Bengali Collections Guide

Bengali presence in Tower Hamlets can be traced back to the 17th century and with the founding of the East India Company. The East India Company traded from the London Docks in Wapping, and later building the East India Docks in Poplar.

Most Bengalis who arrived in East End were ‘Lascars’, seafarers working on board the ships of the East India Company and other mercantile trade routes around the world. In the 18th century, the East End dockside neighbourhoods provided a range of private lodgings and institutional Sailors’ Homes to accommodate Lascars and other colonial seafarers. In the 20th century during the two World Wars, the merchant navy’s workforce was diverted to the Royal Navy. Seamen from countries colonised by Britain took up vacancies in the merchant fleet, which led to another significant migration of seafarers and dock workers in the East End and other port cities. After the Second World War, the British government advertised the availability of paid work in the post-war rebuilding project. Tens of thousands of migrants from across its empire took up the call. During this period of mass migration, incomers were often drawn to settle in neighbourhoods which offered a degree of familiarity. In the case of Bengali migrants (mainly from Sylhet), many joined older seafaring relatives in the cheap, bomb-damaged East End.

A third wave of Bengali immigration took place in the 1970s soon after the Bangladesh Liberation War. Formally known as East Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947, Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971 after a bloody nine-month battle. Families were now able to fly directly from the capital Dhaka, enabling wives and children to join their husbands in London as well as the rest of the country.

Unfortunately, like many other migrant groups in England at the time, the Bengali community also faced many hardships. From racial injustice, appalling housing conditions and employment discrimination, Bengalis were forced to politically mobilise to fight for their basic rights. As a result, there is a long legacy of anti-racist and housing rights movements in the East End that is dominated by the Bengali community from mid-70s onwards.

Finding work was not easy and many joined the ‘rag trade’ following in the footsteps of their Jewish counterparts. Those who could not work in makeshift factories throughout the borough, had the option of becoming home machinists. This allowed many Bengali women to also earn a living without leaving the home and undertake childcare duties.

For decades, racism continued to have a profound impact on the Bengali community and other global majority groups. It did not prevent them from building homes and businesses, and contributing to rich cultural heritage in the borough. In amongst the violence, the struggles, and the hardships, you will also find stories of resilience, transformation, and joy.

This guide explores our archive and library collections about the Bengali community in Tower Hamlets.

Local History Library Collections

Explore the history of the Bengali community through library printed material, maps, photographs, and archives.

When you start your search on the online catalogue it is important to be aware that sometimes keywords are spelt differently depending on the period, the type of document, or who may have created the material. Alternative spellings to consider when using keyword searches include: Bengali, Bengalis, Benglee, Bangladeshi, Bangla Desh, Bangladesh

Some items may only be in the Bengali script; this will be noted in the catalogue description.

Searching our library collections

Explore our Subject and Classification Guides.

Useful library classification numbers covering Bengali presence in Tower Hamlets include:

015 Tower Hamlets and East London
023 Spitalfields
300.2 Racism
331 Housing
360 Associations, Institutions, Social and Youth Clubs, Community Centre
400 Ethnic Minorities, Immigrants, Race Relations
440 Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Lascars
820 Schools (Primary and Secondary)
890 Newspapers, Periodicals

Photographs

Key subject class marks to find images:

300.2 Racism and anti-racism campaigns
365.1 Stranger’s Home
400 Ethnic Minorities, Immigrants, Race Relations
440 Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Lascars

Explore extensive image collection of local streets in the borough. Some popular streets that relate to the Bengali community include Brick Lane, Hanbury Street, Whitechapel Road. Another major resource for images that covers the whole of London including Tower Hamlets is the London Picture Archive.

Photographs by individual photographers including

DH Photographs by David Hoffman, 1970s and 1980s of Fieldgate Mansions and of the street markets in and around Brick Lane
WG Photographs of Spitalfields and Whitechapel exhibited at/commissioned by Whitechapel Art Gallery, now known as Whitechapel Gallery.

Books and pamphlets

Explore our online catalogue for books and pamphlets about the Bengali community in Tower Hamlets. Highlights include:

LC15452 From Sylhet to Spitalfields: Bengali squatters in 1970s East London / Shabna Begum

LCF00871 The home and the world: Bengali political mobilisation in London's East End, and a comparison with the Jewish past / Sarah Glynn.

LC8222 Across the seven seas and thirteen rivers: life stories of pioneer Sylheti settlers in Britain / collected and edited by Caroline Adams; foreward by Tassaduq Ahmed; drawings by Dan Jones.

LC14671 Tides of change: snapshots of 1993-1994 in Tower Hamlets for Bangladeshis / Mayar Akash.

LC15178 Bangladeshi East End: Brick & mortar / Mayar Akash.

LC6477 Brick Lane 1978: the events and their significance / Kenneth Leech.

LC2168 Bengalis in London's East End / Ansar Ahmed Ullah and John Eversley. A PDF version of this book can be found as an online resource.

LC15400 I sewed, I sewed and I sewed : the untold stories of Bangladeshi seamstresses in London's East End (1970-2000) / a Stepney Community Trust Publication.

