In his new book, Uther Charlton-Stevens provides a rich history of the Anglo-Indian community, people of both Indian and British heritage, and explains why this small but important community deserves a greater focus. In this book he outlines the curious identity and relationship of Anglo-Indians with both the UK and India, and explains how they were “never simply the colonisers nor the colonised, but something in between”. Through this prism, he argues, we can re-analyse Indian history through a new vantage point and see how Anglo-Indians played a part in major events in Indian history. In his own words the book is “neither colonial apologia nor nationalist polemic”, rather an exploration of an often overlooked, but vitally important, community. 

Given the mass of Europeans flocking to India from the 16th century onwards, the emergence of the Anglo-Indian community was the “practically inevitable consequence of the long term presence in the Indian subcontinent of European traders, soldiers and administrators”. Yet, Charlton-Stevens argues, what wasn’t inevitable was that they would form a cohesive community and identity. In the early years, many Anglo-Indians originally wanted to be part of colonial British communities, yet they were discriminated against and not allowed to join such communities on account of their ancestry.

He also details their change in social standing from the East India Company period to 1858, to that of the British Raj from then until 1947.  While it was common practice for EIC employees to take local wives this stopped almost entirely during the Raj period. During the Raj, an incredibly regimented series of class and social barriers governed social strata in English India. Charlton-Stevens explains how Anglo-Indians even had to fight for their own name, as initially many British in India were angry at what they saw as the undeserved term Anglo-Indian, preferring to call them Eurasian and not sully the British identity with the presence of local communities.

Charlton-Stevens goes on to explain how they were heavily represented in certain industries, predominately in railways, customs department and nursing. While from the 1790s onwards there had been prohibitions on Anglo-Indians entering military service, during WW1 there was a rush to start Anglo-Indian recruitment into the military. Yet even in war time discrimination continued and the physical requirements for enlistment were more strict than that of fully British soldiers. After returning from serving in the War, they found their military positions had been cancelled and they were no longer employed and their previous restrictions on engagement with the military had been re-implemented.

He provides a detailed explanation of the gradual reorientation of Anglo-Indian identity in the run up to independence from seeing themselves more as British to more Indian. Here we are provided with information on the discussions that influential Anglo-Indian leader, Frank Anthony, had with Nehru, Gandhi and Sardar Patel in the days before Independence. After independence Charlton-Stevens explains the difficulties the community had in both East and West Pakistan and how many Anglo-Indians ended up leaving for the UK. The book finishes with observations on the future of Anglo-Indian relations with both Britain and India and debates over how the modern Anglo-Indians community should be conceived as.

Charlton-Stevens has produced a tightly-written but highly informative historical summary of how this community has historically been overlooked or under analysed in traditional annals of Indian history. He makes a compelling case for why the study of this community, which has been at the centre of so many key aspects of recent Indian history, is important if we want to better understand India’s past and present.  This is a comprehensive and reflective history of the Anglos-Indians and is extensive referenced with lots of supporting information. The book offers a valuable insight into an often overlooked, but vital, community which has so often played a key role in Indian history.

Maximillian Morch is a researcher and author of Plains of Discontent: A Political History of Nepal’s Tarai (1743-2019) (2023)