The hidden history of Indian nannies who sailed to England during the Raj

The hidden history of hundreds of Indian nannies who sailed to England for work from the 18th to early 20th centuries is finally being pieced together, finds Ranjita Ganesan

Farhanah Mamoojee’s fascination with the long sea voyages that Indian nursemaids made to England centuries ago for work began after a short stroll from her home in London’s Hackney in 2018. A BBC documentary, historian Yasmin Khan’s A Passage to Britain — about migrations from the Indian subcontinent to Britain — had in passing mentioned an “Ayahs Home” in Mamoojee’s immediate neighbourhood which used to house travelling nannies who ended up stranded and penniless in that country in the early 1900s. Mamoojee, a gender studies graduate, became curious about this less-known piece of women’s history and Hackney lore. 
 

“So I