Beyond the Frame: India in Britain 1858-1950 began a tour of India on November 25 which will continue into 2012.
It is led by The Open University with its Project Director, OU Professor Susheila Nasta MBE.
The tour is the follow-on to the larger project Beyond the Frame: Indian British Connections.
Both celebrate the often overlooked history of the Indian presence in Britain.
India in Britain spans almost ten decades from the beginning of the Raj to post-WW2 migration from south Asia to the UK.
Drawing on archival research from the three-year project, Making Britain: South Asian Visions of Home and Abroad, 1870-1950, the touring exhibition examines the impact individuals, communities and political activity had on British life and their relevance in India.
As well as the well-known visit by Ghandi to Britain in 1931 there are hundreds of other lives celebrated, providing a fresh perspective on the impact on both nations of a shared heritage.
People like:
Dadabhai Naoroji the first Indian elected to parliament in Britain – elected Liberal MP in North London in 1892
Sophia Duleep Singh (pictured right) an Indian princess and Suffragette who marched alongside Emmeline Pankhurst in 1910
Abdul Karim (pictured below) a servant who taught Hindustani to Queen Victoria and was said to be closer to her than John Brown
Indra Lal Roy DFC a WW1 fighter ace with 10 ‘kills’ to his credit in a fortnight and killed on July 22, 1918
Using contemporary accounts, posters, pamphlets, diaries, newspapers, political reports and illustrations, Beyond the Frame: India in Britain, was launched in Delhi on November 25 at the British Council India.
As part of the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme there is a range of educational activities running alongside the exhibition with teachers’ packs and free worksheets for school children.
The exhibition will be at the National Archives of India until December 30 followed by a tour of northern India appearing at British Council libraries and NAI regional archives and from February 2012 in southern India.
The NAI will also be displaying complementary materials from its own collection.
Professor Nasta, in India for the tour said: “In taking the exhibition to India we wanted to swivel the perspective to examine India’s role within Britain rather than Britain’s well-documented imperial influence in India.
“The exhibition will trace Indian-British interactions across the race, class, gender divide and draw public attention to the complex realities of both countries’ intertwined histories.
“We hope this work will capture people’s interest and make them appreciate the huge impact people from India had on British life,” she said.
- Link to online database Making Britain: Indian British Connections:
- And Making Britain: Discover how south Asians shaped the country:
- Link to The British Library website Asians in Britain:
