A member of the United Reformed Church has featured on a new BBC documentary about the British Empire.
Empire with David Olusoga comprising, three episodes, is available on BBC iPlayer.
Patricia Poinen, a member of Northgate United Reformed Church in Darlington, who also serves as a Racial Justice Advocate within Northern Synod, features on episode two of the documentary series.
Patricia appeared on the programme to share about her great grandparents who were transported as indentured labourers to the Caribbean.
Patricia’s grandmother came from Azamgarh and grandfather from Ghazipur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India and were indentured to Trinidad after the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and under the “Gladstone experiment”.
The indentured system was initiated by John Gladstone, father of British Prime Minister William Gladstone. Gladstone was one of the Britain’s largest and wealthest slave owners. Just before slavery was fully abolished, he knew that he would face a labour shortage crisis and so looked to a new system of indentured labour to provide cheap employment for his plantations in British Guiana, and in Trinidad and other Caribbean countries to replace the freed enslaved people. In 1837, he brought more than 400 Indian workers to his plantations, portraying the working conditions, food and housing as good when they were anything but. The system lasted for around 80-90 years until it was formally abolished in 1917. According to the BBC, between 1834 and 1917, Britain took more than 1 million Indian indentured labourers to 19 British colonies.
The Indian indentured system features on episode two of the BBC’s Empire with David Olusoga which tells the story of the British Empire from its origins under Elizabeth I to the establishment of colonies in America, the Caribbean and India.
Sharing about how her contribution came about, Patricia said: “As the chair of the North East England African & Caribbean Association, I was contacted by the BBC following some research that was undertaken in 2021 with the Discovery Museum in Newcastle to take part in a national community programme along the topic of Indian indentureship, which linked ship building on the Tyne to India and the Caribbean.
“My paternal grandparents travelled from India on 17 October 1900, arriving in Trinidad on 16 January 1901. They travelled on a ship called the Moy.
“They both were at the same place at the same time; my great-grandfather was 17 and my great grandmother, 20. They were assigned to the same sugar plantation estate in south Trinidad. I was born and brought up in that area and my siblings and extended family still live there. My maternal grandmother, their first child was born on 14 February 1903.
“My maternal grandfather was born on the boat from India to Trinidad. His mother, Abhraji was 28 and on the 20 October 1894, she boarded a ship called the Foyle which set out for Trinidad. Along the voyage, Abhraji gave birth to a son called Sarjoo (Sirju Persad). When the Foyle arrived at Trinidad’s immigration depot of Nelson Island on 24 January 1895, mother and son were sick and hospitalised. It was not until 25 May 1895, that they were assigned to the Union Hall estate where Abhraji was indentured. Their General Register number were 99975 and 99976. Incidentally the Foyle was built in Newcastle.
“I am extremely proud of my ancestors. They endured hardship and pain so that I might live in freedom today.
In episode one, the historian explores the origins of the British Empire and how the power of a relative small island grew to cover nearly one quarter of the world’s land surface and one quarter – 412 million – of the world’s people by the end of the 19th century. Its central and dominate role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade is also explored. Australian’s colonial history also features in episode two, and the eventual collapse of the empire is explored in episode three.