Occupation of Indian Immigrants

Source 1: An extract describing the work done by the Indians in Colonial Singapore during the 19th century.

There is mention of the engagement of the European artificers for instructional purposes. And the list of trades is a most varied one. Within those prison walls there were tailors, rattan workers, coir and rope and flag makers, printers, photographers and draughtsmen, to mention only a few of the indoor occupations.

Using Indian hand looms, convict weavers made the coarse cloth worn by the classes in irons, and from raw wool purchased from butchers in town, convicts prepared and spun the material of which their blankets were made. Cement and tiles were made from coral extracted from reefs in Singapore waters, and timber felled in jungle and brought to the prison was converted there into building material.

Reference:

J.F.G. (1935, August 25). Convicts Who Hunted Tigers And Chased Gangsters.  The Straits Times, Retrieved from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19350825.2.85

Source 2: An extract about Indian Chettiars in the 19th century Singapore.

Market Street was featured in G. D. Coleman’s 1836 Map of the Town and Environs of Singapore, making it one of the older streets of Singapore.

Historically an enclave of Indian Chettiars who were mostly moneylenders, the street used to be lined with shophouses where the moneylenders operated. A single shophouse was shared by many moneylenders, and each was allocated his own working space within the shophouse. The working space was made up of a raised wooden platform with a seat for the moneylender, a small box where records were kept, and a safe for storing cash.

The street was also called Chetty theruvu (Chetty’s street) in Tamil, a reference to the Chettiars that populated the area.

Reference:

Thulaja, N.R. (2016). Market Street.  Singapore Infopedia, National Library Board. Retrieved from https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_222_2005-01-18.html

Source 3: An extract on the jobs undertaken by the Indians in 19th century Singapore.

Although found in almost all parts of the city the Indians have tended to congregate in certain sections. For instance five such concentrations can be distinguished. The earliest group were South Indian Chettiar and Tamil Muslim traders, financiers, money-changers, petty shopkeepers and boatmen and other kinds of quayside workers. A second grouping largely of Sindhi, Gujarati and Sikh cloth merchants, exists in the High Street area, while a third grouping of Gujarati and other Muslim textile and jewellery merchants can be found in the Arab Street region, further to the east of Singapore River. 

The fourth grouping of Indians is the Tamil shopkeeping element on Serangoon Road. The last prominent concentration of Indians is that around the docks and railway, where many of the workers have been Tamils, Telugus and Malayalis.

Reference:

Sandhu, K,S. (1969). Some Aspects of Indian Settlement in Singapore, 1819-1969.  Journal of Southeast Asian History 10(2), 193-201. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/20067741

Source 4: Postcard of ‘Kling hawker of bread and cakes, waiting for customers, Singapore’, 1900. 

Reference:

National Archives of Singapore (1900). INDIAN BREAD AND CAKE SELLER. Slide number S1225  

Source 5: An extract about the cattle trade in the 19th century Singapore.

At around the same time in the mid-1800s when Little India was popular among Europeans, the cattle trade began to boom in the area. It was the proximity to the Serangoon River that made the area ideal for cattle traders. Those involved in the cattle trade were predominantly of Indian origin. Over time, the cattle trade gave rise to related economic activities and attracted more Indian workers to live and work in the area.

Present day Buffalo Road and Kerbau (Malay for “buffalo”) Road serve as reminders of the cattle trade in the Little India area. References to this trade in Little India is also reflected in the nearby KK Women’s and Childrens hospital, whereby “KK” stands for “Kadang Kerbau”, which means “buffalo shed”.

Reference:

Chng, H. (2016, October 25). S'pore's Little India was originally for Europeans. That's why there's Dunlop, Cuff, Dickson & Clive Street. Mothership. Retrieved from https://mothership.sg/2016/10/spores-little-india-was-originally-for-europeans-thats-why-theres-dunlop-cuff-dickson-clive-street/

Source 6: An extract about the work done by the Indians during the 19th century Singapore.

The area’s first significant industry included British-owned and Indian-operated lime pits and brick kilns along Serangoon road. They were in operation from the 1820s to 1860. After they shut down, the area’s natural abundance of grass and water made it the perfect area for cattle rearing. “It provided the necessary bathing areas for water buffaloes, which were the ‘workhorses’ of Singapore at that time and used for transporting goods and rolling roads,”

 “Besides cattle rearing and related activities, wheat-grinding, sesame oil presses, rattan works, and pineapple preserving factories became an economic feature of Serangoon area,”

Reference:

Nelson, A. (2019, October 28). Looking into Little India’s History. Site Visits. Retrieved from https://veryrealandrew.com/site-visits/2019/10/28

Source 7: An extract of the working experiences of Balage in Singapore during the 19th century.

Born into a low class of traders, a teenage Balage sailed all over Asia hawking gems from his homeland of Sri Lanka. In 1869, his journey ended in Singapore, a mere speck of dust on maps of the time. Despite this, he felt that the little island was where his future lay and decided to start a small shop in October 1870, opposite the prestigious hotel d' Europe, along the bustling Singapore river.

In June 1902, B.P de Silva was a manufacturing jeweller. He believed that to create pieces of the highest quality, a tight control of manufacturing was essential. He was partially responsible for the initial wave of early Sri Lankan migrants to Singapore. They worked together, on the second floor of his busy shophouse. He was known to have enthusiastically taken customers on tours of his little factory on High Street.

Reference:

BP de Silva. (accessed in 2020). Story. Retrieved from http://www.bpdesilva.com/story.html

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