Imperial Footprints: A History of South Asian Child Migrants in Britain

by Sumita Mukherjee

English 256 pages 1 edition

Between 1857 and 1947, over 28 million Indians left the subcontinent to live, work and study elsewhere. Today, India has the largest diaspora in the world, with approximately 18 million Indians living overseas. Sumita Mukherjee vividly charts this history of emigration from British India to the imperial heartland through the eyes of its youngest participants. Pupils sent to English boarding schools, runaway servants, sailor children, refugees of war or Partition-these migrant children were instrumental in the development not only of Indian national and diasporic identities, but of British identity too. Though often absent from historical narratives, and marginalised by their political status, their race and their age, they were fundamental to historical change. Imperial Footprints draws on archival records and firsthand accounts, from the Victorian era to Partition, to uncover the unique experiences of the youngest South Asian migrants to Britain and offers a fascinating new perspective on migration and empire.