In Haringey, South Asian heritage can be found all around the borough. The earliest written records of presence here date from 1801, although South Asians have been settling in Britain for at least four centuries.
Before the First World War, amongst those living in London were colonial troops and ex-military officers, lascars (sailors), servants and ayahs, medics and students.
Edwardian colonial troops had travelled from around the world and gathered at Alexandra Palace to mark the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902. But the new King fell ill and the coronation was delayed for a month. The troops stayed on, encamped at the Palace, and to while away the time they explored their temporary home in London, in particular neighbouring Wood Green. Many had their photograph taken as souvenirs and a local photographer documented their time in the area on film. An unrivalled collection of these photographs survives in the collections at Bruce Castle Museum and Archive.
Tobacco merchant Muhammad Heyder Abdul-Ali (1862 -1941) lived at 32 Langham Road in Tottenham (1903-1911; 1917-1929) and from 1929 -1936 at 81 Evesham Road in Wood Green. His first wife Beatrice Abdul-Ali (died 1914) was a representative in West Green, Tottenham of the Primrose League, an organisation which drew heavily on female political helpers and often credited for easing the transition to female suffrage and mass democracy after 1918. Muhammad’s son Sijil Theodore Arthur Abdul-Ali served with the Middlesex pioneer Royal Engineers in the First World War. He died aged 28 in October 1917 fighting for this country.
In Cromwell Avenue in Highgate, number 65 was inaugurated as ‘India House’, a well-known hostel for students between 1905-1910. It became a hub for political and revolutionary activities in the fight for independence for India from British colonial rule.
A Greater London Council blue plaque heralds that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), Indian patriot and philosopher lived here. Coming to the UK to study law, he was involved with the activities of organisations based at India House, such as the Free India Society. One of Savarkar’s books ‘The Indian War of Independence’ about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British colonial authorities. As one modern-day commentator said, ‘They published an anti-colonialist newspaper, smuggled weapons into India and brushed shoulders with Irish Republicans, suffragettes, Egyptian nationalists and communists.’
A century later, a replica of India House was built as a monument in India. Read more about this and the history of the Highgate India House.
The Aliens’ Act was introduced to control immigration into the UK.
In the late 1920s Dr. Jehangir Kanga is listed as lead of the doctors’ surgery in Bounds Green Road opposite Trinity County School
In the East End, Kamal Cunchie set up the Coloured Men’s Institute in Canning Town. Kamal Cunchie who had travelled to England from Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and had fought during the First World War with the Middlesex Regiment, fighting alongside fellow soldiers in the regiment from Tottenham and Hornsey.
Not far away from Cromwell Avenue in Highgate, an English Heritage blue plaque on 30 Langdon Park Road commemorates the campaigner and activist V.K. Krishna Menon. He lived there when he first came to London to study in 1929. He set up the India League and went on to help India achieve independence in 1947.
Independence of India and Partition
Vella Pillay (1923-2004) and Patsy Pillay (1925 -2021) were forced to leave South Africa because of the Mixed Marriages Act making it impossible to live there. She had to travel in the white section of the train whilst he was in the non-white section. The couple had met through their involvement in the struggle prior to the election of the National Party Government. They married in Cape Town in 1948, because mixed race marriages were still legal in the Cape Province.
In the UK, they settled in Muswell Hill. They were inspirational campaigners and advocates, and the lifeblood of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in this country. Along with Yusuf Dadoo (1908-1983), they were great friends and allies of the ANC’s Oliver and Adelaide Tambo when they were exiled and came to live in Muswell Hill. .
‘Thornton House’, at 68 Dukes Avenue in Muswell Hill, became a monastery for Swami Ghanananda and his followers as well as a meeting hall for regular talks on Sundays. It became an important centre for London’s Hindu Indian community in the early 1950s. The property had been given to the Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre in Kensington by the owner Mr Thornton, one of the Swami’s benefactors. Neighbouring number 66 Dukes Avenue was later purchased by a female devotee and was used as a residence for women and visitors to the Centre.
The Indian Workers’ Association was formed.
The Pakistani Workers’ Association was formed.
