'Who were the Lascars?'

This was the general name the British used for seamen from South Asia (mainly India) who worked on British-owned ships from the 17th century onwards.

• The word Lascar derives from the Persian 'lashkar' meaning an army, camp or a band of followers.
• The term first came to be used for soldiers, and then for seamen.
• By the 1930s, Lascars formed more than a quarter of all seamen in the British merchant fleet.

Lascars manning the yards, by WL Wyllie. © National Maritime Museum, London