By Asif Shakoor
The following post is written by Asif Shakoor, an Independent Scholar and authority on lascar heritage who is a member of our advisory board. The following is an extract from the presentation he gave at our project conference at the SS Great Britain in September 2024:
The term ‘Lascar’ was historically used to describe Black, Asian, and ethnic minority seafarers who served on British ships sailing from India in the 1600s. The original word, however, is Lashkar, not Lascar. The English diplomat Sir Thomas Roe first introduced the word lashkar into the English language in 1616. Later, in 1625, Sir Thomas Roe introduced the corrupted form lascar. This term is a misapplication and distortion of the Persian lashkar.i
Many senior English officials in India had already been using lashkar before Sir Thomas Roe introduced the corrupted version lascar in 1625. For instance, William Biddulph used the word lashkar in 1621, while Robert Hughes and John Parker did so in 1622. Maritime scholar, Dr Gopalan Balachandran, equated the term lascar with coolie, thereby rendering it a derogatory term.ii The etymology of lashkar traces it from Urdu لشکر, which originates from the Persian word لشکر, meaning ‘army’ in both languages. Further, it can be traced back to the Arabic word عسكر al-‘askir, also meaning ‘army’.
I don’t think my grandmother would have referred to my grandfather, Mahomed Gama, as a lascar. She would likely have asked, ‘So what is that then? What does that mean? What is a lascar?”. My grandfather was a South Asian seafarer لشکر, and I never refer to him as a lascar. Such a term does not exist in Urdu or Persian linguistic dictionaries from the past century.
The “Lascar Depot” in West Ham
Around 1814 the East India Company established a hostel, called a depot, for seafarers from the Indian sub-continent who came to London on the Company’s ships. The depot was located in the parish of West Ham, and overseen by a ‘superintendent of lascars’, a London merchant named Abraham Gole. There may have been a second hostel in Shadwell, accommodating seafarers from both the sub-continent and China.
The East India Company claimed to have a moral obligation to look after these seafarers. They stated that they ‘felt it to be their duty, to use every means their power to preserve from injury those natives of India who were employed in navigating the ships’ that they owned, as well as those of other ship-owners. The Company claimed that the depot provided the seafarers ‘with every necessary comfort’.iii
Abraham Gole provided board and lodging, ‘including tobacco’ and conveyed the seamen to and from the docks, charging the East India Company a daily rate. In 1816 he reduced the charges, possibly because he feared that the hostel in West Ham would be closed after a petition against it was submitted by local residents. Drawn up by the vicar of West Ham, the Reverend C. Jones, and signed by more than 100 local people, the petition claimed that the hostel had ‘become a great nuisance’ to them and their families, though why was not clear. However, it seems that the petition was successful, because in 1818 the minutes of the government’s board of commissioners for India noted that the ‘depot’ appeared to have closed.
‘Le Gestenhall’ – A Guesthouse for ‘Lascars’ in West Ham in the 1840s
A guesthouse for South Asian ‘lascar’ seamen once stood on the banks of the Channelsea River, a small tributary of the River Lea. The building, originally part of the Stratford Langthorne Abbey grounds, was recorded as ‘Le Gestenhall’ and was reportedly used to house ‘lascars’ in the 1840s. Today, a modern office block, likely Channelsea House on Canning Road (E15), occupies the site. This building is visible when travelling westbound on the District Line from West Ham Underground station and is situated adjacent to Masjid-e-Ilyas, a mosque (or Muslim place of worship).
‘Lascar’ Deaths and Burials in West Ham Cemetery
With the opening of the Victoria Dock in 1855, ‘Lascar’ seafarers began arriving at the port. As ‘lascar’ seamen arrived in England, many fell victim to tropical and sea-borne diseases, while others died in London from unexplained causes. Seafarers also frequently suffered from sexually transmitted infections and pneumonia, which were also rife among seafarers. Many seamen died shortly after embarking on their voyages.
Dozens of Muslim seafarers were subsequently buried in West Ham Cemetery, which officially opened in 1857. Among these burials was Abdul Rahman, who died at the Seamen’s Hospital and was laid to rest in West Ham Cemetery on 17th September 1901. The burials of ‘lascar’ seafarers were in unconsecrated, unmarked public graves.
