The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland

Research resources for Caribbean Studies and the history of Black and Asian People in the UK

CASBAH SURVEY REPORT

Introduction
Local context

Local activities related to the aims of the CASBAH project
Visits
Research
Selected publications
Selected theses

The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland

The Survey
Thematic spread
Survey data
Notes regarding the development of a survey strategy for CASBAH's subject areas
Collection descriptions
Collection descriptions - Extracts

Acknowledgments

Section One - Introduction

One of the aims behind the decision to conduct five additional pilot surveys at repositories in selected regions is to substantiate our claim that records covering the links between the Britain and the British Caribbean, as well as those records that detail the history of Black and Asian people can be found throughout the UK and not only in port cities or large conurbations with direct and widely known colonial and imperial links (i.e., Liverpool, Cardiff, Scotland, London, Bristol). Leicestershire was chosen for this reason. This region was also chosen because it represents an in-land, rural area of the country.

After preliminary research, the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (LEICS) was chosen as our primary survey site. Carol Dixon, CASBAH 's Project Officer, undertook all the arrangements for our visit. The survey was conducted 18th-22nd June 2001. During the week, visits were made to the Scarman Centre, the University of Leicester and to De Montfort University.

Local Context

• Caribbean Studies and the History of Black and Asian people in the UK
• Local demography

The Record Office of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland is located in Leicester. Once a small market town, Leicester experienced a population growth in the nineteenth century and has spread out significantly from the old centre, although not becoming a conurbation. A key feature of Leicester is the fact that it is equidistant from London, Manchester, and Leeds, with direct routes to Birmingham and Peterborough. Also important is the comparative prosperity of Leicester. The county's prosperity is rooted in its agriculture, and hosiery, knitwear and footwear manufacturing and more recently, the light engineering, printing, adhesive manufacturing and food processing industries.

Caribbean Studies and the History of Black and Asian people in the UK

Like many areas in the UK, Leicester is an established multicultural community, with the county's history of prosperity and its geographic location important 'pull' factors in attracting new residents. Throughout the twentieth century, migrant groups coming to the county have included Jewish people escaping Nazi persecution in Europe, Polish servicemen at the time of the Second World War, as well as Asians and West Indians from the colonies were offered employment after the war. In addition, in the late 60s and early 70s, over 30,000 people of Asian descent who had been in East Africa came to the UK and settled in Leicester and surrounding areas.

Local demography

The following figures were taken from Ethnic Minorities in Leicester. Facts from the 1991 Census, compiled by the Leicester City Council and from African Caribbean People in Leicestershire by John Benyon et al (1996).

1. The total percentage of people of African, African-Caribbean, and Asian descent living in Leicester is 28.5%.
2. This totals 76, 991 out of a total population of 270, 493. Out of this percentage:
   • 22.3% are of Indian descent
     
   • 2.4% are of African or African - Caribbean descent
     
   • 1% have roots in Pakistan
     
   • 0.4% have roots in Bangladesh
     
   • 0.3% are Chinese
   • With the remaining 2.4% from other 'community groups' (quite possibly of 'mixed' race of 'dual heritage'.
3. Those of Asian origin include 30,000 who came either directly from Uganda or Tanzania, or from central and southern African countries such as Malawi and Zambia.
4. Those of African- Caribbean descent had links with the following Caribbean countries:
   • Antigua and Barbuda
   • Barbados
   • Dominica
   • Grenada
   • Guyana
   • Jamaica
   • Montserrat
   • St Kitts and Nevis
   • St Lucia
   • Trinidad and Tobago.
5. Those of Indian descent consisted of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs as the majority religions. It is not possible to be accurate about further sub divisions, but of the 60,287 Indians, it would appear that at least half are Hindus.
6. The Muslim and Sikh communities would appear to be about equal in numbers.

Section Two - Local activities related to the aims of the CASBAH project

• The Scarman Centre, University of Leicester

• The Department of Historical and International Studies, De Montfort University

• The Leicestershire Multicultural Oral and Pictorial Archive

• Selected publications and theses

The Scarman Centre, University of Leicester

The Scarman Centre was established at the University of Leicester in 1987 as a centre of teaching, research, training, and consultancy into criminal justice, policing, crime prevention, security, risk management, and health and safety management. The collections at the Resource Centre's reflect these interests, as well as housing a substantial collection of resources dealing with 'race' issues, racism, and antiracist struggles in Britain.