Commonwealth Immigrants Act was passed to make temporary provision for controlling the immigration of Commonwealth Citizens to the UK and to allow a shift in bringing skills and businesses to the country.
Race Relations Act passed.
Guyana born Arif Ali (born 1935) opened Fruitex, a greengrocer on Tottenham Lane in Hornsey stocking Caribbean produce. Customers travelled across London to socialise and discuss politics. Arif used a Gestetner machine to reproduce articles from Caribbean newspapers for his customers. He set up a cooperative with members of the Hornsey Credit Union, and weekly contributions could be left at Fruitex. Proceeds from selling the business financed the publication of the ‘ Westindian Digest’. The venture became Hansib Publications, producing ‘Westindian World’, ‘Caribbean Times’, ‘Asian Times’, and ‘African Times’.
In Kenya, Asians holding British passports were removed from government administration and licensing laws displaced others in businesses. As British subjects, those who were displaced came to the UK, settling in Greater London and around the country.
New Immigration Act was passed restricting the right of free entry to the UK to patrials only (i.e. those who had a parent or grandparent born in the UK). British Asians from Kenya had to wait for vouchers in order to travel to the UK.
Amongst the leaders in the art school revolution and Hornsey College of Art student protests was Jim Singh Sandhu (later becoming a Professor in Inclusion Research). He was a student at Hornsey and a member of the sit-in committee during the occupation by students in the Summer of 1968.
At the time of the 1968 student protests, the political activist and writer Tariq Ali had recently graduated from Oxford and came to London. He lived at Flat 8, 5 Haslemere Road in Crouch End from 1968-1976.
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Artist Pulak Biswas (1941 – 2013), was a leading children’s book illustrator. After time spent initially in advertising, he changed career and received a UNESCO fellowship to study at Hornsey College of Art during the early 1970s.
Sir Anish Kapoor CBE, RA (born 1954) is well-known as one of the most influential sculptors working today. He moved to the UK to begin his art training at Hornsey College of Art.
The UK's first female Asian police officer Karpal Kaur Sandhu (1943-1973), remembered as a "trailblazer of her time", joined the Met Police force in 1971 and first served as a police officer at Hornsey Police Station in Tottenham Lane.
The Black Liberation Front (BLF) was founded in 1971 by former members of the Black Panther Movement’s North and West London branches. It was led by Goan-born activist Tony Soares who was one of the earliest proponents of Black Power in Britain in the UK. Soares faced scrutiny from Special Branch, an intelligence unit within the British and Commonwealth police forces responsible for national security. The BLF in Haringey had its offices at 54 Wightman Road, N4.
The expulsion of Ugandan Asians by Idi Amin in 1972, with many coming to the UK as refugees.
The first South Asian shops and businesses started to be established along Turnpike Lane during the early 1970s. An Indian restaurant in Turnpike Lane was trading from 10 Wellington Terrace (near to Wood Green High Road) from 1972. The Indian Food Centre was in business at number 70 Turnpike Lane from 1976, with other traders soon following from 1978, including the optician C. Dinesh Patel at number 29 and the confectioner P.M. Patel at number 31.
On 23 April 1977 Haringey's community came together in an act of defiance against the racist National Front, in what became known as the Battle of Wood Green at Duckett’s Common. Haringey's diverse population, through their unity, showed that racism and all other forms of hate would not be tolerated in the borough and the fascists were driven out.
The focus of the fascists was Duckett’s Common at Turnpike Lane and Wood Green High Road. It is said that Asian communities were the most targeted by the National Front at that time. As a consequence, serious work for the establishment of a centre for South Asians in Haringey started from then onwards.
The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD), an activist organisation for British Black and Asian women, was established. Founder members were Stella Dadzie, Olive Morris and Martha Osamor.
Rock Against Racism concerts in London, including the Rainbow by Finsbury Park.
The Asian Action Group (AAG) had started operating in Haringey initially at 10 Bruce Grove in Tottenham. The group sought to meet the social and cultural needs of the Asian community as a whole. Two early outstanding achievements was the work with under 11s and the Asian Family Group, and the establishment of the two youth clubs for young Asians in the borough. The first at 10 Bruce Grove meeting on Sunday evenings, and the second new one at St Peter’s Hall in Frobisher Road, N8 meeting on Monday evenings. The AAG received GLC funding to set up permanent premises at 30 Willoughby Road, N8.
