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{{Short description|Early Indian migrant to New Zealand (died 1935)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox artist
| native_name = ਫੁੰਮਣ ਸਿੰਘ
| native_name_lang = pa
| other_names = {{hlist|Phuman Singh|Phomen Singh Gill}}
| birth_date = 1869/1870
| birth_place = [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], India
| death_date = 27 May 1935
| death_place = [[Palmerston North]], New Zealand
| image = Phomen Singh, 1920 (cropped).jpg
| caption = 1920s passport portrait of Singh
}}

'''Phomen Singh''' ({{langx|pa|ਫੁੰਮਣ ਸਿੰਘ}}; 1869/1870 – 27 May 1935), also known '''Phuman Singh''' and '''Phomen Singh Gill''', was an Indian businessman. He was one of the earliest Indian migrants to [[New Zealand]], where he founded a successful [[confectionery]] business.

== Life and career ==
Singh was born in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], India, and was brought up in the [[Moga district]], in a village called [[Charik]] where his [[Sikh]] family were farmers. His father, Bela Singh, and mother, Sundar, had three sons, of which Phomen was the second. In the 1880s, Singh's older brother Bir Singh travelled to [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] and then settled in [[Australia]]. The Singh family did not hear from Bir after he departed from India, and as a result, Phomen was sent on behalf of the family to find his brother.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=McLeod |first=W.H. |date=1996 |title=Story: Singh, Phomen |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3s20/singh-phomen |website=[[Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=1 February 2024}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Singh, Phomen, 1870?–1935 |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22521415 |access-date=6 December 2023 |website=[[National Library of New Zealand]]}}</ref> At 22, Singh travelled to Australia and found his brother; they both stayed there for three years.<ref name=":2" /> Instead of returning home to India, the two Singh brothers travelled to [[New Zealand]], arriving in about 1890.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />

While there were already Indians in New Zealand, the Singh brothers were among the first recorded immigrants from Punjab; they marked the start of three ripples of Punjabi migration before the Immigration Restriction Amendment Act of 1920.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Tiwari |first=Kapil |title=Indians in New Zealand: Studies of a Sub-Culture |publisher=Price Milburn and Company Limited |year=1980 |isbn=9780705507561 |location=Wellington |publication-date=1980 |language=English}}</ref> Two copies of the [[Guru Granth Sahib|Guru Granths]], the religious scripture of Sikhism, were present in New Zealand by 1930, the first of which was brought over by Phomen Singh in 1892.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Harpreet |year=2014 |title=Re-Reading Sikh History in New Zealand 1900–1940 |url=https://punjab.global.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/sitefiles/journals/volume21/21_2/4-Harpreet%20Singh%2021.2.pdf |journal=Journal of Punjab Studies |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=297–324 |access-date=1 February 2024}}</ref> In an early racist encounter in [[Auckland]], Singh's [[turban]] was unravelled and his hair exposed. Soon after, Singh cut his hair and no longer wore a turban.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leckie |first=Jacqueline |title=Invisible Our History of Excluding Kiwi- Indians |date=4 October 2021 |publisher=Massey University Press |isbn=978-0995140721 |language=English}}</ref>

The brothers soon went their separate ways, Bir travelled the [[Whanganui]] area and worked as a [[herbalism|herbalist]] where he met and married a [[Māori people|Māori]] woman.<ref name=":0" /> Bir also prepared food for troops during World War I who were stationed at Trentham Camp.<ref name=":4" /> Phomen remained in [[Auckland]] and began his career as a confectioner.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bandyopadhyay |first=Sekhar |title=India in New Zealand |publisher=Otago University Press |isbn=9781877372858 |edition=1st |location=Wellington |publication-date=2010 |pages=45–63 |language=English |chapter=A Long Diaspora: Indian Settlement}}</ref> Under the guidance of a [[Muslims|Muslim]] confectioner, Singh learned to make sweets. He then moved from Auckland to [[Wellington]], where he became a [[Hawker (trade)|hawker]] and sold Indian sweets, curries, and chutneys out of a suitcase door to door.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=21 June 2016 |title=Sweet Rewards: Indians celebrate 125 years in New Zealand |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/voices/audio/201805336/sweet-rewards-indians-celebrate-125-years-in-new-zealand |access-date=11 December 2023 |website=[[RNZ]] |language=en-nz}}</ref> During Singh's time in Wellington he met a nurse, Margaret Ford from [[Kent]], [[England]]. The couple married on 5 April 1898 in Whanganui.<ref name=":0" /> The couple had three sons and one daughter, and later, eight grandchildren.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Obituary|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19350531.2.95 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[Manawatu Standard]] |volume=LV |issue=155 |date=31 May 1935 |page=9}}</ref>

