Indian and African migrants from the 1660s

From the late 1600s life for people in Britain of African and Asian origin became more difficult. The growth of the and the trade in enslaved Africans brought larger numbers of African and Asian , mostly working as servants.

Many employees of the East India Company became extremely rich and were known as ''. As they returned home they started to bring domestic servants back to England to work for them. Indian children were brought to work as servants and women known as ayahs, were brought as nannies and wet nurses for their children. They wanted to continue to enjoy the opulent lifestyle they had in India when they returned to England.

Image of a dace or ayah, Indian nurse, in petticoat and jacket of cotton, and muslin shawl, with European child. — Figure caption,
Image of an ayah, Indian nurse, with a European child

The fashion for wealthy families to have and show off African or Indian child servants - seen in many paintings of the time - meant that many children lived far from their families. They were often well looked after, but also patronised. Their lives may have been lonely, surrounded by people of an culture and language. Some, when they were no longer children, were abandoned.

African migrants

The small number of free Africans in England were joined by others who arrived as a result of enslavement. Some came directly from the West African coast, while many came from the Caribbean and North America as servants to ship’s captains or planters’ families visiting England or settling permanently.

Enslavement was legal in the colonies but illegal in Britain. However some Africans and Indians working as 'servants' were not free, as is clear from court cases and advertisements about runaways. At the same time, court and parish records show that many other African and Indian migrants were treated equally.

Treatment of servants

Treatment of servants varied from kindness to extreme violence. Servants from India were sometimes promised a return to their home country which never materialised. In a few cases black people were actually sold into slavery in Britain, and some owners treated their servants as enslaved people, even though the law in theory protected them. Most black residents appear to have lived ordinary lives and worked alongside white maids, washerwomen, labourers, cooks and sailors, sharing their lives. There were black people in many occupations including innkeepers, barmaids and farm labourers. Black people worked alongside poorer white workers and bonds often grew up between them. This kind of social mixing among the working classes provided a support structure for black immigrants. And African servants who ran away would often be sheltered by both black and white working people.

Revision tip

A question to think about: was Early Modern England a welcoming or unwelcoming place for African and Indian immigrants? How similar, or different, was their life in England to other immigrants in this period?

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Early African and Indian migrants, 1500-1750 - OCR BIndian and African migrants from the 1660s