COATED with rust, a small metal plaque found at a disused dock has a story to tell.

The few words engraved upon its surface more than a century ago are the keys to unlocking an epic tale of travel, transformation and mother tongues, according to the community organisation now working on its message.

“We were so excited,” says Dr Saif Khan of the Bangladesh Association Glasgow (BAG). “We were saying, ‘what is this?’”

The plaque, bearing the English words “lascars only”, is understood to date to around 1890 and was found at the Queen’s Dock area of Stobcross Quay on Glasgow’s riverfront. It was once known as a bustling port at the centre of our seafaring economy and is now most associated with the SEC concert and conference venue.

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The sign also bears what Khan and colleagues understand to be the earliest written example of their first language, Bangla, in Scotland. Also known as Bengali, Bangla is the national language of Bangladesh and was spoken by many of the men who crewed the merchant vessels arriving on Scottish shores.

The word they worked under, lascar, hid the multitudes of their skills and labour. They were cooks, cleaners, crewhands – the manual workers without whom shipping magnates would not have made their money. But they were paid less than white workers and given inferior food and accommodation, with fewer rights once they arrived in the UK, despite their status as British subjects under the empire.

There were almost 37,000 such men working UK merchant ships in 1903 and there’s evidence of lascars in Greenock and Dundee. Despite this, and the communities they established in port cities, their stories now are largely unknown and BAG is now working to unravel as much of their history as possible.

The plaque, which is part of the Glasgow Museums collections, was discovered during work at the site two years ago. It now features in a pop-up exhibition of artefacts opening at the Kelvingrove Museum today during the Bhasha – the Glasgow Language Festival.

Organised by BAG, the event celebrates the UN’s International Mother Language Day, which is closely tied to the history of Bangladesh.

Under British plans for the end of empire, India was separated into two nation states along religious lines, with predominately Muslim areas to be part of the Dominion of Pakistan. Modern-day Bangladesh was included, despite differences in language and culture. New authorities were dominated by Urdu speakers and an edict came down stating that Bangla would no longer be taught in schools, used in the media or feature on currency and stamps.

The decision gave rise to what became known as the Bengali Language Movement, an anti-discrimination drive fighting cultural erasure and asserting Bengali identity. That push developed into widespread calls for self-determination and the announcement of a day of protest on February 21, 1952. A ban on gatherings of three or more people was announced and defied – thousands of students turned out and several were killed during an attempt to enter the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. More deaths followed as disorder continued over the following days.

The events of February 21 were instrumental in strengthening the public mood, and led towards a nine-month civil war.

On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh was declared independent. Joy Bangla, originally a battle cry, was declared the national motto in 2020 and today a scale model of the Shaheed Minar martyr’s monument to the student activists who were killed will also be on show at the museum. The brainchild of BAG’s Dr Tareq Abdullah, it’ll be gifted to the city.

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As well as celebrating Bangla, Bhasha aims to represent the diversity of the 120+ languages known to be spoken in Scotland, with taster sessions on Arabic, Urdu, Polish, Spanish and more, with poetry, zine-making and music all featuring.

Khan says the lascar plaque is a reminder of how communities have been transformed by migration, a process which continues to shape our country. “People are still coming to these shores. Glasgow is receiving their presence and getting richer for it. Scotland is getting richer,” he says.

Bag, which is involved in researching lascar lives in Scotland, has been unable to translate all of the Bangla on the Queen’s Dock sign, as have academics from West Bengal. “Nobody can tell us the meaning,” he says. “It could be a particular shipping term which only they knew.

“There has been a lot of work done on lascars in England, but not as much in Scotland. Our association and Glasgow Museums are working on exploring this group of people.”