Indian Immigration Registers/Ships Lists Natal

The Indian Immigration Registers, or as they are popularly known, the Ships Lists, are a unique record of the coming to Natal from India of over 150 000 migrants between the years 1860 and 1911. During that period there were gaps of several years when migration, for various reasons, was interrupted.

Detail from page of Indian Immigration Register

The original registers, handwritten and difficult to read, as well as in fragile condition (particularly the early lists), are held at the Durban Archives Repository*.

Information given includes Registration (or Indenture) Number, Name, Father's name, Caste, Age, Height, Zillah (Province of origin in India), Thanna (nearest big town), Village and name of Employer to whom the migrant was to be indentured. Ship arrival date is given and also included are descriptions of physical marks - scars, tattoos etc. There may be additional subsequent events in the career of a particular migrant, such as death or his/her return to India.

A mammoth voluntary project to index these registers has resulted in the publication of a database searchable by name of migrant, as well as by Registration Number, displayed in columns corresponding with those found in the original lists (except for the column pertaining to physical marks which has been omitted). This database or index not only avoids excessive use of the original material, which is a plus in terms of preservation, but provides an accessible facility for research purposes – especially in the case of descendants wishing to trace migrant ancestors.

However, it should be emphasised that while the Migrants Index is a wonderful resource, it is not a magic wand. The information it offers requires interpretation; it demands some knowledge and effort on the part of the descendant/researcher, as well as the use of archival and other records in conjunction with the Index. Further discussion on this aspect in future posts.

To order a copy of the CD Indian Migrants to Natal: Ships Lists (1860-1911)  GSSA CD011  ISBN 978-0-9869742-2-9 (Copyright J.B.Brain) contact the Genealogical Society of South Africa (GSSA): aheydenr@mweb.co.za 

The Ships Lists are also available online at http://scnc.ukzn.ac.za/doc/SHIP/shipndx.html
In this version the lists are searchable by Registration Number.


*Durban Archives Repository
Nashua House
14 De Mazenod Lane
GREYVILLE Durban
dbnarchives@kznedu.kzntl.gov.za
Tel: (031) 309 5682    
Hours: 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. weekdays.

Plantation labour in Natal and elsewhere.

Drawing of A Noon's sugar mill Isipingo 1863 showing
Indian migrant labourers, hoes over their shoulders, returning
from the fields; a turbanned sirdar can be seen at right; other workers
load bags of sugar into a wagon; a white overseer - or perhaps Mr Noon
himself - is on horseback in the centre of the picture.

In the first half of the 19th century, Natal struggled to find suitable labour, primarily for the growing sugar industry. Australia had brought in white workers; the tropical plantation colonies such as Mauritius and the West Indies had imported black labour under white overlords. 

As early as 1848, Secretary for the Colonies Gladstone proposed that British convicts might be used to clear Natal's lush vegetation but the scheme did not get underway: in fact, various attempts to bring in convict labour to South Africa were unsuccessful, meeting with strong resistance from the general population. In 1854 the Cape Governor proposed bringing in Indians but the government of India argued there was already a great demand for Asian labour in Mauritius and the Caribbean. The Mauritian plantocracy, unable to acquire the requisite number of liberated slaves to work its fields, had started bringing in Asian labour in 1834. So, there were previous models in place by the time the 1860 Act was passed which allowed for Indian migrants to be brought to Natal; this Act met the legal conditions stipulated in India.

Though the demand in Natal was initially for labour for the sugar estates, not all migrants worked in the agricultural sector. Hundreds were employed by the Natal Government Railways (many had had previous experience on the railways in India) and on the coal mines. Some were in a category known as Special Servants, brought to Natal mostly from Madras to employment as carriage drivers or coachmen, grooms, waiters, dhobis (laundrymen) and gardeners.

My own search for a man named Lutchman who worked as a coachman in the Umzinto district (Alexandra County) turned up a few thousand names of that spelling and other variants on the Migrants Index, but his occupation made it possible to identify him correctly.

See archived posts (menu at right) or use the search facility to find more on the topic of indentured migrants.

Migrants arrive in Natal, 1860s

This Abstract shows the number of migrants (men, women and children) per ship Spirit of Trade. Upwards of 240 people - according to recent research perhaps closer to 260 - were on board: 'the Space allotted for the accommodation of the Emigrants is the whole of the Between Decks'.

A British official in the 1880s remarked on 'The limited space, the rude accommodation, the poor and often dirty bedding and clothing, the awkwardness and novelty of the cooking and sleeping arrangements, the strangeness of the passengers to each other, the rough and unclean habits of some and the helplessness of others, and added to all, the discomforts of seasickness ...'.* 

The document bears the signature of W.M. Collins, Emigration Agent for Natal. It's dated at Calcutta, the port of embarkation, on 5 December 1860. From Calcutta to Natal the voyages took approximately twelve weeks, slightly less from Madras. By the 1880s the use of steamers reduced the length of voyage to about 24 days.

* [From: Northrup, Indentured labor in the age of imperialism; quoted in Inside Indenture by Ashwin Desai and Goolam Vahed.]

Indian Migrants to Natal 1860

The most significant event of the 1860s in the Colony was the arrival of a ship called the S.S. Truro on 16 November 1860, heralding a new era. The Truro, a wooden paddle steamer rigged with sail, brought 343  migrants from their homes in India, pioneers in a process which would continue until after the first decade of the 20th century and bring more than 150,000 people to the shores of Natal.

Social, economic and political effects would be far-reaching. These events and their consequences have generated a large body of literature to which there are regular additions and anyone reading this blog can do a Google search on the terms ‘indentured Indians’ or ‘Indian migrants Natal’ to pursue a study of the topic. The Indian diaspora was a global phenomenon and Natal’s involvement should be seen in that context, from an academic point of view.

If you’re a family historian, the focus changes. It becomes individualized: less anonymous, intensely personal. Descendants of the Indian migrants increasingly want to know about their ancestors and about their origins. Acquiring such information is not easy. More about that aspect in future posts.

Indian migrants at Natal

Meanwhile, we could try to imagine the leap of faith required by the migrants to leave everything that was familiar to them and embark on a long sea voyage towards an unknown country, where they would begin an indenture contract of five years.

The Truro was followed shortly by the Belvedere (quarantined in the roadstead due to cholera on board) and the Lord George Bentinck, bringing the total migrant arrivals in the year 1860 to nearly a thousand.

Passengers were taken off the vessels by lighter and delivered to barracks at the Point from where their employers would collect them. Their journey was far from over.