Many ships, such as the Belle of the Sea under the command of Captain Lewis, docked at the Victoria Dock in 1858, bringing cargo and ‘lascar’ crew from Calcutta, British India. The Belle of the Sea was the first vessel from Calcutta to dock at the Royal Victoria Dock, arriving on 5th July 1858.
‘Lascars’
The Graphic, from 6th August 1892, reported on 2,000 ‘lascar’ seafarers professing ‘the creed of Mahomet’ and observing ʿĀshūrāʾ عاشوراء, the commemoration of Imam Husayn’s martyrdom. They gathered at the renamed Royal Victoria Dock for a ten-day period in the first week of August. The article incorrectly remarked about ‘the murder of Hasan and Hussein’. The commemoration of ʿĀshūrāʾ عاشوراء marks the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and not Imam Hasan. The article described in great depth the events of the procession, including a rather bizarre occurrence of the ‘lascars’ pausing “to make their salaams at the offices of the two companies”—those being the offices of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and the British India Steam Navigation Company, both of which retained offices at the Royal Docks. The term ‘salaam’, Arabic for ‘peace’ السلام, here implies a greeting.
The Illustrated London News, dated 9th April 1904, carried an article titled, ‘Hobson Jobson: A Curious Hindoo Celebration at Easter in the East End’. This event was, in fact, a Muslim commemoration of ʿĀshūrāʾ at the Royal Albert Dock, not a ‘Hindoo Celebration’. The phrase ‘Hobson Jobson’ refers to the names Hasan and Husayn, the grandsons of Prophet Muhammad, and evolved as a linguistic corruption of the call Ya Hasan, Ya Husayn یاحسن ياحسين ‘ This phrase gradually morphed through variations—’Hosseen Gosseen,’ ‘Hossy Gossy,’ ‘Hossen Jossen,’ and ‘Jackson Backson’—eventually becoming ‘Hobson-Jobson’.iv The phrase became so commonly used that Colonel Henry Yule and Dr. A.C. Burnell adopted it as the title for their 1886 dictionary, Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases. The article described the ’lascars’ as ‘grotesquely dressed’ and carrying a ‘flimsy temple made of cardboard and paper’. It further suggested that the ‘temple’ was believed to contain the ‘devil’. However, this was an incorrect reference, as it was not a temple. In fact, it was known as Al-Ta’ziyyah تعزية, an Arabic term implying condolence or comfort, and a symbolic expression of grief made to represent the mausoleum of Imam Husayn (the grandson of Prophet Muhammad). Moreover, it is not associated with containing the devil.
An earlier edition of The Graphic, from 27th November 1873, featured a sketch of ‘lascar’ seafarers described as ‘Praying at Sunset.’ In this depiction, Muslim ‘lascars’ are shown in the Tashahhud تَشَهُّد posture meaning “testimony of faith”, also known as at-Tahiyyat ٱلتَّحِيَّات, performing the al-Maġrib prayer ṣalāt al-maġrib المغرب صلاة. Another ‘lascar’ is portrayed making supplication, or Dua دعاء, on the forecastle of the Sumatra, a vessel of the P&O.
Mahomed Gama (1895–1965)
Mahomed Gama was born in 1895 in Jhang, Old Mirpur, in the erstwhile princely state of Jammu & Kashmir. He enlisted in the Mercantile Marine in 1913, beginning his service aboard the SS Mooltan.
During the First World War, Mahomed Gama also served on the SS Medina, transporting cargo and passengers. The ship called at the ports of London and New Sydney, Australia, in February 1916, eventually arriving in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 20th November 1916.
Notably, prior to Mahomed Gama’s service, the SS Medina had conveyed King George V to British India for his Delhi Durbar Coronation in 1911. On 11th November 1911, King George and Queen Mary departed from Portsmouth aboard RMS Medina and arrived in Bombay on 2nd December 1911. The durbar took place on 12th December 1911.
Mahomed Gama arrived onboard the SS Khiva at the Royal Victoria Dock, London, in December 1917. He remained there for a month, until the first week of January 1918, while the SS Khiva was refitted for its onward journey, transporting American troops from New York to the British ports of London, Plymouth, and Liverpool.
