LavadaDonald013 at 03:28, 19 February 2026

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{{Short description|Ethnic group}}{{For-multi|Britons of Indian origin|British Indian|an Indian minority community of partial British origin|Anglo-Indian people}}{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Britons in India
| image = Annie a Taormina.jpg
| caption = [[Annie Besant]] shown with the Theosophists in Adyar, Madras in 1912
| population = 37,700<ref>Andrews, Robyn & Raj, Merin Simi. (2021). Anglo-Indian identity: past and present, in India and the diaspora. Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.</ref>
| languages = [[English language|English]] ([[British English|British]]{{·}}[[Indian English|Indian]])<br>[[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] ([[Hindi]]{{·}}[[Urdu]])<br>Many other [[Languages of India|Indian languages]]
| religions = [[File:Christian cross.svg|15px]] [[Christianity]] ([[Protestantism|Protestant]]{{·}}[[Catholic Church|Catholic]])
| related =
}}
The '''Britons in India''', though comprising only 37,700 British nationals in 2007,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=37,700 British nationals living in India |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/37-700-british-nationals-living-in-india/story-g3DDmCqstDllFbGncIoyhL.html |work=Hindustan Times}}</ref> has had a significant impact due to the effects of [[British India|British colonialism]]. [[Anglo-Indian|Anglo-Indian]] was once used as a synonym for ethnic Britons in India, though nowadays refer more commonly to Indians of mixed British and Indian descent.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-02-20 |title=The young Anglo-Indians retracing their European roots |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64495467 |access-date=2024-10-04 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Pre-colonial era ===
In the centuries before the [[Second British Empire|"Second" British Empire]], the motives of British individuals arriving in India generally centred around gaining wealth.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |title=A Close-Up Look at the British Men and Women Who Ruled India |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/books/review/david-gilmour-the-british-in-india.html |work=The New York Times|date=28 December 2018 |last1=Chotiner |first1=Isaac }}</ref> One example of contemporary British views of India can be found in [[Shakespeare]]'s writings, whose mentions of India paint a picture of a mysterious, wealthy land.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Draper |first=John W. |date=1953 |title=Shakespeare and India |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/litts_0563-9751_1953_num_2_1_925 |journal=Littératures |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.3406/litts.1953.925}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-23 |title=Do you know what Shakespeare wrote about India? |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/willam-shakespeare-wrote-about-india-190124-2014-04-23 |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=India Today |language=en}}</ref> The Indian perspective of European travelers was less flattering, as they were seen as "wondrous" yet "untrustworthy";<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Subrahmanyam |first1=Sanjay |title=Taking stock of the Franks: South Asian views of Europeans and Europe, 1500–1800 |journal=The Indian Economic & Social History Review |date=March 2005 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=69–100 |doi=10.1177/001946460504200103 }}</ref> Emperor [[Akbar]] described them as an "assemblage of savages", and had considered trying to civilise them.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=2015-03-04 |title=The East India Company: The original corporate raiders |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders |access-date=2024-10-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

When the [[East India Company]], formed in 1600, began to trade with Indians, its officials generally showed respect towards Indian society, though in some cases they may have suppressed their criticisms as a way of facilitating trade.<ref name=":4" /> Britons who went to India in this time period were apt to learn the local culture, as they were coming from a weaker polity and generally were only able to marry Indian women;<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dalrymple |first=William |date=2018-09-27 |title=The British in India by David Gilmour review – three centuries of ambition and experience |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/27/the-british-in-india-by-david-gilmour-review |access-date=2024-10-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> British women were initially banned in Company settlements, being seen as distractions. British women started to come to India after the 1661 [[History of Bombay under British rule (1661–1947)|British acquisition of Bombay]] because of the need to populate the islands.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2020-02-22 |title='We think British women came to India to look for husbands but they were also entrepreneurial' |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/we-think-british-women-came-to-india-to-look-for-husbands-but-they-were-also-entrepreneurial/articleshow/74260923.cms |access-date=2024-10-05 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref>

