Trace and Tell your Family's Empire Stories
Introduction
Chris Bisson is an actor who has appeared in successful television shows such as 'Shameless', 'Coronation Street' and 'East is East'.
Although he looks Asian and has played Asian shopkeepers and shopkeepers' sons, Chris doesn't see himself as Asian. Born in Manchester in 1975, his mother Sheila is white while his father Mickey was born in Trinidad and is ethnically Indian.
Although the family's roots are in India, over the last century the British Empire has had such a dramatic impact on their lives that they have lost all connection with the country.
Browser by chapterLike slaves before them, indentured labourers were held in depots before being assigned to the plantations. When the boat carrying Chris's great-grandfather Bishnia arrived in Trinidad, 620 indentured labourers disembarked and were held for 10 days on Nelson Island just off the coast of Trinidad. There they were checked to see if they were medically fit to go to work.
The barracks on the island were originally built in 1802 to hold slaves. During the indentured labour scheme almost 148,000 Indian 'coolies' passed through them on their way to work on one of Trinidad's 300 plantations. After 10 days in quarantine on Nelson Island, Bishnia travelled 50 miles south to the Bienvenue plantation, where he would spend the next five years of his life.
Visiting the barracks was an eerie and moving experience for Chris. He was able to see the upper rooms, where it is thought that the male labourers, including his grandfather, would have slept. The striking contrast between the beauty of Trinidad and the bleakness the labourers' lives saddened him.
