Updates on Mariners: a project funded by the UK's Arts and Humanities Council, 2022-2025.
Author: Lucy Wray
Lucy Wray is a Research Associate on the Mariners project, working alongside Sumita on the stream exploring experiences of South Asian Seamen, also known as ‘lascars’ in British ports.
Lucy is a social and cultural historian of Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, specialising in visuality and lens-based sources. Lucy has researched poverty, philanthropy, and class in urban environments and is interested in further exploring these themes on the project.
Lucy is from the North Coast of Northern Ireland and lived and worked in Belfast for a decade, where she completed her PhD at Queen’s University (2022) and worked for Ulster University as Research Associate on a maritime heritage project. Lucy has been involved in a number of public history, museum, and cultural heritage initiatives.
For a fuller academic profile, see Lucy’s Profile on the University of Bristol’s research portal.
On Wednesday 29th of November, I embarked on a four-day research trip to Liverpool. The purpose of my trip was to find material relating to lascars, a term used for seamen predominately from Asia, as well as Africa and the Caribbean who were employed in the merchant marine in large numbers in the long nineteenth century.
Liverpool has a rich history of mission activity to seamen in the nineteenth century, with myriad sailors’ homes, missions and rests operating during this period. While many of these institutions catered exclusively to British Sailors, some religious organisations focused on lascars. The Birkenhead Mission to Asiatic Seamen, for instance, opened in Morpeth Docks in 1900, and a year later amalgamated with the Mersey Mission to Seamen described as its Asiatic branch.
My search for sources relating to lascars, and religious organisations’ responses to them in Liverpool, led me to the archives centre at the city’s Maritime Museum and Liverpool Record Office. The archive centre, located on the second floor of the Maritime Museum, is open to the public Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 10.30 am-12.30 pm and 1.30-4 pm. No appointment is necessary. I was able to find references to some material through a searchable online catalogue prior to my visit. However, upon arrival at the archive, I found that I was able to better assess the extent of relevant material available through printed archive catalogues and information sheets which organised collections thematically. In this archive, I was able to observe material from organisations like the Seamen & Boatmen’s Friend Society and the Mersey Mission to Seamen. These sources have informed my understanding of mission activity to seamen in Liverpool during the period. In many ways, the absence of non-British sailors in these sources is a point for further enquiry, as I explore archival silences and what they in turn reveal.
View from Maritime Archives
Mersey Maritime Museum
The Liverpool Record Office, located on the third floor of the city’s central Library, open Monday to Friday 9 am to 8 pm, contains a diverse range of archives, rare books, microfilm and other material relating to Liverpool’s history. Booking is required for this archive, and the number of items readers can view per day is limited and must be requested 72 hours in advance of their visit. While I was able to see some items pertaining specifically to lascars, other archival material enriched my broader understanding of religious philanthropy, attitudes towards race, migration and mariners, as well as poverty in Liverpool in the nineteenth century. I was able to view copies of The Liverpool Review on microfilm, which I found particularly insightful. This was due to the presence of articles relating to non-British sailors, and the fact that this was a heavily illustrated newspaper, appealing to my interest and expertise in visual sources.
Ceiling of Bristol Central Library
During my spare time in Liverpool, I visited local museums and galleries including the World Museum, Museum of Liverpool, the Maritime Museum and the Walker Gallery. My observations, both of the presence and absence of representation of themes of race, religion and sailors will inform and inspire my planning of the project’s forthcoming exhibition in 2025.
In this blog, Freya Malhi, an undergraduate history student who has been interning with the ‘lascar’ strand of the Mariners project, discusses her experience of a first archival trip to the British Library with Lucy Wray.
On the 19th of July I visited the British Library with Lucy Wray to continue her research using the India Office Records. Our focus was on ‘lascars’, a term used to describe non-European sailors, particularly from South Asia, who were employed in large numbers from the 16th to mid-20th century. We were particularly interested in their interactions with the Strangers’ Home for Asiatics in London, a missionary institution which provided boarding and aid in repatriating lascars who had fallen on hard times between 1857 and 1937.
As an undergraduate, my excitement and anticipation were particularly heightened by the fact that, although I have engaged with digitised collections of primary sources many times during my degree, this was my first time doing hands-on archival research. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to experience what a career in academia might look like, given that visiting archives is key to an historian’s work.
Atrium at the British Library, image Freya Malhi, July 2023
What were my expectations?
I had loose expectations prior to this trip of what it might be like. For example, in the preceding week, Lucy gave me some photographs of sources from her previous visit to transcribe and digitise, so from that experience I knew that I would likely be looking at handwritten correspondence and reports surrounding the Strangers’ Home for Asiatics. As the British Library allows you to request files prior to visiting, I even knew what the subjects of the documents I planned to look at would likely be.
