After the Partition:

A Shared Cultural Heritage in Essex

Saturday 1 February 2025 12.30-3.00pm
Exhibition launch, talks and a tour
Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford CM2 6YT

Please RSVP on Eventbrite

Over half a million Sikhs, Hindu’s and Muslims came to Britain because of the upheaval of Partition, the promise of economic opportunities and a safer life. In 2024 Essex Cultural Diversity Project was awarded funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Sikh, Hindu and (Pakistani) Muslim communities living in Essex to reflect on seven decades of their families’ lives, to explore experiences, challenges, successes, and social change from 1947 to today.

With few original settlers surviving, this is the last chance to bring three generations together to document the fortunes of settlers and their families who can trace their migration directly to Partition between India and Pakistan. This is a rare chance to focus on lived experiences since Partition, rather than on the experience of Partition itself, opening opportunities to explore this unique cultural context within and between communities. As time passes and memories fade, it is important for Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslim communities to capture what shaped their modern heritage for posterity, and to reflect on wider issues of migration and colonialism today.

Through the project we have captured people’s memories through oral history recordings, films and interviews. The project has created a touring pop-up exhibition by emerging Sikh female historian Simran Bance with original images, memories, materials and artefacts, belongings from the time of the Partition which migrants bought with them when settling in the UK.

The exhibition will be launched as part of the event and will be on display along with the oral history interview recordings. There will also be talks and the opportunity to meet some of the interviewees, who will talk about their memories.

• Light refreshments will be provided on arrival at 12.30pm.
• There will also be the option of a guided tour around the Essex Record Office at 3pm.

Parking: The nearest public car park is the Meadows Retail Car Park which can be accessed from the High Bridge Road and Springfield Road roundabout. There are three car parking spaces at the Essex Record Office for disabled visitors.

Photo: Mr and Mrs Kang, 1964