This made me laugh Pablo. My grandfather, who was Anglo-Indian (i.e. mixed race), served in the Indian Army throughout the first world war. During the war he was a medical orderly, a sub-professional position that was one of the jobs kept specifically for this mixed-race community. After the war, he came to London, retrained as a full medical doctor and thereafter "passed as white" for the rest of his life (actually, quite hilariously, as "Welsh", I believe to explain being small and dark with a sing-song accent). He died in the early 60s and I never saw a picture of him so I accepted my father's account that he was Welsh and just happened to have been born in India for colonial-administration reasons -- just as my mother's father had been born in Egypt because his father was a missionary doctor on the Nile -- until I finally saw a photo of him for the first time about 15 years ago. Very funny subsequent conversation with my father. Took me about an hour online to work out his story.
I'm guessing he came up with the Welsh thing himself, or perhaps it was quite a common strategy at the time for people of Anglo-Indian background? But I agree, it is so funny. My mother always used to roll her eyes and say "Welsh my foot" but I always thought she was just winding him up until I finally saw a picture and saw what she meant!
Interesting. I wonder if he picked up on a general perception of the Welsh—a language and accent known for being hard to decipher—so maybe he figured it would be harder to refute. As opposed to saying you’re from, say, Birmingham.
Well there certainly is (or was) a cultural cliché about a certain kind of Welsh appearance as small of stature and with quite a dark complexion. But it is funny to imagine a London in which you could pass off Indian as Welsh. But maybe everyone sort of knew? I really don’t know. In any case he became a very respectable and successful GP and sent all three children, including my aunts born in the 20s, to the best schools and then to university. Both my aunts had professional careers which they maintained alongside children which is pretty unusual for that generation. I knew my granny on that side, his wife, well as she lived well into her 90s but sadly never met him.
When I lived in Lancashire, my ex's parents had a caravan in Wales (Anglesey). My ex's dad, a builder in Bury, warned me about how difficult it was to understand the Welsh, and I remember thinking, "Dude, I'm not worried about the Welsh. I know what you're saying like 40% of the time."
In a deeply racist society where one is judged by the color their skin instead of the content of their character, even passing as white, or being white adjacent, has its advantages and many people indeed go down that route.
In other words, All American!
That's the implication, yep.
You might find this book interesting: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691179469/white-freedom?srsltid=AfmBOopnfsfNbs_8nx63suCwxtCgTdEJyizTqfRXCgsu44kbj7Vy8MfM
I met the author, sadly now deceased, in Paris a few years back. I have a copy if ever you want to peruse.
Looks fascinating. Sad about the author, but a good way to keep a writer alive is to keep reading their words.
This made me laugh Pablo. My grandfather, who was Anglo-Indian (i.e. mixed race), served in the Indian Army throughout the first world war. During the war he was a medical orderly, a sub-professional position that was one of the jobs kept specifically for this mixed-race community. After the war, he came to London, retrained as a full medical doctor and thereafter "passed as white" for the rest of his life (actually, quite hilariously, as "Welsh", I believe to explain being small and dark with a sing-song accent). He died in the early 60s and I never saw a picture of him so I accepted my father's account that he was Welsh and just happened to have been born in India for colonial-administration reasons -- just as my mother's father had been born in Egypt because his father was a missionary doctor on the Nile -- until I finally saw a photo of him for the first time about 15 years ago. Very funny subsequent conversation with my father. Took me about an hour online to work out his story.
That's so funny, Victoria. "We don't know where to place you...hmm, Welsh it is." What an interesting story. Thanks for sharing.
I'm guessing he came up with the Welsh thing himself, or perhaps it was quite a common strategy at the time for people of Anglo-Indian background? But I agree, it is so funny. My mother always used to roll her eyes and say "Welsh my foot" but I always thought she was just winding him up until I finally saw a picture and saw what she meant!
Interesting. I wonder if he picked up on a general perception of the Welsh—a language and accent known for being hard to decipher—so maybe he figured it would be harder to refute. As opposed to saying you’re from, say, Birmingham.
Well there certainly is (or was) a cultural cliché about a certain kind of Welsh appearance as small of stature and with quite a dark complexion. But it is funny to imagine a London in which you could pass off Indian as Welsh. But maybe everyone sort of knew? I really don’t know. In any case he became a very respectable and successful GP and sent all three children, including my aunts born in the 20s, to the best schools and then to university. Both my aunts had professional careers which they maintained alongside children which is pretty unusual for that generation. I knew my granny on that side, his wife, well as she lived well into her 90s but sadly never met him.
When I lived in Lancashire, my ex's parents had a caravan in Wales (Anglesey). My ex's dad, a builder in Bury, warned me about how difficult it was to understand the Welsh, and I remember thinking, "Dude, I'm not worried about the Welsh. I know what you're saying like 40% of the time."
Pulling genealogy birth records for ancestors in the early 1900’s were either Spanish, Indio or Mestizo.
In a deeply racist society where one is judged by the color their skin instead of the content of their character, even passing as white, or being white adjacent, has its advantages and many people indeed go down that route.
No question.