After the war ended, Mahomed Gama was awarded two medals in recognition of his service: the British War Medal and the Mercantile Marine War Medal. He passed away in August 1965 in Jhang, Old Mirpur, while visiting Pakistan. His burial site is now submerged beneath the waters of the Mangla Reservoir. His descendants continue to reside in both the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
Amir Haidar Khan (1900–1989)
Dada Amir Haidar Khan (anglicised in the crew records as Ameer Hyder Atta Mahomed) served aboard the SS Khiva alongside Mahomed Gama. In his memoir, Chains to Lose: Life and Struggles of a Revolutionary, he vividly describes life during the First World War at the Royal Victoria Dock.v He recounts how London’s streets were ‘kept dark’, with little visible beyond the ‘cross-beams of powerful searchlights’ that scanned the skies over the city. He wrote, ‘Thus London, the cornerstone of the British Empire, was a rather gloomy place to live during the winter of 1917–1918.’
Reflecting on his impressions of London, he observed, ‘I had thought of all the white-skinned men who wore collars and suits as Sahibs, and all the women who wore skirts, blouses and awry hats as Memsahibs—the people of the ruling class as I knew them in India.’ In Urdu and Arabic, Sahib صاحب is a respectful title for a man, with Sahiba صاحبة as the equivalent for a woman, similar in function to the English use of ‘esquire’.
Amir Haidar Khan’s memoir is among the earliest recorded histories by a ‘lascar’ seafarer documenting experiences from the First World War.
The leading scholar on the South Asian presence in Britain, Dr Rozina Visram notes: ‘In 1919, at the end of the First World War, Indian seamen comprised 20 per cent of the British maritime labour force. Ten years later, the percentage stood at 23.5, rising to 26 per cent in 1938, a total of 50,000.’vi
Rohama Hassa (1895 -): The Oldest Surviving ‘Nolly’ or Continuous Discharge Certificate
Continuous Discharge Certificates (CDCs) were introduced following the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, which required a CDC to be signed by both the seafarer and the master of the vessel at the termination of each voyage. The earliest CDC first appeared in the early 1910s.
Rohama Hassa (anglicised as Rohama Hassa, though his original name was Rahima), was born in 1895 in the Punjab, British India, and is recorded on his Continuous Discharge Certificate as a ’Punjabi Mussuliman’. The phrase musalmān مسلمان is a Persian/Urdu term simply denoting his adherence to the Muslim faith. His CDC bears his fingerprint, as the majority of ‘lascars’ were unable to comprehend, read, or write in English, so a thumbprint sufficed in place of a signature.
Rohama Hassa’s CDC is the earliest known to survive in the United Kingdom, named to a South Asian ’lascar’ seafarer. It was issued in March 1914.
An analysis of Rohama Hassa’s CDC shows he served during the First World War on the SS Mongolia, SS Syria, SS Delta, and SS Kaiser-i-Hind, all vessels belonging to the P&O. Rules permitted a CDC to be valid for five years, renewable for up to five more years, provided the holder was a serving seaman and his CDC had not been cancelled, withdrawn, or suspended.
According to crew lists and agreements, Rohama Hassa served on additional vessels of the P&O, namely the SS Moldavia and SS Narkunda. However, these vessels are not recorded on this CDC due to the reasons above. They would have been recorded on a separate CDC issued to him.
Acknowledgements
Mark Gorman, Local Historian, London Borough of Newham
Tom Chivers, Postgraduate Researcher, Queen Mary University of London, London
References
i Cited in the Oxford Concise Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 1st edition, 1911); and the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 1962).
ii Balachandran, Gopalan, 2012. Globalizing Labour: Indian seafarers and world shipping 1870-1945 (New Delhi. Oxford University Press)
iii London Courier and Evening Gazette, 25th January 1814
iv Bragg, Melvyn, 2016. The Adventures of English: The Definitive Biography of Our Language (London: Hodder & Stoughton)
v Haidar Khan, Dada Amir,1989. Chains to Lose: Life and Struggles of a Revolutionary (New Delhi: Patriot Publishers)
vi Visram, Rozina, 2002. Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press), p. 225