The Highgate Hill Murugan Temple on Archway Road opened in 1979. It is dedicated to Lord Murugan, the chief Hindu god of the ancient Tamils of South India, son of the warrior goddess Korravai. Highgate Hill Muragan is the UK’s first Sri Lankan Hindu Temple.
A steering group was set up in 1980 which later became the stronger Joint Council of Asian Organisations. This was replaced by a new constitution of the Council of Asian People (CAP) in 1984.
The Curzon Cinema at 92 Frobisher Road, Harringay, overlooking Duckett’s Common, had a Sunday programme of Asian films.
Haringey Council’s first South Asian councillor was Narendra Makanji (1953-2019), serving in the Noel Park ward in Wood Green from 1982 - 2006. He was a key figure in the opposition to racism, campaigning for equalities in the Greater London Council in the 1980s, helping to establish the first Black History Month, opposing Apartheid in South Africa, was the Chair of Whittington Hospital, and also played a key role in his community as chair of the Bernie Grant Trust and on the board of the Selby Trust.
The London Islamic Cultural Society.was formed in the house of Abdool Alli by a small group of Muslims from Guyana, South America who saw the need to bring together its members both culturally and religiously. In 1985 the society bought its first premises in Park View Road, Tottenham.
Former police Chief Superintendent Dal Babu OBE started his career as a police constable serving in Tottenham in 1983. On his retirement in 2013, he has been working with communities and young people in Haringey and around London.
The Asian Workers Group (Haringey) was formed in response to the need felt by Asian workers in local government and voluntary agencies. The number of South Asians in these positions being a minority, the aim was to develop an effective campaigning body to raise awareness of their needs and that of their community.
The Asian Centre (Haringey) in Caxton Road, Wood Green, was officially opened on 24 March 1984 as a community, cultural, welfare and educational centre for all Asians living in and around the borough of Haringey (about 24,000 at that time). It came into existence through the initiative and efforts of the joint Council of Asian Organisations (Haringey). It was to especially meet the needs of women, the elderly and young people and, with the Asian Forum, set up activities such as the regular Asian Mothers and Toddlers Group.
The Asian Women’s Action Group was set up in 1985 at 18a Edison Road, Hornsey.
Founded in 1985, for the next 35 years until 2020 the Tagore Centre had a collection and library at Alexandra Park Library in Muswell Hill. The centre provided information and research facilities on all aspects of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the poet, philosopher and thinker.
Manoj Ambasna founded Collage Arts in 1985, which merged with Haringey Arts Council. Now Executive Director of Collage Arts it is the highly successful and engaging cultural and creative arts organisation based in The Chocolate Factory in Wood Green.
The Festival of India was held at Alexandra Palace. See some photographs of the festival by Alan Denney.
Activist and writer Savitri ‘Savi’ Hensman was the Outreach and Development Officer who helped launch London’s first Black Lesbian and Gay Centre in 1985. Supported by the Greater London Council, the centre was housed in an annex of Tottenham Town Hall. During the late 1980s, Savi joined Haringey Council’s Lesbian and Gay Sub-Committee and was involved in the campaign against Section 28. She was also part of the Positive Images group and Haringey Black Action.
Black History Month launched in the UK. Haringey Councillor Narendra Makanji was one of the founders.
The London Islamic Cultural Society purchased the former synagogue at 389-395 Wightman Road, N8 to develop their organisation and activities for the community.
The Peace Mural 1 by Anthony Steele was created on the end wall of Roachford Block on Broadwater Farm in 1987. It shows portraits of Ghandi, Martin Luther King and John Lennon.
Positive Images and Haringey Black Action organised ‘Smash the Backlash', the first UK demonstration to highlight the experiences of Black and Asian lesbians and gay men. Campaigning against what was to become Section 28, protestors rallied on 2 May 1987 at Duckett’s Common at Turnpike Lane. The 3,500 strong march demonstrated from Turnpike Lane, around The Roundway to end at Bruce Castle Park.
