What part did life in Britain play in radicalising Indians?
A set of case studies from the period before 1914.
We know a lot about the British in India, but how much do you know about the different groups of Indians who came to Britain?
From Maharajahs, Gandhi and Nehru, to the working class sailors; discover how their experiences shaped them!
The blue buttons throughout this StoryMap are links to external websites and further reading that provide useful information on the case studies discussed. Feel free to click and have a read!
My research focuses on the experiences of the Indian people who came to or lived in Britain, in an attempt to overcome the excess of British sided research and material. The British point of view and experience within India appears to largely dominate the theme of the British Empire. Much of the existing research around India through the colonial period is widely anglocentric.
MESMIRISING MAHARAJAHS: Indian royalty
The Maharaja Duleep Singh
Duleep Singh, the last Maharaja of the Punjab and Sikh Empire, was forced to resign his title and land to the British in 1849, following the Anglo-Sikh wars. He was exiled to England
After initially enjoying life in England and following Christianity/ a British way of life, he began to despise the government and Empire for ‘the illegality of the annexation of the Punjab’, desiring to be reinstated.
He reverted to Sikhism, believing himself the ‘lawful sovereign of the Sikh nation’ and ‘implacable foe of the British government’.
Duleep was heavily and continuously exposed to British teachings and Christian texts from a young age. This indicates that his access to attitudes and opinions from a self-ruling democratic country, who took his territory, fuelled the formation of his radical and anti-imperial political attitudes. Also, the Maharaja was seen as an ‘other’ whilst in Britian, despite being in the Queen’s favour, this conveyed the separation and inferiority imposed upon him. He was forced to learn the culture, of a culture which did not care to understand anything about him. There was little point in trying his best to fit into a society where he was never going to be an equal. Not only learning how an independent and progressive country functions, but also through racial ‘otherness’ within British society, led to the formation of Maharaja Duleep Singh’s radical outlooks towards the British controlling India through the Empire.
INTRIGUING INTELLECTUALS: Students and Scholars
Dadabhai Naoroji | Shyamji Krishnavarma |
|---|---|
Created the drain theory; British rule was a drain on India and its resources. BOOK: Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901 | Founded the India Home Rule Society in 1905; to promote nationalist ideas against colonialism. |
One of the founders of the Indian National Congress in 1885- & member of British committee. | He wrote a radical monthly pamphlet, The Indian Sociologist. |
Elected to Commons as MP of Central Finsbury in 1892. | Bought India House in 1905 and opened it as a hostel for Indian students; it soon became a hub for nationalist activism. |
More substantial details about the Indian scholars, Naoroji and Krishnavarma.
Overall, it can be seen for the Indian academics listed above, that access to higher education in Britain provided the opportunity for the academics to develop more radical and nationalist attitudes. It can be argued that this happened due to exposure to British culture and political ideas within a functioning democratic and independent state. Also, the idea of racial ‘otherness’ prevails again, whereby many of the academics strived to become a respected member of British society but would always be deemed as lesser. Therefore why would they keep trying when they understand they could be equal from their own country.
STEADFAST SAILORS: Lascars
However, whilst it is more difficult to find reliable first person accounts from Lascars, a dislike of the British can be seen but no specific evidence to argue that their experiences made them more radical.
Cartoon from Punch of Dadabhai Naoroji; first Indian MP, July 1892, p.33. (Punch Magazine Cartoon Archive)
But what are the problems?... |
|---|
Lack of primary sources surrounding the working class: research faces difficulties when trying to locate first hand accounts of Lascars about how Britain shaped them. There is more quantitative data than qualitative. |
Anglocentric outlook: whilst there is an abundance of research and information regarding British experiences in India, there is significantly less information available from the perspective of Indian people. Especially for those who came to Britain and were regarded as the minority/inferior. |
Androcentrism: research takes a male-centred approach, failing to consider the Indian women who came to Britain before 1914. This could be an interesting gap for others to fill. |
HELPFUL FURTHER READING
Rozina Visram, Ayahs, Lascars and Princes
N. Ali, V. S. Kalra, S. Sayyid, A Postcolonial People: South Asians in Britain
M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Ashley Jackson, The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction
Catherine Hall and Sonya O. Rose, At Home With The Empire: Metropolitan Culture and the Imperial World
Rozina Visram, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Maharaja Duleep Singh
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, on all of the mentioned students and scholars
Our Migration Story website, ‘The Lascars: Britain's Colonial Sailors’, https://www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/the-lascars-britains-colonial-era-sailors
KEY PRIMARY SOURCES
• J. R. Seeley, The Expansion of England, 1883 : Explains how British control and opinions were harshest on royal Indians and noble classes, when British were taking control. Maharaja Duleep Singh- land and title seized by British control; he was exiled to Britain.
• Thomas Babington Macaulay’s Minute on Indian Education, 2nd Feb 1835 : Discusses education for Indians, and Macaulay’s belief that Indians should be educated in a British manner, not their own way which he deemed inferior. Later led to Indian students/scholars in Britain to become more radicalised in a nationalistic sense- due to access to British education and understanding of politics and rights.
• Society for the Protection of Asiatic Sailors, The Times, Friday 9th Dec 1814, No.9387 : Details harsh and awful experiences of Lascars, not only onboard British ships but also once they reached destinations such as Britain. Does not necessarily show radicalisation, but notable fuel for Lascars’ dislike of Britain and the ‘Englishmen’.
Cartoon from Punch of Dadabhai Naoroji; first Indian MP, July 1892, p.33. (Punch Magazine Cartoon Archive) : shown above in the ‘ISSUES WITH RESEARCH’ section.