Local scholar Valerie Marett has conducted research on 'immigrant communities' in Leicester and much of the background material for this research has been deposited at the Centre. The collection, which is not yet catalogued, includes thousands of newspaper articles on aspects of race and ethnic relations in Britain between the 1960s and the 1990s.

The following publications by researchers at the Scarman are particularly relevant to CASBAH's work, (as highlighted in Carol Dixon's June/July Progress report):

• Benyon, J et al. African Caribbean People in Leicestershire - Final Report, (Great Britain, R G Design, 1996).
  
• Benyon, J et al. African Caribbean People in Leicestershire - Summary of the Final Report, (Great Britain, R G Design, 1996)
  
• Francis, P & Matthew, R. Tackling Racial Attacks, (Great Britain, R G Design, 1996).
  
• Rowe, Michael, 'Race Riots' in Twentieth Century Britain' an occasional paper published by the Scarman Centre Crime.

For further details or to make enquires, telephone: 0116 252 3946, Facsimile: 0116 252 5788, e-mail: scarman.centre@le.ac.uk, or visit the website at: http://www.le.ac.uk/scarman/

Click Here for the CASBAH database entry of relevant printed sources and audio-visual materials housed at University Library, University of Leicester (available April 2002)

The Department of Historical and International Studies, De Montfort University

CASBAH staff met with Dr John Martin and Professor Panikos Panayi to discuss the issues surrounding current research by and about Black and Asian people in Leicestershire. Research is being actively undertaken and recent publications include the following:

• Chessum, Lorna. From Immigrants to Ethnic Minority: Making Black Community in Britain, (London, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2000).
  
• Panayi, P. Racial Violence in Britain, 1840-1950 (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1993).
  
• Panayi, P. Minorities in Wartime: National and Racial Groupings in Europe, North America and Australia during the Two World Wars (Oxford: Berg, 1993).
  
• Panayi, P. Immigration, Ethnicity and Racism in Britain, 1815-1945 (Manchester: Manchester University Press 1994).
  
• Singh Gurharpal & Martin, John, Asian Leicester, (Dover, Sutton Publishing, 2002).
  
  

Click Here for the CASBAH database entry of relevant printed sources and audio-visual materials housed at at Kimberlin Library, De Montfort University (available April 2002)

The Leicestershire Multicultural Oral and Pictorial Archive

The purpose of the Leicestershire Multicultural Oral and Pictorial Archive is to enable the county's many and various ethnic communities to record and preserve their memories, life experiences and traditions, and to ensure access to this rich inheritance for present and future generations.

The project is a collaborative venture between Leicestershire County Council and De Montfort University, established with the help of special grant aid from the Department of National Heritage through the Public Library Development Incentive Scheme. Books and audio- visual materials published include the following:

Highfields Remembered, (Leicester, Leicestershire Multicultural Archive Project, 1996)

Highfields Remembered arose out of Leicestershire's Multicultural Oral and Pictorial Archive Project, a joint venture between Leicestershire Libraries and De Montfort University. This book contains memories of how a community developed from the First World War to present day. The aim of this project was to record reminiscences from people who had lived in Highfields - an area of Leicester which has been home to possibly a wider range of cultures than any other area in Leicester - over the last 80 years. More than 50 people were interviewed during the summer of 1994, presenting a mix of these different cultures - English, Irish, Polish, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and African Caribbean.

Photographs and excerpts from the transcripts can be found at: http://westworld.dmu.ac.uk/fmp/web/highfields/conversations.html

Sari Songs in Gujarati with English Transcripts

This unique pack includes an audiotape featuring ten songs performed in Gujarati, and an illustrated booklet, with transcripts of the songs in Gujarati and English. It is intended for use as both a reminiscence and educational resource, and to help record and keep alive an important ancient tradition. Saris have been woven and worn in India for over two thousand years. There are many songs that describe their type, the patterns and the special occasions when they are worn. They are usually sung by women, and passed down orally from one generation to the next. The previously unrecorded versions in this selection have been remembered and performed by a number of Gujarati women now living in Leicestershire, who were participants in a series of reminiscence workshops run by the Leicestershire Museums, Arts and Record Service.

