Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

The Social Networks of South Asian Migrants in the Sheffield Area During the Early Twentieth Century

Bibliographic Data

ID4162883
AuthorsD Holland (0000-0002-0122-5792, University of Sheffield, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume236
Issue1
Pages243-279
Publication date2017-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePast & Present (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pastj/gtx019
OpenAlexW2615462679
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited2

This study presents evidence of the migration of Indians, mostly Muslim former 'lascar' seafarers, and their non-maritime employment and settlement in the Sheffield area. This process began during the First World War and the study analyses data up until the beginning of the era identified as that of mass-migration and marked by the British Nationality Act,1948. The evidence for Sheffield-area settlement challenges current understanding of interwar Britain's non-elite Indian population as comprised almost entirely of seafaring sojourners rather than of settlers. The settlement, previously unnoticed by historians, also invites us to reconsider our understanding of 'race relations' during the period. Our current observations of British attitudes toward race during the interwar period tends be through a lens distorted by the 1919-20 race riots in a number of British home-ports. In contrast, this new evidence suggests that levels of everyday inter-racial tolerance within working-class districts may have been higher, more widespread and of a different nature than has been previously assumed. This possibility is raised due to investigation using a new methodology for migration history using General Register Office data for births, marriages and deaths, particularly the many marriage records of white natives and non-white newcomers. Moreover, it appears that the Sheffield-area settlement remained unnoticed because it did not generate the hostility that produced the records migration historians have tended to rely upon as primary sources, such as Home Office documents and press reports of the 'problems' of 'miscegenation' and 'half-caste' children.? The data examined by this study form part of my nationwide study into marriages between natives of Britain and Muslim newcomers, supporting an argument that permanent non-white settlement in Britain began in earnest well before 1948

Archaeology · Caste · Elite · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Immigration · Nationality · Period (music) · Political science · Politics · Population · Race (biology) · Settlement (finance · Sociology · White (mutation · World War II · Australian History and Society · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Demography · Gender Studies · History · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

  • Mixed Race Britain in The Twentieth Century

    Open Access•Chamion Caballero, P J Aspinall•Mixed Race Britain in The…•2018

  • Occupational distribution and mobility of migrants born in South Asia

    Raaj Tiagi•South Asian Diaspora•2024

  • Vindictiveness on Account of Colour’

    Open Access•Ginger S Frost•Genealogy•2020

  • Interraciality in Early Twentieth Century Britain

    Open Access•Chamion Caballero•Genealogy•2019

  • Not always logical’

    Ginger S Frost•The History of the Family•2019

  • Such a Group! Presenting so Many Nationalities’

    Ben Szreter•Immigrants & Minorities•2020

  • Volunteering in the community

    Open Access•Syka Iqbal, Salvatore Di Martino et al.•Journal of Community Psychology•2023

  • Boxing, Race, and British Identity, 1945–1962

    Open Access•Martin Johnes, Matthew Taylor•The Historical Journal•2020

  • Emigration State

    Open Access•Freddy Foks•Journal of Historical Sociology•2022

  • The Social Position of White and "Half-Caste" Women in Colored Groupings in Britain

    Sydney Collins, Sydney F Collins•American Sociological Review•1951

  • Family organisation among the Sikhs in Britain

    Roger Ballard•New Community•1972

Unique citing works9
Citations per year1,13
Citation span2018 - 2024 (7)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae