INTRODUCTION

For the mid nineteenth century onwards, there are more diverse resources available for understanding the place of Islam in British society, and evolving perceptions of Muslims in Britain and abroad. Travel narratives, parliamentary papers, newspapers, novels, poetry and scholarly studies are supplemented by detailed trading documents, missionary reports, oral histories and photographs. These sources have limitations and biases, but the scope for comparative analysis opens up possibilities for a greater range of interpretations. Some of these sources, especially literary works, have recently been subject to critical evaluation (Khattak 2008).

Moreover, from this time Muslims in Britain were actively producing and publishing their own newsletters and journals. Given that this is a history that, through new research, continues to reveal itself even in the present day, this chapter can only be introductory, time-bound and selective. Similarly, it remains necessary to be mindful of who exactly has recorded and documented the history of Muslims in Britain, the sources they have relied upon, and the perspectives that might be shaping their analysis.

During the late Victorian period, greater numbers of Muslims were coming to Britain as traders, teachers and university students. At the same time, a number of high-profile British public figures converted to Islam. These developments are examined in general outline here, but most of the focus is upon the ‘Muslim history’ of three maritime ports that provide case studies of Muslim activity and settlement in Britain in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: South Shields, Cardiff and Liverpool.