However, if anything, there were more elements of research at the British Library that I had questions about. I was curious about how the process of collecting and viewing files would work. How many staff would there be? What were the reading rooms like?
I soon learned that the British Library, as a large-scale public institution, was very organised, with a large body of staff and an online catalogue and request system. Requesting new files was therefore a straightforward and quick process (a 70-minute wait – quite understandable given the 14 kilometres of shelves that hold the India Office Papers, according to the British Library’s website [1]). The reading rooms, too, were pleasant. The warnings that we couldn’t take in food, drinks, bags, or pens made me fear that we’d be entering an environment akin to a surgeon’s sterile field, but it turned out to be more like a quiet and warmly lit library. Lucy had thankfully warned me about the loop of quiet white noise that is played in the background.
I was also curious about the form the files and archival papers would take, and how they were held and preserved. I discovered that the records I viewed mostly consisted of files that were part of much larger bound volumes of correspondence from or to the India Office’s different departments. These volumes were organised by year rather than topic, so I could turn from the pages of correspondence about lascars that I had requested a volume for and immediately see reports about a plea for help dissolving a marriage in India or discussion of a book loan request from the Manchester Vegetarian Society. While these surrounding files were not usually relevant to our research, they gave me a fascinating insight into the other simultaneous concerns of the India Office.
What surprised me?
I was surprised by the ease of access to the British Library’s records – I had always assumed that there would be a level of bureaucracy or a longer process to be able to view archival documents, and I am sure that for many archives that remains the case, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn that anyone over 18 can view British Library holdings so long as they apply for a library card and provide ID.
What did I discover?
Much like Lucy’s previous visit, many of the files I looked at comprised part of the ‘Public and Judicial Departmental Papers: Annual Files,’ IOR/L/PJ/6. However, a file of correspondence I found to be particularly revealing was instead part of the ‘Statistics and Commerce Department Papers’, IOR/L/E/6/37-74, the India Office’s Statistics and Commerce Department’s annual files produced between 1880 and 1881. This file, IOR/L/E/6/44, File 730, contained printed copies of internal correspondence within the Government of Madras Marine Department, as well as a copy of a complaint written in 1879 by Lieutenant-Colonel Hughes and the Directors of the Strangers’ Home, and remarks on that complaint from British Consuls in European ports.
The complaint itself argues that too many destitute lascars and ’Asiatic seamen’ have been sent to London by British officials in foreign ports, and that more provisions need to be made for their welfare, so they do not become destitute. The complaint includes four suggestions for how to achieve this.
This collection of correspondence demonstrates, through the various Consuls’ defences of their own positions and actions regarding lascars, that responsibility for lascar welfare was a concern oftentimes suspended between missionary and philanthropic organisations such as the Strangers’ Home, and Britain’s colonial bureaucracy and officials abroad. The British Consul at Rotterdam, for example, acquits British officials of any responsibility for high numbers of destitute lascars in his response to Hughes’s complaint:
‘In my opinion the remedy of an evil (if it can be so styled) is being sought in the wrong place. So long as Asiatics can be engaged as seamen or firemen in Indian or other Asiatic ports on the same terms as Europeans, there is no doubt that the number of such seamen temporarily destitute in European harbours […] will increase in proportion to the increased development of steam communication with the East.’
Furthermore, some of the Consuls refer to economic rather than welfare concerns surrounding the movement and repatriation of lascars. In this manner, the Strangers’ Home & the destitute lascars discussed became vehicles for a discourse about British subjects and state responsibility, while the movements of the lascars themselves were controlled and restricted.
Lucy and I have now begun the task of transcribing and cataloguing these materials. I feel certain that this experience of archival research will be invaluable as I enter my third year of my BA and tackle my dissertation; more importantly, however, it has served as confirmation that further study is something I want to pursue after I graduate.
[2] ‘File S&C 730/1880 – Government of Madras Marine Department papers in connection with a complaint by the Directors of the Strangers Home for Asiatics regarding the great number of Asiatic seamen sent to London in a destitute condition from continental ports,’ IOR/L/E/6/44, File 730: Dec 1879-May 1880, British Library, London
In this blog, Lucy Wray discusses her first archival trip for the lascars strand, where she visited the British Library to explore records relating to the Stranger’s Home for Asiatic, held within the India Office papers.
On the week of beginning 15th May, I embarked on my first research trip to London to explore collections relating to the lascar strand of the Mariners’ project. While I concluded my week in the National Archives at Kew, I spent the majority of my time at the British Library. A trip to the British Library is a delight for any researcher, but I was particularly excited as this was my first visit to the site since my doctoral placement, undertaken at their visual arts department in 2020. Despite being in very familiar surroundings, this was my first experience using these archives to research lascars and my first venture in using the India Office Papers .
Gates at British Library, Image Lucy Wray, May 2023
What was I looking for?
