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For the merchant seamen who settled in British ports, particularly the Africans, Arabs and Asian seamen known as Lascars, life was initially very hard. They were single men far from home, unemployed for long periods and in extreme poverty. Most lived in lodging houses. At first these were run by the East India Company but later, after the British government took direct control of India in 1858, many were run by people from their own communities. The government, under pressure from the Seamen’s Union and because of negative racial attitudes, passed laws intended to make it hard for them to stay.

In effect, it was a 'colour bar'. On land, many were forced by poverty into begging and often had trouble with the police.

Indian, Chinese, Arab and Somali men came from societies with strong cultures and complex civilisations. In Britain, however, they were portrayed in the media as inferior, ‘exotic’ and even sinister and threatening. Their settlements were given nicknames - ‘Chinatown’ in London’s Limehouse, ‘Tiger Bay’ in Cardiff’s Butetown and ‘Little Arabia’ in South Shields’ East Holborn - and were stereotyped as places of crime to be feared.

In spite of many difficulties, against which some rebelled by going on strike or jumping ship (leaving when the ship docked), many immigrants survived and put down roots. Some married local women and started our first modern working-class multicultural communities. Others moved from work on the ships to setting up businesses such as cafes, lodging houses, shops and - in the case of the Chinese - laundries. Bengalis, Gujaratis, Yemenis and Somalis built up Britain’s first Muslim communities in the port areas of Cardiff, Liverpool, Hull, London and South Shields.

Meanwhile, many wealthy Indians also came to the UK. Some came to study, while others, such as Maharajah Duleep Singh, joined high society. At the start of the 19th century, Sake Dean Mahomed set up London’s first Indian restaurant and then his ‘Shampoo’ beauty business in Brighton that became the height of fashion. At the end of the century two Indians, Dadabhai Naoroji (Liberal) and Sir Manerchee Bhownaggree (Conservative), were elected as Members of Parliament at Westminster.