This article revisits the question of Indian South Africans as a means of looking at a small selection of events1 situated within the dynamics between India, Britain and South Africa from 1860 to 1960, which were particularly influential in moulding the status of membership born within these interstitial spaces of the British Empire. Adopting a wider rather than a nationalist perspective, this discussion contributes to the growing global history scholarship looking at the relationship between India, Britain and its dominions.