Going For A Curry

Ethnics in Middlesbrough

1889 Moses Carpenter, a cornet playing Mohawk Indian, whose funeral, the biggest funeral ever seen in Middlesbrough was buried in Linthrope Cemetery.
1890 a postcard of Linthrope Road in Middlesbrough shows a group of Indian sailors looking in a shop window. From their characteristic turbans these lascars were probably Pathans
1899 The honour of the first settler (on record) could be an Indian gentleman in photograph of fireman party at 'Cleveland Asylum', now St. Lukes Hospital, and Middlesbrough. He was almost certainly a lascar, could have been a patient or employed by the fire brigade?
July 1912, three lascars, Shaera Furozesha, Vallee Mahomet and Chatto Abdooraman, appeared before Middlesbrough county magistrates, charged with attempting to murder, two fellow lascars, Ahmed Gool and Surden Shahaj Khan.
December 1914 Ali Saleh, an Arab fireman, on the on the SS Nigretia from Algiers in North Africa was discharged at Middlesbrough.

1924 Photograph of the first annual outing in 1924 of the 'Acklam Average 8 Club, leaving Newport Road, Middlesbrough, has an 'Indian' member.
1925 Chirag Din Chohan, a hakim, an herbalist or alternative medicine, an eye specialist, came from Harrogate, with his English wife Florence (Flo) a nurse from Nottingham;to look after Flo's ill sister. He was referred to as Dr. Din and had practices on Kensington
1926 Gholam Hasan, first Lascar from Mirpur and the only second Asian Muslim, settled in Middlesbrough
June 1930 Funeral of Muslim lascar at Marton Cemetery
1937 Ghulam Sarwar Khan Chohan, cousin of Chirag Din
May 1940 Photograph of local defence volunteers, since the July 1940 adopted the name 'Home Guard' appears to have an Indian member.
1944 - 48 Hamed Salah, an Arab lascar, married to an English woman, (according to one of the respondents, memory) opened the first ethnic Cafe / Restaurant 'The Paradise' in Sussex Street, on the corner of Richmond Street, (over the border) 1944 Amar Singh Rathore, draper salesman, one of the first Sikhs to settle in Middlesbrough, shared a house with three other male Asians in St. Hilda's.
1940-44 Mr. Saba Khan visited M'bro as merchant seaman and shared a house with two brothers Nasir and Bashir in Bright Street.
1946 Mr. Rehman of the Rehman's food stores, believed to the third (?) Muslim in Middlesbrough.
1946 ?? Mr.Shah Mahammod, wrestler, married an English woman and settled in Peel Street, Thornaby. Wrestled at Farrell Street, Middlesbrough.
1946?? Ismail Dobeh, an Arab Lascar from the Burao region, opened the Kenya Cafe, later converted to the Bongo club.
1946 ?? Kamol Miah, a Bengali Lascar, used his place of lodging, in Bridge Street, opposite 'The Kenya Cafe' now the Bongo Club as a meeting place for fellow Bengali Lascars.
1947 (was it before or after partition and independance) Amar Singh Rathore, was joined by his sons Karnel and Chanan, but his wife did not come to Middlesbrough until 1951. The family bought a house in North Ormesby, thought to be the first Asian family to settle there.
1948 A Somila lascar, who's name has not known, arrived in Middlesbrough in 1948."Somila (name not known), Burao in former British Somaliland, (as Somalia was known before it's independence) arrives in Middlesbrough via Liverpool and Manchester.
1949 Nafees Akhar Chohan, the wife of Ghulam Sarwar, thought to be the first Indian and definitly the first Pakistani Muslim woman in Middlesbrough. ???? Karam Ilahi lived at 55 Granville Road, the brother Mr. Sharif had come to live with, 6 men (including Mr. Sharif) were sharing the small 2 bedroom terraced house.???? Mr. Sharif, Mr. Sadiq and Gulab Sahib came to live in Middlesbrough. Gulab Sahib shared a house at 24 Waterloo Road.
1957 Mohammed Fazal from ---- arrived via Karachi, lived in the Cannon Park area, 1961 joined by his brothers Bostan Khan and Abdul Karim, moved to 67 Glebe Road.
1959 Indian and Pakistani Association formed organise the show of Indian Films
1960's Mohammed Din, worked for Northern Dairy, breeze block makers in Stockton and Warner's Steel Works.
1969 Mohammed Safeer, moved from Chesham, Buckingham to Middlesbrough, living in Gilkes Street and initially working in foundry, quickly switching to Cleveland Transit.
1970's Main one of the main employers of Asians Cork Insulation, Trafalgar Street, Thornaby
2004 May 37 year old councillor Javed Ismail, appointed as council chairman, the first from the town's ethnic minority community to become First Citizen, (the old Mayor's office) at the ceremony at the Middlesbrough Town Hall.

N.B. - This is not a comprehensive survey, as my research on Indian sub-continent immigration to Teesside is ongoing and is often based on oral testimony. Written documentation regarding the 'Indian' population are sparse. I would be happy to receive any further information.