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Archiver > INDIA > 1997-08 > 0872530969


From: Glynn & Kathy Greenwood< >
Subject: Anglo-Indians. Was Re: Anglo-Indians and the Railways
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 1997 18:42:49 BST


Cathy Day <> wrote:
> The term 'Eurasian' means exactly the same as Anglo-Indian (in
> India, anyway). Up until about the 1840's, mixed-race people in India
> were refered to as 'Indo-Britons', while people of English descent who
> lived in India were 'Anglo-Indians'. Then the term 'Anglo-Indian' came
to
> be used for mixed-race people, and English people who lived in India
were
> called 'Domiciled British'. In about the 1890's, the term 'Eurasian'
came
> into use for mixed-race people, but this lost favour and by about the
> 1930's, mixed-race people were refered to as 'Anglo-Indians' again, as
> they are today.

My information is rather different. In the 1840s the Company decided that
it was necessary to settle their soldiers. To this end they offered a
bounty (1 shilling I think) to any soldier who married a native woman.
The children of these marriages were the ancestors of the Anglo-Indians.
The Anglo-Indians were distinct from both the English and the native
communities. They were originally educated by the Company but eventually
founded their own schools. My uncles, for example, attended Foresters
College, Simla while my mother and her sisters attended the Dioscesan
College, Nani Tall. These schools were only open to Anglo-Indians.

All Anglo-Indians could trace their family back to a soldier, either
Company or Crown. Their mother tongue was English, their religion
Christian.

In a town of any size there would be parrallel institutions. For example
there would be the "Club" (English members only) and the "Institute" for
Anglo-Indians. Natives, including people of mixed race who did not fit
the definition of Anglo-Indian, were not accepted.

Anglo-Indians considered themselves English and always refered to England
as "home". You can get a feeling of Anglo-Indian society by reading
"Bhowani Junction" by John Masters. It's a novel but very accurate.

--
Glynn Greenwood

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