Even as Victorian England sought means and methods to 'manage' its poor through new laws, the colonial rulers of India found the European poor in India a threat to the myth of superiority and homogeneity they were busy building up for the British ruling class.This study focuses on this particular section of European settlers in India, referred to in contemporary official papers as the 'low Europeans' or 'mean whites'; which loosely meant a white underclass comprising destitutes, vagrants, convicts, lunatics and prostitutes. Primarily a study of the European underworld and marginal classes in two Presidencies of Colonial India, viz. Calcutta and Bombay, the condition of the marginal Europeans and white underworld in the mofussil and railway cantonment areas also comes under its purview. The genesis of delinquency and marginality among Europeans in India; manifestations of the problem; reactions of different sections of society to the problem; debates among the ruling class about the problem, its origin and solution, remedial measures taken by the administration as well as private initiatives are closely analysed.
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