Working alongside Dr Sumita Mukherjee, I conduct research for the ‘lascar’ strand of the Mariners project. Lascar is a term often used for non-European seafarers who worked on British ships. Lascars were predominately from Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean and employed in large numbers by the British Merchant Marine from the nineteenth century. In addition to facing myriad difficulties and injustices relating to pay and conditions aboard ship, Lascars often struggled to secure accommodation at UK ports. For most of the nineteenth century, voluntary religious societies and missions were key providers of support and accommodation for these men. I aim to use visual and print sources to explore gendered and racialised ways missions and lascars interacted across the century.
The British Library is the UK’s National Library and one of the largest in the world, boasting around 200 million items. A researcher’s greatest obstacle is not a scarcity of sources but deciding where to begin. To get the ball rolling and hone my scope, I began by exploring sources relating to one of the best-known and most influential homes that interacted with lascars: Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders. Opened in London’s West India Dock in 1857, the Home provided accommodation, support and mission activity for lascars.
Most sources relating to the Stranger’s Home are held in the East India Office Papers. This is due to two key reasons: The East India Company provided regular revenue to the Home, and a large percentage of lascars were natives of India. Most of the records were, therefore, correspondence between the Home and the Indian Office relating to the finance and running of the Home and the cases of specific individuals from India.
What are the India Office Papers?
The India Office Records are the archives of the administration in London of the East India Company and the pre-1947 government of India. The British Library collection guide for this collection states, ‘The 14 kilometres of shelves of volumes, files and boxes of papers, together with 70,000 volumes of official publications and 105,000 manuscript and printed maps, are public records comprising the archives of the East India Company (1600-1858), of the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784-1858), of the India Office (1858-1947), of the Burma Office (1937-1948), and of a number of British agencies overseas which were officially linked with one or other of the four main bodies’.[1]
The India Office Papers and Private Papers archive is immense, rich and diverse, revealing details of commerce, politics and migration. They give insight into the lives of many individuals, including civil servants, medical staff, chaplains, missionaries and, of course, mariners.
What did I view?
On this trip, I focused my search on the ‘Public and Judicial Departmental Papers: Annual Files’ IOR/L/PJ/6. These records cover the period 1880-1930 and amount to a whopping 2,024 volumes. I also examined some records from the Economic Department Records, IOR/L/E (1786-1950), comprised of approximately 4245 volumes/files and 960 boxes. Given the volume of these records, it’s safe to say this will be the first of many trips.
Here is an example of a volume of the Public and Judicial papers. Records are organised in Volumes, usually relating to one year, and each ‘item’ is indexed with a reference number. When leafing through these volumes, it’s difficult not to get distracted by other intriguing records along the way.
Strangers Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders, c. 1900. Creator unknown.
Have you encountered any interesting sources?
I am in the process of transcribing the material I viewed and photographed during my visit. Lots of these sources will be essential in understanding the relationship between lascars and organisations like the sailors home for Asiatics. This includes fascinating correspondence between the Stranger’s Home for Asiatics and the India Office in 1902.[1]
Addressing his letter to Mr Wylie of the India office, Mr Chamier of the Stranger’s Home asked if deserters should be admitted. He expressed his view that only ‘the worst of the lascars’ dessert due to their difficult financial positions and provided an anecdotal example of a ‘Goa boy’ who deserted and was currently staying at the Home. Chamier also asked, ‘How long is a destitute of India to receive free board’ suggesting it should be at least one month.
A second letter records Mr Wylie forwarding these queries to Sir Charles Lyall of the India Office, requesting his observations. Here, Wylie states, ‘Deserters have no claim to admission to the Home but if they become destitute after deserting what is to become of them? Are they to be allowed to die in the street? The Home is the only place perhaps where they can be understood’.
In a third letter, Lyall responds to Wylie, Stating, ‘The treatment of Lascar seamen is one for the revenue department, not for the Judicial and public department’. He continues to state his opinion that there was no risk involved in a native of India dying in the street upon refusal to the Home, as the workhouse was ‘always open’ to them, and Indians could be found there in ‘large numbers’.
Lastly, Chamier stated that he had no objection to ‘one month being fixed’ for the lodging of destitute men, provided the case was reported immediately to the India office. (see IOR/L/PJ/6/610, File 1733)
While short, this exchange is telling. It points to the close relationship between government bodies and mission organisations, shows a spectrum of stances regarding empathy and aid extended to lascars and even the lack of clarity regarding which governmental departments dealt with specific matters relating to these mariners. It also references other institutions that housed lascars, such as workhouses.
I look forward to returning to the British Library in July to look at more records.
References
[1] ‘Question of admitting deserters into the Strangers’ Home for Asiatics’ IOR/L/PJ/6/610, File 1733: 15 Aug 1902, British Library, London.
