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.
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Military records very are useful in providing details of people's life and history. Although the records can vary from person to person, the military records can usually tell you dates and places of birth, next of kin, and in some cases a physical description of your ancestor. They can be useful for verifying facts that you have already discovered, but be careful as sometimes people lied about their age in order to sign up.
There were three separate armies operating on the subcontinent at one time. The Honourable East India Company (HEIC) Army was the military arm of the East India Company and most of its troops were Indian. British Army troops were also stationed in India and there was a separate British Indian Army which included both British and Indian troops. Until 1859, the Honourable East India Company Army and the British Army were entirely separate and their records were stored separately. The HEIC Army was abolished in 1859, and its regiments were subsumed into the Indian Army.
Before you start to trace the military records of your ancestors, you need to have an idea of the regiment in which they served, as well as whether they served in the Indian, HEIC or British Army.
If you think your ancestor was in the Indian Army, the personnel and service records are held in The National Archives of India. You can also consult the Indian Army List, available at The National Archives. This lists the names of various ranks of the Indian Army. Both British and Indian troops served in the Indian Army and many hundreds of thousands served and died in the two World Wars.
If your ancestor served in the HEIC Army, records are held in the British Library's India Office Records. As with most service records, the details contained in them can vary from person to person, but you will usually be able to find out the rank, regiment and date of birth of the person you are looking for.
If your ancestor was a soldier of the British Army (not the HEIC Army), The National Archives also holds some records of those who served in the military in India in record series WO120. These are pension records of men who were soldiers of the British Army who were pensioned off between 1800 and 1857. The service records of British-born Indians are also held here in WO97. However, these are for soldiers only, as Indians were not permitted to serve as officers. When conscription was introduced during the First World War, Indians living in Britain were not called up for compulsory service.
If you know which regiment your ancestor served with in the British Army, you may be able to get hold of the regimental history of his unit. The National Army Museum holds some of these histories. The museum is located at Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, SW3 4HT Tel: +44 (0) 20 7730 0717
http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/
There are also links to information about regiments on the Family History in India website. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/regiments.ht
m
War Diaries, or Campaign Records, for the British Army are held in The National Archives, Kew, and although they rarely mention individuals, they can give an interesting insight into the movements of specific regiments on a daily basis.
The Indian Military Historical Society is a UK-based organisation interested in military history of the Indian Armies and the British Army in India.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/imhs.htm
The Indian Order of Merit was introduced by the East India Company for its native Indian troops in 1837. It was first called the Order of Merit and was later known as Imperial Order of Merit. Information relating to medals awarded to Indian troops for distinguished service is held by the British Library.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/oiocfamilyhistory/fa
milyindianofficer2.html
Indians have been employed on European ships for centuries. The British East India Company recruited seamen from Yemen, Gujarat, Assam and Bengal. Known by the British as 'Lascars', a number of these men settled in port towns and cities in Britain. By 1842, it is thought that 3000 Lascars were visiting the UK each year.
Lascars worked on ships travelling between India and Britain as well as on other routes. They served on British ships under 'lascar' agreements, which meant they could be transferred from one ship to another and retained in service for up to three years at a time. A lascar could be a sailor or a servant, typically employed by British military officers. Lascars were still serving on British ships during the Second World War.
The British Library and National Archives hold a range of interesting information about lascars, as does Moving Here. You can also read transcripts of a number of historical documents relating to lascars on a dedicated site.
If your ancestor served in the British Royal Navy, you can find these records at The National Archives, Kew. Registration of naval ratings was centralised in 1853, and The National Archives has records available from 1853 to 1923. There is an index to service numbers in ADM 139, and from this, you can access the records in ADM 188 (they are arranged by service number). After 1923 the records are held at the Ministry of Defence and are not on open access to the public.
Until 1928, only Europeans were permitted to be officers of the Royal India Navy. The Service Records of Royal India Navy personnel are held at the National Archives of India. Further information about Indian maritime history is available on the British Library's website.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/oiocfamilyhistory/fa
milymaritime.html
If you had an ancestor who served in the British Merchant Navy, you can trace these records at The National Archives, Kew. Before 1835 the records are hard to trace, but from 1835-1857 you will find the records in the registers of seamen. These are listed by date under BT112, BT113, BT114, BT116 and BT120. The entries are arranged alphabetically and give date and place of birth, as well as a physical description.
From 1857-1913 there was no official registration of Merchant Seamen, but you can trace the service records from 1913-1941 in BT350 and BT364. However, unfortunately there are few surviving records for the years 1913 to 1920.
If your ancestor served in the Merchant Navy after 1941, you may be able to find the seaman's pouch in BT372. The pouch usually contains lots of detail, including a physical description, date and place of birth as well as a photo or fingerprint. These records have been indexed by name, and you can search the online catalogue to see if the record survives
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue
If you think your ancestor was in the Indian Air Force, the personnel and service records are held in The National Archives of India.
