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Jhulee Khan
Lascar, musician and preacher
Other names
John Carr
Place of birth
Date of arrival to Britain
Date of time spent in Britain
1841–65
About
Jhulee Khan arrived in Britain as a lascar in 1841. He jumped ship on arrival and subsequently made his living as a musician in tap-rooms, where he played fiddle and performed English songs.
He made his way across England and Scotland, performing all over the country. In 1857, after instruction from a woman in north London’s Tottenham, he converted to Christianity and went by the name of John Carr.
Forsaking his previous career as a hornpipe-player and singer, as well as giving up visits to tap-rooms, he instead went on to sing hymns and preach in the streets, which attracted large audiences.
In 1865, by then married with five children, he expressed a desire to do missionary work in India. He returned to Calcutta in 1866 as an agent of the Foreign Evangelist Society to work alongside a European missionary in the north-west of India.
Fisher, Michael, Counterflows to Colonialism: Indian Travellers and Settler in Britain, 1600–1857 (Delhi: Permanent Black, 2004)
Salter, Joseph, The Asiatic in England: Sketches of Sixteen Years’ Work among the Orientals (London: Seeley, Jackson & Haliday, 1873)
Visram, Rozina, Asians in Britain: 400 Years of History (London: Pluto Press, 2002)
Image credit
© Remaking Britain: South Asian Connections and Networks, 1930s – present
