What surprised me about this book was the multi-tiered classification system used by British Citizens to classify the mixed percentages of individuals who possessed both some combination of British and Indian blood. Each classifications lead to both advantages and disadvantages within the Indian and British communities at the time: “‘Anglo-Indian’ meant ‘ those who have either no or very slight admixture with the native races’; ‘Eurasians’ were ‘those in whom the European and native descent are more evenly balanced’; and ‘East Indians’ were ‘those of remote European descent and approaching more closely to the native type’” (Craik, 14). Here are just three of the different classifications, but even within these three divisions of race, one can find subsets that would further divide individuals among racial lines. This knowledge helps the reader to indicate why there is such a large disparity between how the more British half-caste is treated compared to the more Indian half-caste.

Craik, Dinah Mulock. The Half-Caste, edited by Melissa Edmundson. Introduction: footnote 1, The Anglo-Indian (9 January 1886): pp. 19, by Melissa Edmunson. Broadview Editions, 2016.