulers appear in the form of inscriptions on stones. These record lineages in the appropriate local village of India.
Large collections of Persian papers on Royal orders and grants, citations, treaties, and letters are available, including transcribed documents referring to Bengal affairs between the East India Company’s servants and Indian Mughal rulers and notables.
Please check the Calendar of Persian Correspondence from which certain amounts of family history information can be found.
Useful information on Mughal Royal families in India can be found in the libraries of the Royal Asiatic Society and the University of Edinburgh. Please check A descriptive catalogue of the Arabic and Persian manuscripts by M. A. Hukk, H. Ethé and E. Robertson, in Edinburgh University Library (Edinburgh, 1925)
Useful websites for family history, cultural events, festivals, arts, music and photographs in UK:
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
Caribbean Studies and the History of Black and Asian Peoples in the UK
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive
Record Office for Leicestershire
Oriental and India Office Collections (OIOC) at The British Library
The India office family History database
Imperial War Museum, Photograph Archive
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