My Family's Story

Hi my name is Amanda Peters. I was born in India, and at the age of seven I migrated to Auckland, New Zealand, in 2003, with my Mum Cheryl, Dad Christopher and younger brother Brandon.

As I have informed you earlier I am an Indian, but my whole family has ‘European’ names, that’s because I am an Anglo India, the word Anglo Indian came from the descendants of the British or the other countries that colonized India when they married Indians, that means that my ancestors are from many different countries, including Britain. So when you come right down to it; my parents, my grandparents and I were born in India, but my great grandparents came from many different parts of the world.

On my Dad’s side his Mum Ivy Peters is from Bangalore India, her Mum Daisy Price is an Anglo Indian, of Portuguese descent and her husband Joseph Price is British and was in the British army. My Dad’s dad is William Peters and his Dad Alexander Peters was British and moved to India to work on the Indian Railways and my granddad’s Mum Salome Peters is from Gujarat.

And on my Mum’s side her Mum Joyce Johnson was born in Erode, India and her Mum Anne Mc’Connell is from Salem, India, and her Dad Albert Mc’Connell moved to India from Ireland to work on the Indian Railways. My mum’s Dad Collin Johnson was born in Combitore, India, and his Mum Bonny Johnson is Indian but of Dutch descent, and my granddad’s dad James Johnson was British and he worked at a Tea Estate in the Annamalia Hills.

As long as the British were ruling India the Anglo Indians held pleasing jobs but after India received Independence on the 15th of August 1947 they had to prove themselves twice as hard to get the same jobs they had always worked in. That is the reason why we started to migrate to different countries. Today there are many Anglo Indians all around the world and we have a magazine ‘Anglos in the wind’ so no matter how far apart the wind has blown us we will always remain in contact with news of each other. And that answers why I am here today.