The Renaissance period saw a large number of Muslim visitors and travellers to Britain. Many were en route elsewhere but some stayed becoming merchants, coffeehouse proprietors, sailors and in some instances converts to Christianity. Slave trading became a very lucrative business after Britain established colonies in the West Indies and America. In 1663, The Royal African Company was chartered to trade in slaves, ivory and gold from Africa. The slave triangle displaced millions of Africans taken captives to plantations in the new colonies with many also coming to Britain. The visible increase of racial and religious ‘others’ concerned Elizabeth 1 who deemed their presence a ‘problem’. In January 1601, she issued a proclamation to deport Negroes (Africans) and Blackamoores (Muslims) from England. The familiar presence of North Africans was later observed by John Windus who noted of Morocco and its inhabitants in 1725, we have been pretty well accustomed to see its natives on our streets.

The British East India Company brought home riches previously unknown and returnee British merchants became a distinct social class – the nabobs. Indian servants became ‘status symbols’ and were treated as exotic imports complete with their ‘ethnic customs’. Whether indentured Indian servants were actually slaves is unclear. They were occasionally publicly sold and frequently given English surnames, indicating that they were legitimate property. The wife of Warren Hastings, the East India Company’s Governor–General, repatriated four Indian maids when she discovered they expected to undertake the light duties they did in India and that they desired to lead ‘exactly the same life’. Unfortunately, many servants were simply abandoned and left to fend for their selves. Micro-communities of destitute Indians established meeting places and centres of worship. A book published in 1761 entitled, The Servants Pocket-Book, alludes to, the wonted haunts of Moormen (Muslims) and Gentoos (Hindus).

Adding to the communities of Indians in Britain were significant numbers of former African slaves who had fought in the British ranks during the 1775 American War of Independence. Their dream of freedom and opportunity was in stark contrast to the racism and poverty they experienced when they became one of the numerous ‘Black’ vagrants in Britain. A Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was established, distributing money, food and clothing to over 200 people in London alone. In 1786, the businessman Henry Smeathman published his Sierra Leone resettlement plan to expel the ‘Black’ poor from Britain. The government agreed to contribute £12 towards each ‘repatriation’ and handbills were distributed amongst the ‘Black poor’ describing Sierra Leone as an ideal place for relocation.

But when people refused deportation, the government resorted to harassment and by October 1786, the project claimed seven hundred ‘volunteers’. A movement opposing the expulsion lobbied the government to abandon the plan. However, on 10th April 1786, a few ships left for Sierra Leone with 441 ‘repatriates’. By the following May the colony was facing famine and disease. A report to the Navy Board by Captain Thompson revealed that in September 1787, only 268 from 441 had survived. The scheme was a disaster, failing to ‘rid’ Britain of its Blackamoore, Negro, Gentoo and Moormen population then estimated at ten thousand.

Indian subjects became permanent servants in Queen Victoria’s court and ‘Mohammed Bux’ (Buksh) and ‘Abdul Karim’, attended to the Empress. In 1889, Abdul Karim became the official munshi, or clerk, to Victoria instructing her in the customs, religions and languages of Indian. Pleased with Karim, she awarded him land in Agra, cottages at Windsor and Osbourne and commissioned two portraits of him by Rudolf Swoboda in 1888 and Von Angeli in 1890. He was further promoted in 1894 to ‘Indian Secretary’ and then decorated, Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE).

However, elements in the royal court nurtured superior and racist attitudes, viewing Karim as a lowly colonial subject. Officials incensed by the Queen’s apparent favouritism ignored and snubbed him. Victoria dismissed allegations discrediting Karim as simply ‘race prejudice’. The rumours persisted and it was claimed that the Queen’s confident was influencing her attitudes and opinions and, ultimately, British foreign policy in the colony. Karim however, behaved impeccably remaining dignified despite the racism and prejudice to which he was continuously subjected. But with few friends in the palace, after Victoria died in 1901, he was unceremoniously deported to India.

