The British In India
Emma Jolly explains where to look to find out more about your European forebears who lived in India
Researching European ancestors who lived in India before Partition in 1947 can be fraught with challenges. However, in recent years more records relevant to this area have been placed online, making it easier for family historians to research from home.
The history of the British in India is complex. Some researchers may discover an ancestral connection to the subcontinent that goes back centuries. Others may simply have an ancestor, perhaps involved in engineering or trade, who spent some time there. British imperial influence in the subcontinent began with the formation of the East India Company (EIC) in 1600. As the EIC began to assert itself military support was required, which emerged in the form of company armies. These enabled the EIC to set up trade bases in key locations.
In order to best administer its areas of control, the EIC founded three presidencies: Bengal, Bombay and
Madras. These presidencies had their respective centres in Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. Throughout the first couple of centuries of EIC control, European settlements were being established and growing across a vast geographical region. When researching, it is essential to remember that the boundaries of British influence were continually changing. At its biggest, this area included modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma/Myanmar. Other areas where your ancestors may have lived and/or worked are modern-day Aden, China, Iran, Iraq, Java, Kuwait, Malacca, Penang, Prince of Wales Island, Singapore, Sri Lanka, St Helena and Sumatra. The EIC also traded with the Netherlands, and established a base in Canton.
Rogue Company
As the EIC became less restrained in its approach to expansion and trade, its economic losses increased. Shareholders in Britain complained, leading to the 1773 Regulating Act. This brought all three presidencies under the control of a single governor-general. EIC employees were to be supervised by an official council, and this period became known as ‘Company Rule’. Many of the administrative EIC records that are now held in the India Office Records collection at
the British Library date from this era. Sixty years later the governor-general’s role was extended to all of British India. Increasing numbers of soldiers and civil servants were sent out to the country, which did nothing to reduce the increasing resentment of the local population.
The eventual rebellion of 1857 led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Indians. As a result of this catastrophe, the EIC was dissolved, the last Mughal ruler was exiled to Burma, and the British Crown took direct control of the government of India; the ‘British Raj’ lasted from 1858 until Partition. The company’s records were then transferred to the newly established India Office (IO).
Researching Your Family
The records of the IO, held at the British Library, form the basis of most family history research into the British in India. Records include church registers,
probate records, personal records (such as letters and diaries), ships’ passenger lists, directories and newspapers. An overview of what is available at the library is online at bl.uk/collectionguides/india-office-recordsfamily-history. A large amount of material from the EIC has been digitised by the academic publisher Adam Matthew and is available on eastindiacompany.amdigital. co.uk from subscribing academic institutions and at the British Library itself. Crucially, correspondence, trading journals, wills, minutes and ledgers are all searchable by name, thanks to optical character recognition. Some of the content goes up to 1947, so it is worth searching even for ancestors who didn’t work for the EIC.
Also, the library’s own British India index can be searched for free at india family.bl.uk/ui/home.aspx.
There was no compulsory civil registration of births, marriages and deaths in India, so family historians need to rely on church records for vital events. Copies were made of some of the surviving registers, which are held at the British Library and are on findmy past.co.uk in its British India Office collection; familysearch.org has a free index. The collection includes baptisms, marriages, pensions, burials and wills.
Findmypast also has a British in India collection created using index cards from the Society of Genealogists that can be rich in family history detail. In addition, Scottish overseas records can be searched at scotlandspeople.gov.uk.
Many registers have been retained by churches in India. Family historians who visit the country often contact churches and cemeteries in advance via their websites, to check whether they can access records on their trip.
Military Records
Most Britons in India served in the armed forces. Under Company Rule, these included the EIC’s armies in Bengal, Bombay and Madras. During the Raj, these armies were consolidated under the Indian Army. Records for the EIC’s armies and the Indian Army are held at the British Library, and many have been digitised on Findmypast.
In addition, the British Army itself had a presence in India at times. Most records relating to the Army
are held at The National Archives in Kew. See its online catalogue Discovery and related research guides for full details: discovery. nationalarchives.gov.uk.
State and private railways were major employers of Britons and Anglo-Indians across the subcontinent. Most records of staff remained with the respective railway company. A number of them are now included in the British Library’s India Office Records collection. For more general information on the country’s railways, see the Indian Railways Fan Club website at irfca.org.
Any researcher with ancestors in British India should consider entering the names, places and employers (such as a tea company) into the British Library’s online catalogue ( searcharchives.bl.uk). This will help to identify what the library may hold in the way of manuscripts and unpublished documents, including personal papers, correspondence and diaries; drawings and paintings; and contemporary photographs.
Newspaper sites are also essential tools for tracing the lives of ancestors on the subcontinent. Missing vital events may be found in the announcements columns, and you may discover details of the ships in which your family sailed, places they lived, and events in which they may have been involved. The Families in British India Society (FIBIS) has a large database that includes arrivals and other announcements from a range of Indian newspapers including the Times of India and the Bombay Times: search.fibis.org.
British newspapers may also be relevant. Most library users can access The Times’ online archive at thetimes. co.uk/archive through their council library’s website, and Welsh Newspapers Online ( newspapers.library.wales) is another free resource, but the most comprehensive site is that of the British Newspaper
Archive britishnewspaper archive.co.uk (also available to Pro-level subscribers to Findmypast).
The most popular and accessible resource in India is probably that of the National Archives of India in New Delhi: nationalarchives.nic. in. Note that the Punjab Archives ( punjab.gov.pk/s_and_ gad_archives_wing) in Lahore has recently embarked on a major digitisation programme.
In addition, a broad list of useful weblinks can be found in the Cyndi’s List Asia directory: cyndislist.com/asia.
Finally, if you are serious about researching your family in British India, you should consider joining
FIBIS. Membership costs from £15 a year, and for that you get a range of benefits including access to research advice and members-only data. The society’s website fibis.org is packed with valuable information even if you are not a member, including Fibiwiki, an encyclopedia about life in British India.
‘Newspaper sites are essential tools for tracing lives on the subcontinent’