Trace and Tell your Family's Empire Stories
Research guide
'Moving Here' is an online resource for tracing your overseas family created by The National Archives. It contains a migration history of South Asians in Britain as well as detailed hints and tips on how to start your research, including useful contact addresses.
http://www.movinghere.org.uk/
galleries/roots/asian/countrie
s/countries.htm
Family History in India is a website for people tracing their British, European and Anglo-Indian family history. The site includes a wealth of online databases which you can search. The website has an index of over 235,000 names of Europeans who were in India during colonial times.
http://members.ozemail.com.au
/~clday/index.html
You can also use the Families in British India society website to trace British ancestors who went to India. You can join and receive their newsletter, which is aimed at anyone interested in tracing family in British India.
There are many websites that may be of use to Indians living in Britain who are interested in their heritage. For example, Non-Resident Indians Online is useful for news and current affairs. It also contains an interesting history of India and the migration of Indians around the world.
http://www.nriol.com/indiandi
aspora/indians-abroad.asp
History Talking is an online talk radio service for non-resident Indians and other South Asians and it contains a large collection of oral history. Websites such as these can help you put your findings into a worldwide context, as well as providing a background to your research.
The Registrar General for India: Office of the Registrar General, India, 2A, Mansingh Road, New Delhi-110 011, India.
The office of the Registrar General can provide information on census data. The website is a fascinating source of modern census data, including a map-building tool which enables you to discover more about current living conditions including literacy levels, housing and disability for groups in each state and district of India.
Newspapers are a great resource for tracing your ancestors, as not only will they provide you with a rich picture of life at the time, but in most cases will contain notices of births, marriages and deaths. It can be a lengthy search, but if you know dates of events then they can be very useful and reliable. ABZ Newspapers has links to newspapers from around the world, and although these mainly cover more recent history, some sites include archived stories too.
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/
india.htm
There are also a number of physical collections of records which can help you in your search. You will need to visit these in person.
The India Office Records at the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collection in the British Library.
The records contain information on East India Company servants, civil servants, Indian Army personnel and Europeans resident in pre-1947 India. Further information on the collection is contained on their website. If you are planning on visiting the British Library, make sure you phone ahead as some of the documents are held off site and take a few days to deliver.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/
orientaloffice.html
The British Library Newspaper Collection: Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5HE Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7353
The British Library holds a number of newspapers from India dating back to the 1830s.
The Gazette of India holds important genealogical information that is not always found in newspapers. The Gazette is essentially a newspaper and one was published by the government of each colony. The amount of information available in the Gazette can vary according to the date and some time periods don't hold as much information as others. The Gazette may sometimes provide important genealogical information not always found in other newspapers.
Unfortunately the Gazette is not available on the web. For much of the nineteenth century, Gazettes had no contents page and are not indexed, so be prepared to spend some time looking through these records. The British Library reference is IOR/V/11/1-359. An almost complete set of the Gazettes is available for 1864-1947.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/
indian.html
The School of Oriental and African Studies: Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG Telephone +44 (0)20 7637 2388
This is the only higher education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. It contains records relating to all aspects of Asian study, including India, and as a college of the University of London, has impressive secondary sources and collections which may be of interest. If you wish to use the collections, contact the SOAS before you go.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/library
/index.cfm?navid=1481
The National Archives of India: Director General of Archives, Janpath, New Delhi 110001 Telephone +91 11 23383436
Pre-independence census records are available for the period 1871-1923. These can be useful in establishing household relationships, dates of birth and occupations for both Indian nationals and Britons born in India. The National Archives of India was established in 1891 as the Imperial Record Department. Digitisation of some records is in progress but you will need to visit to view all records. The National Archives of India now has four regional offices at Bhopal, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Pondicherry. Full contact details for all offices are available on their website.
Browser by chapterA Royal Charter granted by Elizabeth I in 1600 ensured that The East India Company had the exclusive rights to trade in the East Indies. As a result, many traders headed east to make their fortune. The East India Company grew and by the eighteenth century was effectively running India as well as surrounding territories and trade routes.
There are two periods of British activity in India. The first is 1600-1858 when the East India Company controlled the region. From 1784-1858 the affairs and administration of the East India Company were controlled by a British government department called the Board of Control or Board of Affairs. The second is 1858-1947 when India was under British rule through the India Office.
During the days of the British Raj, much of India was governed indirectly, through local rulers, both Hindu (Maharajas) and Muslim (Nawabs). During the later days of British rule in India, increasing numbers of Indians took roles in government and the professions.
Documents relating to British activity in India are held in the India Office Records at the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collection in the British Library. The East India Company was mainly staffed by Britons, but Indian nationals were increasingly employed later in the Civil Service, so Indians living in Britain can also use these records to find information about their ancestors. The records do tend to relate more to British civil servants, but occasionally also refer to Indian nationals, so if you know your ancestor served in the government it is worth checking.
The types of records that survive include those on many classes of senior civil servant, but any information found for lower-ranking civil servants can vary.
The East India Company, 1600-1858: Records include letters of the East India Company on subjects relating to all the departments in which business was undertaken. If you are interested in a general overview of the East India Company it's worth having a look at these records. The collection also holds letters and documents relating to policy on emigration to India. These are held in series reference E/4, which covers the period 1830-1858. The best way to search these documents is through the indexes held at the British Library. The relevant index for India is Z/E/4/12-33.
The Board of Control Records 1784-1858: Again, these mainly contain correspondence. The series concerned with emigration to India is held in F/2/10-20 (Board Letter Books) and F/4/1107 - 2730 (Board's Collection). The Board's Collection papers sometimes contain enclosures to other papers in the letters from India under the East India Company records.
The files of the India Office 1880-1930: These comprise all the correspondence of the departments of the India Office with administrators in India as well as notes and minutes of officials. These can be traced using the index and registers Z/L/P&J/6/1-45.