Trailblazer and advocate Rafaat Mughal OBE (1939-2021) was a founder of the JAN Trust, setting it up initially in her own sitting room at home. Here she was helping women, living in Haringey, who were facing extreme deprivation and had a dire need for access to basic skills and opportunities, including English language, education, jobs and an understanding of British services and systems. Rafaat understood she had to formalise a support service for these local communities and established JAN Trust to advise and empower marginalised women who, like herself leaving Uganda and coming to Britain in 1972, were facing challenges and hardship.
Gurbux Singh (born 1950) had been working in local government during the 1980s and became Chief Executive of Haringey Council in 1989. He was the first Asian ever to be appointed to such a high-level post in London.
Highly acclaimed author Romesh Gunesekera was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1994 for his novel ‘Reef’. In 2024 he is a judge for the International Booker Prize. Romesh has made Crouch End his home from around 1980, moving from Liverpool to London a few years before when he had arrived in the UK from Sri Lanka.
The cinema at Duckett’s Common re-opened as the New Curzon. It was the enterprise of Mr Jitu Ravall, who had opened similar ventures in Birmingham. It exclusively showed Bollywood films. By 2000 the New Curzon faced competition with the larger Cineworld opening in Wood Green. This new complex also had regular showings of Bollywood movies and could obtain the latest films faster. The New Curzon closed in 2003.
The first male South Asian Mayor of Haringey was Councillor Dhiren Basu of Seven Sisters ward in Tottenham. He had been Deputy Mayor during 1996-1997.
Haringey Council’s first South Asian female councillor was Rafaat Mughal OBE (1939 – 2021), who served the Woodside ward between 1994-1998 and then the West Green ward from 1998-2002.
Wise Thoughts, the pioneering LGBTQI+ & Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Arts Charity Wise based in Wood Green Library, was established in 1999. The organisation was founded and is led by artist Niranjan Kathkar FRSA and dancer and choreographer Subodh Rathod. Both are active LGBTQ+ equalities campaigners.
Director and film-maker Yousaf Ali Khan moved to London and made Haringey his home, finding a base for his film-making at Haringey Arts Council (now Collage Arts) at the Chocolate Factory in Wood Green.
The first purpose-built mosque/cultural centre was opened at the Wightman Road site by the London Islamic and Cultural Society.
The first Goan Community Centre in the UK was established in Keston Road, Tottenham in 2002. The community centre is now in Downhills Park.
Sona Mahtani was appointed Chief Executive of the Selby Trust. Sona had grown up in Tottenham and was part of the Young Asian Action Group when it was developing during the 1980s. She went on to work professionally as a community developer in the community and voluntary sector for over 25 years, especially supporting Black and Racially Minoritised organisations.
On Saturday 29 March, the first single-sex couple to marry in Haringey were Subodh Rathod and Niranjan Kamatkar (of Wise Thoughts in Wood Green). The couple tied the knot at 9.15am at Haringey Civic Centre. The couple were also the first gay Asian couple to marry in the UK under the new marriage equality legislation.
The first female South Asian Mayor of Haringey was Councillor Kaushika Amin of Northumberland Park ward in Tottenham, for the year 2014-2015. She had been the deputy mayor in 2013-14.
The Haringey Vanguard Project, a flagship 2-year heritage partnership and project between Bruce Castle Museum and Archive and London Metropolitan Archives, led by Veronica McKenzie and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund - began collecting archives, oral interviews and histories of Black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBTQ+ communities and activism in the borough for the period 1970s-1990s. The Haringey Vanguard collection is now at Bruce Castle Museum and Archive.
Councillor Seema Chandwani for West Green ward in Tottenham became the first South Asian Deputy Leader of the Council in 2020 until 2021.
On 30 October Haringey Council unveiled the first LGBTQ+ commemorative plaque in the borough at The Roundway (west arm) on the Tottenham and Wood Green border. The plaque commemorates the Smash the Backlash march of 2 May 1987 organised by the Positive Images Campaign and Haringey Black Action group.
A hornbeam was planted in memory of activist and former councillor Narendra Makanji in the ward of Noel Park which he had represented.