Copies are available at £19.15 each (incl. p & p) plus £3.35 VAT, from Lens Based Media, Department of Learning Technologies, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK.

Please visit their website for full details: http://westworld.dmu.ac.uk/fmp/web/highfields/imageframe.html

Selected Publications

• Brown, Cynthia. Living History Unit Guide to Local Research (5): Immigrant Communities in Leicester, (© Leicester City Council, 1997).
  
• Chowdhury, et al. Our Home is Loughborough. The story of the first Bangladeshi settlers in Charnwoood, (Loughborough, Charnwood Arts, 1999).
  
• Nash, David and Reeder, David (Eds) Leicester in the twentieth century, (Dover: Alan Sutton Publishers, 1993).
  
• Marett, Valerie, Immigrants settling in the city, (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1989).

Selected theses

• Chessum, Lorna, 'From immigrants to ethnic minority: African Caribbean people in Leicester', (Leicester: De Montfort University, 1998) Ref: k1440422
  
• Freer, Christa E, 'An analysis of social services departmental policies and their implementation in relation to the provision of services for Asian elderly people in Leicester and Leicestershire, ' Leicester: University of Leicester, 1987). Ref: x750275358
  
• Gurnam Singh, 'Race and social work from 'black pathology' to 'black perspective' (Bradford: Race Relations Research Unit, 1992). Ref: 0947851364
  
• Moore, Andrea Alexia, 'Black businesses, equity gap, and the attendant implication for entrepreneur. (Leicester: De Montfort University, 1994). Ref. - v8987299
  
• Uddin, Shams, 'Depression among second and third generation Asian and ethnic minority women', (Leicester: De Montfort University, 1999). Ref: M0012586LP

Section Three - The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland

The Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland (LEICS) is the centre for archives, manuscripts, books, maps, and photographs in Leicestershire and Rutland. The Record Office holds the following collections:

• Leicestershire & Rutland County Councils
  
• Borough of Leicester (from 1103)
  
• Courts of Quarter Sessions & Petty Sessions
  
• Poor Law Unions
  
• Probate Registry (wills from 1858)
  
• Anglican and non-conformist churches
  
• Archdeaconry of Leicester (including wills and inventories from 1496)
  
• Landed Estates and families
  
• Solicitors, commercial firms and manufacturers
  
• Clubs, societies and other organisations

Other collections held at the Record Office include:

• Census returns for Leicestershire & Rutland (1841 - 1901 available on microfilm from January 2002)
• Books magazines and pamphlets on Leicestershire and Rutland
  
• Directories and Electoral Registers
  
• Files of local newspapers
  
• Illustrations of people and places
  
• Photographs and archive films
  
• Ordnance survey maps
  
• Oral history tapes and recordings

Scope of the Survey

After consultation with Carl Harrison, and further background research at the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the following archives, printed sources and audio-visual materials were targeted for surveying:

1. Background and contextual information
   · Leicester in the 20th Century (available at the Record Office)
   · John Banner (caterer, and local history lecturer)
2. Archives
   · John Banner (caterer, and local history lecturer)
   · Leicestershire, and Rutland County Councils Records
   · Leicestershire Racism Awareness Consortium
   · Leicester Slum Clearance
   · John William Colenso (Bishop of Natal, South Africa) Letters to Rev. R. Blunt
   · Leicester Coffee and Cocoa House
3. Printed Sources and Audiovisual material
   · Oral History Archive
   · Ladybird Books
   · Newpaper collections

Thematic Spread

Caribbean Studies

• Estate Papers - colonial travel, colonial administrations, and business
• Organisations and societies

Black and Asian History

• The State- local government-social issues (health and education)
  
• Organisations and societies
  
• Local Government - antiracist initiatives

Descriptions for the following collections have been uploaded to the CASBAH database:

Local Government Records
1. Leicester Corporation/ City of Leicester Education Committee: Immigrant Pupils in Schools
2. Leicester Corporation Health Records/Leicester Council Health Reports

Landed Estates and Families
3 Braye of Stanford Manuscripts
4 Records of the Morley Family of Leicester
5 Family Papers of Slater family of Uppingham, 1661-1897
6 Herrick Manuscripts

Other archive collections
7. Letters, petitions and statements from bondspeople requesting freedom at the British Court in Lagos
8. Slides Recording Leicestershire Religious Life
9. Racism Awareness Consortium

Newspapers
10 The Leicester Illustrated Chronicle, (1856 - 1979)

Oral history tapes and Sound recordings
11.Leicester Oral History Archive

Click Here to view CASBAH database entries of Archives housed at LEICS (available April 2002)

Click Here to view CASBAH database entries of Printed Souces and Audiovisual material housed at LEICS (available April 2002)

Notes regarding the development of a survey strategy for CASBAH subject areas

1) Family and Estate Records
LEICS holds a significant number of collections relating to families who have played important roles in the region throughout the centuries. The collections provide insight not only into the lives of the landed gentry in the region, but also allow us to trace the links between these families in the East Midlands and the colonial empire. Thus, the survey of the Family and Estate Records proved to be an important step in CASBAH's aim to flag up record groups that are particularly relevant to the project's research areas.

The surveying of Family and Estate Records also meant that we had to address the problem of balancing the extent of record series of use to research in our subject areas against the extent of the overall collection. As a project rooted in the creation of collection-level descriptions, this meant that some very large collections with only a small number of relevant records could not included. The following is an example of such a collection:

Additional Shirley Family Papers (Shirley, Earls Ferrers) Ref: DE2638
The archives of the Shirley family are contained in four main deposits and this collection is the fourth and last collection to be deposited. The collection consists of family papers contains title deeds and correspondence, many of which relate to earlier collections. The collection is notable for containing the earliest family documents, title deeds of c110 - 1120, and also a presentation box of documents and regalia presented to Sewallis Edward, Earl Ferrers, on attaining his majority in 1808.

The records include title deeds (c.1105 - 1634), manorial records (1715 - 1808), correspondence (170 - 1878), papers from various members of the Shirley Family (1711 - 1855), as well as records covering the Hertford Town Mill. Records of note include nine series of records of correspondence to and from Henry Shirley of Hyde Hall, Jamaica. The letters, written between 1789 - 1799 contain reports on troops being sent out to Jamaica in c1792 (46/1 - 17), Letter from Henry Shirley, Jamaica to the French Regent (47), as well as family news to Henry Shirley on the death of Mrs Shirley (48/1 - 6). There is also a record of the appointment of Henry Shirley in 1795 to be Lt Colonel of the 2nd Battalion of the St Mary and St Georges Regiment and Colonel in Chief of the Militia for Jamaica.

2) Individual Collections (in particular those of colonial officers and soldiers)

The aim of the project is to draw out direct references to the Caribbean or the lives of people of African and Asian descent in the UK and this has meant that some collections where links, although evident, were not as strong or as tipped to our subject areas as was thought necessary, have not been included in the database. The following collection and others like are, nonetheless, important markers in our mapping exercise:

A brief sketch of my life, from the period of my leaving home and taking up with a military life'. By Henry Eyrl, Private, 1st BN.HM. 19th Foot (Ref: DE1633)

The narrative traces Eyrl's life in Ceylon and Calcutta. The following issues are discussed: his various appointments, his family and home news, the hardships of soldiers, life in the regions and his health. Of note, there is a description of Fort William, Calcutta mention of state prisoners captured during the Indian Mutiny (p.12) descriptions of the weather and climate, countryside and the Himalayas.

3) Newspapers
The importance of newspapers was first highlighted in the Wolverhampton Archives and Local Studies' survey report. Newspaper collections or grouped extracts from local newspapers remain an important research tool in which to track references to Black and Asian people, as well as a way in which to tap into popular sentiment expressed at particular moments in history which is not always translated into archive records.

Writing about the importance of Leicester's local newspapers in her research of the experiences of Black and Asian people in the area, Valerie Marett states that, "(T)he provincial press (notably, The Leicester Mercury) is particularly influential in shaping public opinion in the sphere of race relations… (T)he Leicester Mercury helped to highlight and reinforce the conception of "race as a problem" in the city." (1989:53). See Carol Dixon's June/July 2001 progress report for more details. A similar point has been made by academic Jacqueline Jenkins in regards to the 1919 race riots in Glasgow.

Developing this research resource, newspaper collections were sampled during the survey at Glasgow City Archives and newspapers extracts used for background research for the surveys conducted at the Glamorgan Record Office and the Butetown History and Arts Centre.

Archive Collection descriptions - Extracts

• Bundle of letters from T.Edwards to R.O. Cave about the Anti-Slavery question (1830) Ref: Braye MSS23D57 (3513-3514)

  The collection comprises of seven letters about slavery written in January 1830, and one pamphlet entitled 'Emancipation of the Children of Slaves'.

  There is a letter from Edwards to Cave advocating local petitions against slavery, discussing the mode of publication and distribution of pamphlets, reporting on the book 'History of the West Indies' by Bryan Edwards and advising Cave to get in touch with Sir Alex Johnston, formerly chief-justice in Ceylon, who is familiar with the difficulties associated with the abolition of slavery of children in Ceylon in 1816, and a letter from Edwards to Cave warning that Caves motion may be side-tracked by the appointment of a committee on West Indian Slavery .

• Leicester Corporation Health Records/Leicester Council Health Reports, 1965 - 1972. (Ref: L614)

  The annual reports on the health of the City of Leicester, compiled by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, provide information on the Leicester Corporation's assessment of health services arranged into the following 6 sections: (1) Vital Statistics (summary of statistics on population, birth rate and death rate, causes of death statistics, housing statistics, etc.); (2) Personal Health Services (e.g. Mental Health Services, Infant Mortality, Midwifery, Health Visiting, etc.); (3) Community Health (Epidemiology, TB, Vaccination and Immunisation); (4) Environmental Health (Water Supplies, Sewerage, Cremation, etc.); (5) School Health Services (General Statistical Information, School Dental Services, etc.); (6) Miscellaneous Services.

  Published by the Health Department, Grey Friars, Leicester, each report contains an introductory letter by the Chief Medical Officer of Health giving a summary of the city's population structure and including statistics on ethnicity. However, in addition to the factual data the summaries contain arguably contentious interpretations of the statistics, particularly with regard to the impact of immigration on the overall health statistics.

  For example, the 1965 Report on the Chest Clinic refers to higher incidences of tuberculosis amongst members of the Asian communities than white, stating: "The influx of immigrants from Asia in recent years has been the main factor in altering the position. They show an increased susceptibility to tuberculosis and a rather high incidence of the disease has been found among them during the year."

  Similar statements continue throughout reports from 1965-1972. In particular the 1971 report contains evaluations of the health statistics that suggest Leicester's increasing cultural diversity be viewed as problematic. An extract from the Chief Medical Officer of Health's introduction states: "Over the centuries the characteristics of the population of this country have been undergoing change as a result of invasion and the arrival of immigrants from many parts of the world. But whereas in the past this was a slow process and often influenced only small sectors of the country, the past decade has been marked by substantial alterations in the proportion of the various ethnic groups making up the population of many cities and towns in this country. Furthermore the distribution of immigrants has not been uniform and thus certain towns and even certain areas of towns have shown a remarkably quick change in the age structure and characteristics of the population within the boundaries. This has led to marked effect on housing morbidity and mortality…"

  The letter concludes, "We are faced with a number of health problems - high density housing, a multi-racial population, a steadily mounting geriatric population…" Similarly, the report of 1972 expresses further statements about the impact of immigrant communities on Leicester's health expenditure, as shown in the following extract: "…the changing pattern of demand on public services will inevitably necessitate increased expenditure, for Leicester is faced with the ingredients necessary for the creation of major problems -- a high proportion of old people, large numbers of handicapped and a substantial percentage of immigrants."

Updated: March 2002

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