European Indian Nannies During the British Empire: The Unknown History of Ayahs in Britain
Unsung Heroes of the British Empire: The Travelling Ayahs
During the British colonial period, a group of women played an essential yet often overlooked role in maintaining the domestic and caregiving needs of British families. These women, known as travelling ayahs, were Indian caregivers who accompanied British families, particularly their children, on journeys between India, Britain, and other parts of the Empire.
These mobile caregivers were a crucial part of the infrastructure within the British Empire, with some making dozens of trips across continents. By the 1850s, between 100 and 140 ayahs were travelling annually to Britain with British families.
Historian Avantika Binani has shed light on the lives of these travelling women, revealing complex intersections of agency and constraint. While they were employees under colonial and patriarchal structures, their mobility gave them opportunities to navigate unfamiliar places, negotiate with employers, and sometimes escape local social hierarchies in India.
Binani's research, which took a 'history from below' approach, focused on telling the stories of marginalized communities. She discovered that these travelling women were often insignificant characters in the broader colonial discourse. One of her most fascinating findings was the journey made by an ayah named Alice Nona from Ceylon to Australia in 1949 with her employer, Olive Temple.
During their overseas voyages, ayahs looked after children during long sea passages and stayed temporarily in dedicated spaces like the Ayahs' Home in London. Several Ayahs' Homes were established to provide temporary accommodation for ayahs in England, with some located in Aldgate and Hackney, London.
Despite their significant contribution to colonial life and migration networks, the experiences and identities of travelling ayahs have been largely overlooked or marginalized in historical records and social memory. Binani had to read between the lines and follow various lines of evidence to corroborate a story, as there was no direct evidence of the kind of lives ayahs were leading.
Recently, one of the Ayahs' Homes located in Hackney was commemorated with a blue plaque in June 2022. The Ayah and Amah International Research Network is a collaborative project involving scholars from the UK, Australia, and the United States, which focuses on researching the historical lives of South Asian "ayahs" and Chinese "amahs."
In summary, travelling Indian ayahs were indispensable yet underrecognized actors in the British colonial world. Their caregiving labour supported imperial families’ mobility and comfort while embodying nuanced personal and cultural experiences that challenge simplistic colonial narratives. Binani's research serves as a reminder of the importance of uncovering and celebrating the stories of marginalized communities in history.
[1] Binani, Avantika. "Beyond the Raj: Travelling Ayahs and the British Empire." Women's History Review, vol. 30, no. 6, 2021, pp. 964-981. [5] Binani, Avantika. "The Travelling Ayah: An Overlooked Figure in the History of Migration." The Conversation, 17 Mar. 2021, theconversation.com/the-travelling-ayah-an-overlooked-figure-in-the-history-of-migration-158011.
The traveling ayahs, being a crucial part of the infrastructure within the British Empire, not only looked after children during long voyages but also temporarily resided in places like the Ayahs' Home in London, as revealed by Historian Avantika Binani's research. Furthermore, Binani's work has highlighted the need to understand and commemorate the lives of these mobile caregivers, particularly as their significant contribution to colonial life and home-and-garden dynamics has often been overlooked or marginalized in historical records.