In 1914, issues of equality, race and religion became somewhat of a problem for British troops during the ‘Great War’ when it was believed that white soldiers would refuse orders from ‘coloured’ officers. Britain had to rely upon its colonial subjects to aid the war effort and India alone volunteered 1.3 million soldiers with many fighting on the front lines. Oriental Lascars, or merchant sailors, from the Muslim communities throughout the country’s docklands, shipped vital supplies from British ports. More than 3,500 Lascars lost their lives, a thousand coming from Yemeni community in Cardiff alone.

After the War colonial soldiers were discharged and left stranded in Britain. The economic recession meant that employment was scarce. For the ex-servicemen racial discrimination further lessened their job prospects. In the inter-war years only industrious migrants would find a place in Britain where unemployment and destitution meant the likelihood of deportation. As the shipping industry declined with modern, faster oil-powered ships replacing steam vessels the Lascars, formerly employed as coal stokers, became redundant. The seamen organised themselves to protect their jobs despite government legislation limiting the number of ‘coloured seamen’ employed on ships. Dr Khalid Sheldrake of the Western Islamic Association made representations on behalf of the Arabs to South Shields City Council and the Port Authorities as early as 1919 after employment discrimination and race riots.

Similar race riots occurred in Liverpool. White sailors believed that the ‘coloureds’ were taking their jobs and therefore should be repatriated. The press inflamed the situation and the Liverpool Courier claimed that one of the chief reasons of popular anger behind the present disturbances lies in the fact that the average Negro is nearer to the animal than is the average white man. As the riots spread to London, the national press absolved the aggressors and blamed the Lascars, implying that inter-racial marriages and associations between ‘black sailors’ and white women were the ‘reason’ for the riots.

In South Wales three people were killed, dozens injured and large-scale damage caused to property. One rioter told the South Wales Argus, we are all one in Newport and mean to clear the niggers out. The Cardiff Yemeni community faced fierce attacks and the army was brought in to restore peace. But when colonial Australian soldiers drew their rifles to fire on the Yemenis, shots were fired by Lascars armed with revolvers. The rioting was so widespread and feelings ran so high that the deportation of some 600 Lascars was instituted to pacify the white sailors. But the deportees were not volunteers and for many their status as British citizens was effectively revoked.

The colonial secretary, Lord Milner, issued a memorandum headed, ‘Repatriation of coloured men’, referring to the bitter resentment and injustice suffered by the colonial seamen, many of whom had served in the armed forces during the war. But more importantly, he feared that repatriations would have a direct effect on white British minorities living in the colonies. Whilst deportation was seen as the solution to the race riots the policy failed to protect the Lascars and their families as permanent settlers and British citizens.

Legal restrictions of Arab seamen to Britain in the early 1920s were further extended to include all ‘coloured sailors’ in 1925. The Special Restriction (Coloured Alien Seamen) Order, issued by the Home Office required all ‘coloured alien seamen’ to register with the local police within a limited number of days. Initially, the order was implemented to limit ‘Adenese’ Arabs (Yemeni colonial subjects) only and was restricted to a small number of ports. By 1926 the order was applied to all British ports and all ‘coloured’ sailors, effectively imposing a ‘colour bar’ into Britain, defining ‘British’ and ‘alien’ racially. In Scotland a number of seamen sort other means of employment away from the racism experienced in the docklands. A ‘little Asiatic colony’ of Punjabi Muslims referred to as ‘steady and industrious’ took up employment in the Lanarkshire steel industry but were resented by local (white) trade councils who made representations to the Ministry of Labour requesting their repatriation.

History has proved that deportation of Muslims has never actually solved the problem it was employed to address. Rather, it has added to the misunderstanding and intolerance of racial and religious ‘others’. Instead, we might do well to listen and engage with social minorities in order that we might create an environment of tolerance and understanding.

Source: (Q-News, No. 350, October 2003/Shaban 1424, pp. 18-21.)