Lascar is a now outmoded word that comes from an ancient Persian word Lashkar.

The East India Company recruited seamen from Yemen, Gujarat, Assam and Bengal. They were known by the British as ‘Lascars’, and a number of these created small settlements in port towns and cities in Britain. By 1842 three thousand Lascars were visiting Britain.

External links

• http://www.lascars.co.uk/
• http://www.lascars.co.uk/pladec1957.html