Singh started a confectionery company alongside business partner Charlie Abraham, a Muslim man. Abraham, Singh, and Company, Indian Lollie Manufacturers, disbanded soon after formation in 1898 by mutual consent of Singh and Abraham. Singh took over the business on his own.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Page 2 Advertisements Column 4 |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC18980714.2.39.4 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[Wanganui Chronicle]] |volume=XLIII |issue=15000 |date=14 July 1898 |page=2}}</ref> Singh rented shops in [[Whanganui|Whanganui's]] Victoria Avenue and Wilson Street and his family lived behind one of the shops. Singh employed a Sikh man named Ganda Singh, who came from the region of [[Malwa (Punjab)|Malwa]] in Punjab, at his confectionery factory on Wilson Street. Ganda Singh migrated to Aotearoa New Zealand around 1899 and also led an Indian troupe that performed traditional dance and entertainment throughout local towns.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Entertainments |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19020327.2.19 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[New Zealand Times]] |volume=LXXII |issue=4621 |date=27 March 1902 |page=5}}</ref>

By 1915, the Singh family had moved to [[New Plymouth]], [[Eltham, New Zealand|Eltham]], and [[Marton, New Zealand|Marton]] in New Zealand's North Island. In each of these towns, Singh opened a sweet and fruit shop named Eureka, but business did not thrive.<ref name=":0" /> It was not until 1924 to 1925 in [[Palmerston North]] that business flourished at Singh's shops on The Square and Rangitikei Street.<ref name=":0" /> Singh also owned an orchard in [[Brunswick, New Zealand|Brunswick]] for a short period before selling and moving on.<ref name=":1" /> Singh and his family made confectionery at their Palmerston North home at 16 Andrew Young Street and sold it at their local shops and to nearby towns by horse-drawn van.<ref name=":0" /> In 1932, Singh's daughter Kartari Singh was married in [[Te Aroha]], the event garnered great public interest; it made multiple newspaper outlets at the time. It was noted that Phomen Singh was dedicated to following the traditions of a Sikh marriage ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indian Wedding Provides Entertainment at Te Aroha. |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19321201.2.46 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[Manawatu Standard]] |volume=LIII |issue=3 |date=1 December 1932 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=An Indian Wedding |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19321129.2.132 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[New Zealand Herald]] |volume=LXIX |issue=21352 |date=29 November 1932 |page=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Heavily Veiled Against Sightseers — and her husband. A Sikh bride and her husband are escorted by the bride's father after a wedding ceremony at Te Aroha. |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19321129.2.113.6 |via=Papers Past|newspaper=[[Auckland Star]] |volume=LXIII |issue=283 |date=29 November 1932 |page=8}}</ref>

Singh made one last trip to India, where he stayed for a year and eight months to recuperate from ill-health.<ref name=":2" /> Soon after arriving back in New Zealand, Singh died in his Palmerston North home on 27 May 1935, after a prolonged period of sickness.<ref name=":2" /> His funeral was held at the [[Karori Crematorium]] in Wellington.<ref name=":2" /> Before his death, Singh donated his prized copy of [[Max Arthur Macauliffe]]'s book ''The Sikh Religion'' ''VI'' to the Palmerston North Public Library.<ref name=":0" /> Phomen Singh is noted among New Zealand's first Indian settlers with his career movements widely documented through newspapers of the time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Singh |first=Harpreet |date=Dec 2010 |title="Reassessing the Early History of the New Zealand Sikh Community 1881–1914" |url=https://www.nzasia.org.nz/uploads/1/3/2/1/132180707/jas_dec2010_singh.pdf |journal=[[New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=1–15 |via=University of Otago}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book|url=https://www.masseypress.ac.nz/media/2180/invisible_look-inside.pdf|title=Invisible: New Zealand's History of Excluding Kiwi-Indians|author=Leckie, Jacqueline|year=2021|publisher=[[Massey University Press]]}}
* {{Cite thesis|url=https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10523/6810/SinghHarpreet2016PhD.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=From Guru Nanak to New Zealand: Mobility in the Sikh Tradition and the History of the Sikh Community in New Zealand to 1947|author=Singh, Harpreet|year=2016|degree=PhD|publisher=[[University of Otago]]}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Phomen}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1935 deaths]]
[[Category:Confectioners]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to New Zealand]]
[[Category:New Zealand people of Punjabi descent]]
[[Category:Emigrants from British India]]
[[Category:New Zealand Sikhs]]
[[Category:People from Moga district]]

Phomen Singh - Revision history

Maryslanker: put up a bio w/ infobox