Earliest records of Bengalis in the European continent date back to the reign of King George III of England during the 16th-century. One such example is of James Achilles Kirkpatrick's hookah-bardar (hookah servant/preparer) who was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the Prince of Sylhet. The man, presumably from Sylhet in eastern Bengal, was waited upon by the Prime Minister of Great Britain William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King.[40] Mass migration started since the days of the British Raj, where lascars from Sylhet were often sent to the United Kingdom.