Indentured Indians in Natal
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER 1: Introduction: About the Study CHAPTEq 2: Natal's Immigrants Under the Indentured System CHAPTER 3: Places of Origin: Zillahs, Tahsils/ Taluks, and Towns 4 3 CHAPTER 4: The Socio-Economic Background of the Immigrants: Caste and Religion 6 8 CHAPTER 5: The Place of Work: Employers, Workers and Conditions of Work CHAPTER 6: Conclusion BIBLIOGRAPHY (There are 23 Tables and 11 Graphs) Acknowledgements Many people have assisted in the four-and-one-half years that the project has run from October 1981 to March 1986. My colleague Professor J B Brain ranks high among the people to be thanked because it was she who inspired the idea of analysing the ship's registers, and who assisted in the initial stages of the project's implementation. Professor M G G Laidlaw of the Computer Science Department was of enormous help. He took our ideas and devised a programme around them, and supervised the initial stages of the work almost as if it was his own. The Rector, Professor J J C Greyling was most supportive in our endeavours. So too was Dr R de Wet, who made available the use of microfilm readers, storage space, and so on. No research is possible without financial backing. The University of Durban-Westville made available an opening grant through its research committee; its contribution was more substantial in the form of infra-structural support. Large and small donors came forward with funds when they were most needed. Mr G R H King of De Beers Consolidated generously made a grant from the Chairman's Fund Educational Trust; and smaller amounts were received from individuals and organisations who also recognised the historical worth of the project. These were: Mr V Gosai, Professor P M Krishna, MrK T Manjee, Dr Yusuf Minty, Mr R K Mistri, Professor G C Oosthuizen, and Messrs A S Vahed and I Kathrada of the A M Moolla Charity Trust. By far the most important sponsor, however, was the Human Sciences Research Council, without whose financial support it would have been impossible to proceed to the point that the project reached. The assistance of computer programmers and assistants was invaluable. Maurice Pressley wrote a detailed programme when the information was transferred from the Hewlett- Packard to the ICL system. The people manning Computer Services were>:-J uery generous with their time and their expert adviEe, among whom vere: Professor K N Greggor, Mr P 3 Rodman, Mr R K Skinner, and Ms Val A Naidoo. Three individuals were intimately involved in the crucially important day-to-day running of the project, and they are: Niruppa Beesham in the early stages, and Geetha'~ovenderand Vasie Nayager who were there right until the project was ended. Their enthusiasm, dedication, and sense of humour when the machinery vere not working, were quite admirable. Finally, Ms Rita Chetty was, as usual, marvellous in preparing the tables, typing the text, and helping with the proof-reading. CHAPTER I Introduction: About the Study The Durban office of what was formerly part of the Depart- ment of Indian Affairs, has in its possession 91 volumes of ship's lists for the total of 152 184 indentured Indians who came to Natal between 1860 and 1911. Each of the 384 ship's registers has against individual entries information about the person's names, caste or religion, age, physical markings if any, and places of origin in the form of village, thanna (police circle), and zillah (district). The entire set of documents was microfilmed with the aid of a grant from the University of Durban-Westville (UDW). W Once the initial grant had been secured from the university, a computer-related programme was devised to retrieve the information. The 384 ship's registers were divided into 26 chronologically arranged groups alphabetically ordered from A to Z. Each group was assigned a two-letter symbol. For example, in the A group consisting of 6 445 persons who arrived between 1860 and 1866 in 20 ships, the first ship, the Truro, was labelled AA; the second ship, the Belvedere, was labelled AB; the third ship was assigned AC, and so on down the list until the twentieth ship, the Isabella Hercus, was given the symbol AT. And thus all the ship's registers were grouped, and each one assigned a two-letter symbol. The A group conveniently ended at 1866, when a severe depression in the colony made further importation of in- dentured Indians impossible. It was resumed in 1874, and did not stop until July 1911. The later batches of arrivals were grouped into periods of 2 to 3 years, and, in the 1890s