Archive Collections

We have an extensive archival collection relating to the Bengali community in the borough. These records include personal papers of local figures, councillors, and community organisations. Collection reference numbers are given in the following list -

Papers of individuals:

P/ADM Papers of Caroline Adams (1949-2001) - chiefly relating to her book, ‘Across Seven Seas and Thirteen Rivers’ Including research papers, notes, transcripts, and audio cassette tapes.
P/RAU Papers of Mahmoud A Rauf
P/SIE Original Works of Alice Sielle
P/EAD John Eade’s Collection
P/EVE Papers of John Eversley
P/BSL Paul Beasley as Leader of London Borough of Tower Hamlets: subject files with correspondence with Bengali groups
P/GOS Bidhan Goswami. Including P/GOS/1/1 Bangladesh Welfare Association and P/GOS/2 Brick Lane Mosque publications
P/MIN Kendrio Shaheed Minar
P/UDD Mrs Uddin
P/ULH Rafique Ullah
P/ULL Personal papers of Ansar Ahmed Ullah - relating to his involvement in community activism in the East End of London including:

P/ULL/4 Nirmul Committee, Swadhinata Trust and Bengali Community activities in Tower Hamlets and wider London - 1971-2014. Including P/ULL/4/4 'Bengali Info: Young People Magazine' 1998-2006 and P/ULL/4/5 Paper relating to Baishakhi Mela, Brick Lane Festival, Altab Ali Memorial, Foundation and Altab Ali Day (1971-2011)

P/ULL/5 Bangladesh Support Group (BASUG) - 2007-2008

P/ULL/6 Joi Bangla Banned - c. 1989-1996

P/ULL/7 Gravity - c. 1990-2000

P/ULL/8 Altab Ali Foundation - 2010-2014

P/ULL/9 Bangladeshi youth organisations – 2010s

Institutional organisations:

I/BRA Records of Banglatown Restaurants Association
I/EME Records of Ethnic Minority Enterprise Project
I/KNC Records of Kobi Nazrul Centre
I/AVU Records of Avenues Unlimited (Tower Hamlets Youth and Community Project) - Community Work in Spitalfields including files on Bengali-related organisations
I/SPP Spitalfields Project Papers - including files, correspondence, annual reports and constitutions for most Bengali-related organisations from the late 1970s and 1980s
I/TFF Records of Tower Hamlets Training Forum – also includes Bengali Mahila Samity, 1983-1984

Societies:

S/BYL Records of Bangladesh Youth League
S/PYO Records of the Progressive Youth Organisation, 1992-2005 Mainly reports, event and meeting papers covering issues affecting young people especially Bengali youth at grass roots level in Whitechapel and surrounding area. These include papers relating to youth trips, drugs and sexual health and later papers concerning relations with the police

Businesses:

B/LEA Tom Learmonth Photography
B/SEH Shepheard Epstein and Hunter, architects

Local Authority:

L/THL - Council records including minutes are useful documents to explore if you are looking at housing disputes, building planning permissions and Council-funded organisations.

Oral History

Our oral history collection provides lived experience accounts of individuals in the borough:

O/BEE The Bengali East End - 11 oral histories from members of the Bangladeshi community who lived in the borough of Tower Hamlets, mainly during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s. Oral Histories of the Bengali East End a collection of short clips from this oral history project
O/PEE Poetic East End - 35 oral history interviews undertaken in 2016-2017, led by the Shanghati Literary Society. The project strove to reveal the rich history of poetry writing in the East End from the 1960s to the 1980s
O/IND – under Individual oral histories you will find Suresh Singh’s recollections on Spitalfields. Singh, whose parents emigrated from Punjab and lived on Princelet street, reflects on the Bengali community.
O/WIB Where I Belong: Black and Asian women's lives in Tower Hamlets - Thirteen oral histories from Black and Asian women who lived in the borough of Tower Hamlets. The interviewees narrate their experiences as immigrants and their first impressions of England.

Explore snippets of recordings from our collection under Oral History.

Newspapers

Explore Bengali and bilingual titles including:

Aadhikar Rights Weekly 1987
Deshbarta 1986-1994
Jagaran 1985-1991
Janamot 1992-2008
Notun Din 1987-1994
Purbodesh 1992-1993
Somoy: Bengali News 1985
Surma 1984-1994,1997-2018

Bengali East End project

This booklet was compiled in 2010-11 by staff at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives as part of an ongoing project to fill gaps in its collections and ensure that the council's archives reflect the histories of Bangladeshi residents.

The biographies and profiles contained within this booklet are intended to illustrate just a few of the stories that form part of the history of the Bengali East End. Included are profiles of people who live and work in the borough today, or people who, both long ago or in the more recent past, played a significant part in the establishment of the Bengali community in Tower Hamlets. This is by no means a definitive collection, and the archive continues to seek out the evidence of Bangladeshi experience in Tower Hamlets in all its breadth and variety. The opinions expressed in the testimonies collated in this booklet belong to the individuals concerned, and not to Tower Hamlets Council.

The biographies are contextualised with a brief introduction to the history of Bangladeshi people in Tower Hamlets. Details of archive and local history sources which reflect and illustrate the presence of Bangladeshi people in the borough are also included.

The Bengali East End Booklet [pdf 4.04MB]

Cover of The Bengali East End publication