BRITISH INDIAN GENEALOGY What follows is a copy - scanned from a handout from the INDIA OFFICE Library, part of the BRITISH LIBRARY in LONDON. The IOL is an archive as well as a Library, and as you can see has a good deal of info on the family history of people of EUROPEAN origin born in what are now INDIA PAKISTAN AND BANGLADESH from he 18th century to 1948. THE IOL STAFF WILL NOT DO YOU RESEARCH FOR YOU - you have to go in person or get a private agent. I am distributing this to the list in the hopes that someone will find it useful. Richard Pennell History Dept Nat Univ Singapore **************************************** BRITISH INDIA GENEALOGY 18th cent to 1948 INDIA OFFICE NOTES "BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX" The biographical index, which now (November 1990) contains references to more than 300,000 people, is based upon the India Office Records N series of Ecclesiastical Returns of births/baptisms, marriages and deaths/burials. So far less than 20% of the N series (192 of 1103 volumes) has been re-indexed. The cards also include information, often in great detail, from a wide variety of other sources. A summary of the coverage is given below. Full references are available at the beginning of the Index itself. BENGAL 1713-87 (N/1/1-3) 1797-1841 (N/1/5-61) 1844-45 (N/1/66-88) 1900-01 (N/1/280-89) 1930 (N/1/522-28) 1933-38 (N/1/550-641) BURMA separate returns 1878-91 (N/1/290) late and reconstructed returns 1942-57 (N/10/6-7) MADRAS 1698-1784 (N/2/1) 1861 (N/2/42) plus marriages and burials 1680- 1703 from published sources BOMBAY separate RC returns 1842-54 (N/3/RC.1-5 complete) ST HELENA 1767-1835 (N/6/1-3 complete) Plus baptisms and deaths from consultations 1737 & 1747-66 BENKULEN (Fort Marlborough) 1760-1825 (N/7/1 complete) plus 1740-2 from consultations PENANG (Prince of Wales Island) 1799-1829 (N/8/1 complete) MACAO and WHAMPOA 1820-33 (N/9/1 complete) KUWAIT 1953-60 (N/12/6-7) Other IOR series J/1 Birth/baptismal certificates for Covenanted Civil Servants 1749- 1856 (J/1/1-90 complete) L/AG/23 Abstracts of registers of Madras Military Fund. giving Madras Army Officers' personal details, marriages and Children (L/AG/23/10/1-2 complete) L/MAR/C Birth/baptismal certificates for Indian Navy Volunteers 1838-44 (L/MAR/C/710 complete) Personal details from petitions from former seamen etc of the EIC Maritime Service 1795-1803 (L/MAR/C/779-80 complete) Certificates of age, marriage, children etc of non-officer applicants to the EIC's Poplar Fund 1810- (L/MAR/C/789- in progress) Certificates of age etc of non-officer applicants for EIC Maritime Service compensation payments 1834 (L/MAR/C/849 & 850A-G complete) L/MIL/9 Birth/baptismal certificates for Cadets appointed to the Bengal, Madras and Bombay Armies 1789-1860 (L/MIL/9/107-251 in progress) Birth/baptismal certificates for Assistant Surgeons/Surgeons appointed to the Bengal, Madras, Bombay and Indian Armies 1804-1896 (L/MIL/9/358-419 complete) Birth/baptismal certificates for Indian Army Unattached List Cadets at Sandhurst 1898-1940 (L/MIL/9l3/303-l7 in progress) Birth/baptismal certificates for Veterinary Surgeons 1826-59 (L/MIL/9/433 complete) L/MIL/12 Bombay Army Officers' marriage notifications 1860-82 (L/MIL/12/108 complete) L/MIL/15 Discharge papers of British Army soldiers transferred to the Indian Establishment 1859-61 (L/MIL/15/23-25 complete) L/PWD Birth/baptismal certificates for Indian Telegraph Dept candidates 1865-69 and 1877-78 (L/PWD/8/6 and L/PWD/2/220) Birth/baptismal certificates for Royal Indian Engineering College applicants 1871-1903 (L/PWD/8/11 O/1 Bonds and covenants 1741-98 (O/1/1-4) R/9 Marriages at Malacca 1820-24 (R/9/39/3) PUBLISHED SOURCES AJ Marriages and deaths reported in the Asiatic Journal 1816-18 & 1839-40 BENGAL OBlT Copies of/references to entries in The Bengal Obituary (Calcutta, 1848) de RP References to entries in Biographical notices of military officers and others, comp G.W. de Rhe-Philipe (Lahore, 1912) DNB References to