Introduction

Britain emerged as a significant migratory destination for South Asians in the 19th and early 20th centuries, during which a constant trickle of Indians to London and other English seaports laid the foundations of today's European South Asian Diaspora. Ambitious individuals who deserted ship in search of economic opportunities, lascars sowed the seeds of most of the substantive Pakistani and Indian settlements in Britain. Around three thousand lascars a year were flowing into Britain by the 1830s. The flows that produced this small community prefigure post-colonial mass migrations from Pakistan in important ways. Visram's historical research on the crucial interwar years leads her to conclude the underlying reason was economic. Political developments at the receiving end too played an important role in boosting immigration. The 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act stimulated NC-British migration to hitherto unseen numbers, as thousands rushed to 'beat the ban', a number of whom may never have migrated had it not been introduced.