=== Colonial era ===
{{See also|Britons in Myanmar}}{{Quote box
| quote = Two centuries of effort and achievement, lives given on a hundred fields, far more lives given and consumed in faithful and devoted service to the Indian people themselves. All this has earned us rights of our own in India.
| author = [[Winston Churchill]] (1931)
| source = [https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1931/jan/26/india-1#column_702]
| width = 230px
}}
[[File:Picture of Rudyard Kipling.jpg|thumb|Author [[Rudyard Kipling]]]]
As the Company came to rise in Indian politics, a greater level of contemptuousness became apparent amongst Britons,<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Gray |first=Eric |date=2019-01-01 |title=A People So Different from Themselves: British Attitudes Towards India and the Power Dynamics of the East India Company |url=https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/etd/133/ |journal=Murray State Theses and Dissertations}}</ref> and they came to isolate themselves to a substantial extent from the local population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marshall |first=P. J. |date=1990 |title=British Immigration into India in the Nineteenth Century |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/itinerario/article/abs/british-immigration-into-india-in-the-nineteenth-century/894D27B01EF7309BF2DD918B36604566 |journal=Itinerario |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=25–44 |doi=10.1017/S0165115300005660 |issn=2041-2827|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The trauma of dominating a colonised population was a factor in pushing some British officials to isolate themselves from Indians' day-to-day life;<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Colin |date=2017-08-11 |title=Colonialism in India was traumatic – including for some of the British officials who ruled the Raj |url=https://theconversation.com/colonialism-in-india-was-traumatic-including-for-some-of-the-british-officials-who-ruled-the-raj-77068 |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> the failed [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|1857 Rebellion]] also played a role in encouraging tensions and racism, as it increased fear of the locals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC - History - British History in depth: From Empire to Independence: The British Raj in India 1858-1947 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/independence1947_01.shtml |access-date=2024-10-05 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref> The rise of [[evangelicalism]], encouraging negative views of non-Christian cultures, was another factor.<ref name=":2" /> However, children raised in India were fonder of the local culture, and even though they were generally sent to Britain to receive education, they often returned as adults.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-27 |title=The Fishing Fleet: British Debutantes Searching for Love in India |url=https://www.thecollector.com/british-raj-debutantes/ |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=TheCollector |language=en}}</ref>

The difficulty of travel to India, as well as poor health outcomes in the early colonial period, greatly challenged British visitors initially; after 1837, overland travel (after 1840, connecting to steam ships, and from the 1850s, involving newly built railways)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parry |first=Jonathan |date=2021-03-31 |title=Suez canal: what the 'ditch' meant to the British empire in the 19th century |url=https://theconversation.com/suez-canal-what-the-ditch-meant-to-the-british-empire-in-the-19th-century-158169 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> to India was popularised, with stopovers in places such as Egypt gaining appeal.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2003-11-03 |title=Legacy of the British empire |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4190628/Legacy-of-the-British-empire.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Telegraph |language=en}}</ref> British women started to come in much greater numbers after the 1869 completion of the [[Suez Canal]], which enabled a faster maritime journey between Britain and India; by then, British men's dalliances with the local "bibis" were seen as improper, and were being expunged from official records of earlier generations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Jad |date=2018-09-05 |title=The British in India offers a rich and nuanced social history of empire |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2018/09/british-india-offers-rich-and-nuanced-social-history-empire |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref> British men still outnumbered the women to a substantial degree for the entire period up until India's independence though, with gender and racial identities having a role in determining hierarchies. Some men enjoyed the ability to unconstrainedly flex their masculinity in a foreign land, and British families in India stratified based on how white (non-Indian) they were and how frequently they were able to visit Britain.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Buettner |first1=Elizabeth Ann |title=Families, Children, and Memories: Britons in India, 1857-1947 |date=1998 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=978-0-591-94389-4 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/c9b86393c4d746e0f8add61ec7a105f4/1 }}{{pn|date=September 2025}}</ref>