entries in the Dictionary of National Biography to 1950. HODSON References to entries in List of Officers of the Bengal Army 1758- 1834 comp V.C.P. Hodson (London, 1927-47) PHILLIMORE References to entries in Historical records of the Survey of India to 1843, comp R.H. Phillimore (Dehra Dun, 1945-48) WwW References to entries in Who was Who Casualties by death in the Bengal Army List 1859-1889 Casualties by death in the Indian Army List 1889-1917 OTHER SOURCES BIOG FILE References to career details compiled by IOLR staff, plus newspaper obituaries, filed in alphabetical sequence and kept at the Enquiry Desk MI Information extracted from memorial inscriptions in the UK and elsewhere, recorded in the files of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is some more material from the India Office Library (British Library, London) which may be of interest to anyone who has a family member of European origin born/died/marrried in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh between 18the century and 1948c. Again the warning: you'll have to go there (or get a friend or whatever) to do the research. IOL staff are not going to do it! (Though they are vwery helpful when you DO get there) ***************************************************** INDIA OFFICE LIBRARY ECCLESIASTICAL RETURNS The Ecclesiastical Returns are contemporary copies of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials sent to London for the information of the East India Company and the India Office. THE Practice was begun by chaplains of the East India Company's principal settlements and became a regular feature of the british administration of india. The returns relate almost entirely to European and Eurasian converts; few local converts are included. THE SERIES India and Burma There are three main series for the Presidencies of Bengal 1713- 1947 (N/1), Madras 1698-1947 (N/2) and Bombay 1709-1947 (N/3) with a small number of returns from post-Independence India and Pakistan (n/4) and from the Indian States 1890-1947 (N/5) Burma is included in Bengal returns until 1936 and has a separate series (n/10) from 1937. There are separate Roman Catholic returns for each Presidency 1835- 54 (N/1/RC, N/2/RC, N/3/RC) and returns of Registrar marriages in India and Burma 1852-1911 (N/11) Other areas St Helena 1767-1835 (N/6) Fort Marlborough (Benkulen, Sumatra) 1795-1825 (n/7) Prince of Wales Island (Penang), Malacca and Singapore 1799-1829 (N/8) continued in the Bengal returns 1830-1868; for Malacca marriages 1820-24 see also (R/9/39/9) Macao and Whampoa (Canton) 1820-1833 (N/9) Kuwait 1937-1961 (N/12) Aden 1840-1948 (N/13); most of the Aden entries also appear in the Bombay returns. With the exception of the Registrar of Marriages and the Kuwait registers, only a few civil registrations are included in the returns. Dates of birth and death often appear in baptismal and burial entries. INDEXES The following series of indexes, consisting of photocopies re- arranged from the original sequence in Z/N are on open access in the Catalogue Hall. Bengal 1713-1948 Madras 1698-1948 Bombay 1709-1948 Each has separate sequences for baptisms marriages and burials. arranged roughly alphabetically and chronologically. Marriage Indexes: until 1897-1910 only the husband's name is indexed, the maiden name of the wife usually appearing alongside that of the husband. It is thus very difficult to trace a marriage in these years unless you know the husband's name. From 1897-1910 husband's and wives names are separately indexed: in Bengal indexes from 1897, in Madras from 1899 and in Bombay from 1910 Registrar marriages are shown in the main series of marriages by the abbreviation REG followed by a volume number. There is a separate volume covering 1852-1911 for Bengal, Bombay Madras and Burma which gives clear instructions for ordering the registrar volumes. Burma: 1937- : one volume for baptisms marriages and burials India and Pakistan 1948-: One volume for births/baptisms, marriages and burials.