3.2. The European and Anglo-Indian Association in Bengal
(1876)
In 1876, Chambers established the European and Anglo-Indian
Association in Bengal. In 1879, D.S. White of the
Anglo-Indian and Domiciled European Association of South
India emphasised to the community the necessity for union
with the Indians. In 1885, the Indian National Congress
was established. There were no Anglo-Indian members of the
Indian National Congress. In 1898, J.R. Wallace founded the
Imperial Anglo-Indian Association and C. Palmer founded
the Anglo-Indian Empire League in 1908. (37)
Anglo-Indians were displaying a cohesiveness of community
spirit by showing their concern for education. However,
the proliferation of Associations duplicated the effort of
the Anglo-Indians to put a case forward more forcefully,
because there were so many groups. This is an issue that
has continued to hinder progress in relation to the
aspirations of the Anglo-Indian community, a point taken up
later in the thesis. (38)
The main idea being pursued here is that this strategy
weakened the cause; instead of one or at the most two
Associations representing the community, there were too
many groups. Each group had people manoeuvring for
positions of power.
During the nineteenth century the community lived in
designated "quarters" linked to jobs. The Institutes,
Clubs and Gymkhanas belonging to the Railways, Customs,
Public Works Department and the Post and Telegraph, all had
their own committees. Each committee raised their
respective points of view and the fragmented representation
of the community served only to dilute its voice in
political matters.
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