and 1900s when importation was heavy, into single years. The microfilms are in the possession of the library at the University of Durban-Westville. Indeed, the heavy immigration in 1906 made it necessary to divide that year into two groups. Care was taken in each instance not to allocate too many individuals per group so as to make analysis manageable. On the average there are 6 000 persons per group. There are, however, smaller and larger groups ranging from 2 487 to 8 206. Since chronology was the main basis of grouping, Madras and Calcutta ships were not separated. Colonial numbers appear on the ship's register for each and every indentured person including accompanying children. The colonial numbers for wives and children followed immedia- tely those of the husbands. These numbers are extremely helpful in locating the individuals within the ship's registers and the chronology. The first person on the Truro was assigned the colonial number 1, and the last individual on the ship was given number 342. The first person on the register of the next ship, the Belvedere, was assigned 343. And so colonial numbers were assigned cumulatively one register after the next. The very last number for the final ship's register in July 1911 was 152 184. Madras and Calcutta ships were not separated for number-assignment. The details for all the groups are shown in Table 1 below: TABLE- I Groups and Symbols for Indentured Ship's Registers, 1860-1911 Groups Symbols No. of Ships Period Total A AA-AT 20 Not.. 1860 - July 1866 6 445 B BA-BQ 17 Jun- 1874 - Oct, 1877 8 206 C CA-CQ 17 . Oct. 1877 - NOV. 1878 6 477 D DA-DT 20 Jan. 1879 - Dec. 1882 7 003 E EA-ET 20 Apr. 1883 - Apr. 1885 6 601 F FA-FT 20 Mar. 1886 - Nov. 1889 5 480 G GA-GS 19 Feb. 1890 - Dec. 1891 7 502 Groups Symbols No. of Ships Period Total HA-HQ Feb. 1892 - Dec. 1893 IA-IR Jan. 1894 - Dec. 1895 JA- J J Jan. 1896 - Dec. 1896 KA-KN Jan. 1897 - Dec. 1897 LA-LO Jan. 1898 - Dec. 1898 MA-MP Feb. 1899 - Dec. 1900 NA-NQ Jan. 1901 - Dec. 1901 OA-OP Jan. 1902 - Dec. 1902 PA-PN Jan. 1903 - Dec. 1903 QA-4R Jan. 1904 Dec. 1904 RA-RK Jan. 1905 - June 1905 SA-SG July 1905 - Dec. 1905 TA-TM Jan. 1906 - June 1906 UA-UL July 1906 - Dec. 1906 VA-VP Jan. 1907 - Dec. 1907 W WA-WG 7 Jan. 1908 - Dec. 1908 3 173 X XA-XG 7 Jan. 1909 - Nov. 1909 2 487 Y YA-YL 12 Jan. 1910 - Nov. 1909 5 860 Z ZA-ZK' 11 Jan. 1911 - July 1911 5 065 - - 26 AA-ZK 384 - - The grouping process having been completed, the next step was to transfer the information on the microfilm onto specially prepared forms, a copy of which appears on the next page. One form was used per passenger. The ship Umzinto LIII is this group called both at the Calcutta and Madras ports of embarkation. --- ORIGIN HEIGHT FATHER'S NAME NAME z I LpaTeaAaJ suaaqqed aqq jo aauearjru6ys ~earaoqsrqaqq ST qe4m puv ~pa~araqaauorqetuaojuy jo sarao6aqea snorae~aqq ur z06T 07 098~poraad a04 PT~~AAaqq OP suaaqqed 40 pury 7eq~ *passaaoad saweu z8< 56 aqq jo sasA~eueaqq qnoqe sr Apnqs srql 'saaqqo pue saaqaaeasaa oq aTqe~re~eaae pue 'punoq A~aadoad aae 0 07 v woaj sdnoa6 TT~~paanqdea-eqep se uorqewaojur fiururequoa qaqeq 0 aqq 07 dn sdyqs aqq TT~aoj sqaaqs qno -quyad 'uorqrppe ur 'aae aaaql *sadeq arqau6ew uo paaoqs sr uo~qewaojuraql 'aanqdea eqep uy aoaaa oq paqnqyaqqe aq qsnw Aauedaaasyp aq1 *aaqndwoa aqq 07 6uypaoaae z8< 56 qe spueqs qnq '<<L 96 uaaq aAeq p~noqsqurod qeqq oq dn passaaoad saweu jo aaqwnu ~eqoqaql *passaaoad uaaq peq 0 dnoa6 6uypn~aurue oq dn saaqsr6aa s,drqs aqq '986~q3ae~ Ag 'SSdS all7 jo sueaw Aq pasA~eueaq p~noaqarqm pasr~apsem awweafioad *umouy sem eqep snouywn~on6uy.[pueq aoj Aqraedea asoqm 'aaqndwoa 131 aqq oq eqep aqq aajsueaq oq aaojaaaqq papraap sem 71 *a~qrssodqou sem poraad 6uo~e fiur~~o~uruorqewaojur a~rssewqqrm srsA~euv =aa~amoq'paqrwr~ sem Aqraedea a6eaoqs s,waqsAs aql *pasn sem aaqndwoa 000 T paeyaed-qqa~me~ aqq 'ssaaoad aanqdea eqep aqq jo sa6eqs ~eyqruraqq UI *aaqndwoa aqq oqur paj sem qr 'dnoa6 qaea aoj aaqsr6aa Aq aaqsr6aa paqa~dwoasem 6uyaaqqe6 uoyqewaojur aqq se uoos sv *uo os pue ,,'eypu~ 07 pauanqaa sem saTaqua Tea~dAqawos *uwn~oasy~ewaa aqq u~ paaaqua sem q~ 's~enp~~~pu~aqq jo squawa~ow quanbasqns aqq uo uoTqewaoju~ sem aJaqq aJaq~ *pa~j~quap~aJam saj~jwejse paqeafiju ""-"z..+.. --,I- - -. ..--..-.--..---- ------- oqm s~enp~~~pu~-paaaqua os~e sem saA~qaavTeqeN aqq u~ w --.- ----------- - saaqsT6ay ,s~aAo~dw~aqq se saaanos aaqqo qans ooaj paaaq;e6 paqrJasueJq aJam TenpTA~pu~aqq uo s~~eqapaaqqo aqq TTe pue 'UJJOJ aqq uo paJaqua sem aaqunu uorqeaqs~6aaao TeTuoToa aq1 These questions have relevance for both India and for colonial Natal.