The majority of British Indians are of Punjabi and Gujarati origin with various other smaller communities from different parts of India including Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The boy was brought to England in 1614 where he was placed under the care of Patrick Copland who was a chaplain and who subsequently taught him to read and write in English.

There were also some ayahs, domestic servants and nannies of wealthy British families, who accompanied their employers back to Britain when their stay in South Asia came to an end.

[9] The Navigation Act 1660 restricted the employment of non-English sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships.

During the 19th century, the East India Company brought thousands of Indian lascars, scholars and workers to Britain largely to work on ships and in ports.

[12][13][14] Due to the majority of early Asian immigrants being lascar seamen, the earliest Indian communities were found in port towns.

The first Western-educated Indian to travel to Europe and live in Britain was I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim cleric, munshi and diplomat to the Mughal Empire who arrived in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim during the reign of King George III.

The man was waited upon by the prime minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King.

[20] In July 1841, David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, an Anglo-Indian born in India, became the first person of Indian descent to be elected to British Parliament.

Although post-war immigration was continuous, several distinct phases can be identified: In the 2021 Census, 1,864,318 people in England and Wales were recorded as having Indian ethnicity, accounting for 3.1% of the population.

[50] Many of these are however outnumbered by nine London boroughs, namely Harrow, Brent, Hounslow, Hillingdon, Ealing, Redbridge, Newham, Barnet and Croydon.

[50] On a proportion basis, the top ten local authorities were: Leicester (34.30%), Harrow (28.62%), Oadby and Wigston (21.11%), Hounslow (21.11%), Brent (19.47%), Slough (19.06%) Hillingdon (18.74%), Redbridge (16.50%), Wolverhampton (15.95%) and Blackburn with Darwen (15.76%).

[63] Hillingdon - 18.7%Redbridge - 16.5%Ealing - 14.9%Newham - 11.0% Solihull - 5.2%Warwickshire - 4.9% Windsor and Maidenhead - 6.4%Reading - 6.2%Milton Keynes - 3.2%Buckinghamshire - 4.4% Derby - 4.8%Nottingham - 3.6%West Northamptonshire - 2.3%North Northamptonshire - 2.0% Lancashire - 2.0% South Gloucestershire - 1.7% Middlesbrough - 1.9%Darlington - 1.0% Newport - 1.3%Swansea - 0.9% Indians number over half a million in Greater London, which is the county's single largest non-white ethnic group.

[citation needed] Within London, Southall, Hounslow, Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Barnet, Tooting, Harrow and Wembley, the latter of which is one of the few places outside India where Indians make up the largest ethnic group (almost 4 times larger than the White British population).

The majority of the community in Gibraltar originated in Hyderabad in Sindh, and came as merchants after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1870; many others migrated as workers after the closure of the frontier with Spain in 1969 to replace Spanish ones.

There are also significant numbers of Muslim and Christian British Indians as well as Ravidassia community with their main temple (Bhawan) in Handsworth, Birmingham.

One of the largest Christian British Indian community is that of Catholic Goans, mainly from East Africa, but also directly from Goa, and from Aden, Pakistan and the countries of the Persian Gulf.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a British film set in India, was nominated for two Golden Globes and one BAFTA, grossing US$31 million at the end of the UK run.

Notable British Indian Bhangra acts include Panjabi MC, Rishi Rich, Juggy D, Jay Sean, DCS, Bally Sagoo and Sukshinder Shinda.

World-famous award-winning singer-songwriter Freddie Mercury (a former member of the rock band Queen) was born on the island of Zanzibar to Parsi parents, originally from the Gujarat area of India.

The Harry Potter series, by British author JK Rowling, also features two notable characters who are presumed to be of Indian Marathi descent - Padma and Parvati Patil.

[95] Mandeep and Hardeep Chohan, twin sisters of Indian origin jointly own fashion label, Nom de Mode, which draws inspiration from their roots.

42, a talk show that stars many famous British Indian actors including Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim which originally aired on the BBC.

Dr Ranj is a British Indian TV host best known as a celebrity dancer on Strictly Come Dancing, and co-creating and presenting the CBeebies show Get Well Soon.

British Indians have historically tended to vote for the Labour Party, due to strong links with local party branches and a degree of community voting, but it has been argued that the assimilation of younger British Indians and the consequent weakening of community bonds and parental political ties, this relationship has started to break down.

[124] In 1976 the Rock Against Racism political and cultural movement was formed as a reaction to racist attacks that were happening on the streets of the United Kingdom.

[125] A notable example of anti-Indian sentiment in the UK is the 2007 Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy which received significant media coverage.

Contestants Jade Goody (who was mixed race), Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were all seen to have been mocking Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty because of her accent.

Other examples of discrimination towards British Indians in the mainstream population include the case of 27-year-old Chetankumar Meshram, a call centre trainer from Northampton who was compensated £5,000 after his boss told him he was to be replaced by a better English speaker.

[143] Trevor Phillips, former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has argued that Chinese and Indian-heritage pupils achieve high standards of academic attainment regardless of the school attended or poverty levels.