By 1921, at the peak of the British Empire, 20,000 civil and military personnel had established themselves in India.<ref name=":0" /> The British related their exploits in India to those of classical empires; they saw themselves as inheriting the [[Greco-Roman]] heritage (see [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great|Alexander's Indian campaign]]), and compared their efforts in [[Civilizing mission|civilising]] India to those of the [[Roman Britain|Romans in ancient Britain]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robinson |first=David |date=2017-08-10 |title=The gift of civilisation: how imperial Britons saw their mission in India |url=https://theconversation.com/the-gift-of-civilisation-how-imperial-britons-saw-their-mission-in-india-80302 |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref> On the whole, they did not seek to settle on a permanent basis or to own land; as late as the 1860s, there were even arguments against opening up the sale of "waste" land, because it might encourage excessive European immigration.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Matthews |first=Roderick |date=2021-06-20 |title=When it comes to British rule, rich, powerful Indians were complicit every step of the way |url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/when-it-comes-to-british-rule-rich-powerful-indians-were-complicit-every-step-of-the-way/680574/ |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=ThePrint |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Contemporary era ===
[[File:Ruskin Bond in Bangalore, India (Jim Ankan Deka photography).jpg|left|thumb|[[Ruskin Bond]]]]
India's [[Indian independence movement|1947 independence]] from British rule saw the departure of British troops; the last regiment left in February 1948.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The British Withdrawal from India |journal=Royal United Services Institution. Journal |date=August 1948 |volume=93 |issue=571 |pages=355–357 |doi=10.1080/03071844809423389 }}</ref> British-run firms also had rapidly lost ground in the Indian economy from [[World War I]] onwards.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maria |first=Misra |date=1999-04-29 |title=Business, Race, and Politics in British India, c. 1850–1960 |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/32994 |journal=OUP Academic |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:o|doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 }}</ref>

== Impact ==
{{See also|Anglicisation#India|Cultural history of India#Colonial era}}

=== Cuisine ===
{{See also|Anglo-Indian cuisine|Gin#19-20th century}}

Food played a role in how the British adapted to the local climate; a variety of "sick food" guides were available. To counter the high rate of death to tropical disease, Britons used the medicinal [[quinine]]; however, to mask its taste, they would mix it with soda and sugar, giving rise to "[[tonic water]]", a natural complement to gin.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chatterjee |first=Priyadarshini |date=2023-04-26 |title=How food came to the rescue of the British in India |url=https://scroll.in/magazine/1047796/how-food-came-to-the-rescue-of-the-british-in-india |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=Scroll.in |language=en}}</ref>

=== Music ===
{{See also|The Beatles in India}}Western forms of music first came to India during British rule, with certain American forms of music such as jazz also becoming established by the 20th century with some British involvement.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shope |first1=Bradley |title=The public consumption of Western music in colonial India: From imperialist exclusivity to global receptivity |journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies |date=August 2008 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=271–289 |doi=10.1080/00856400802192911 }}</ref>

=== Prostitution ===
A steady influx of British troops into India was vital in setting up of [[Prostitution in colonial India|organised prostitution in India]], which persisted even [[Prostitution in India|after independence]].{{cn|date=October 2025}}

=== Sport ===
{{Excerpt|Sport in British India#Influence on India|paragraphs=1,2|subsections=no}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|United Kingdom|India
}}
* [[India–United Kingdom relations]]
* [[Indians in the United Kingdom]]
* [[Britons in Pakistan]]
* [[Nabob]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=mw1REAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd Empire Families: Britons and Late Imperial India]
{{Immigration to India}}{{British diaspora}}
[[Category:British diaspora in India|*]]
[[Category:Indian people of British descent]]

Britons in India - Revision history

LavadaDonald013 at 03:28, 19 February 2026