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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Indians travelled to Britain for many reasons. During British rule, most travellers were male. Many were 'lascars', or sailors, but others migrated to study, to find work, promote political causes or simply for adventure. A few women also travelled, many of whom were 'ayahs' (nannies) in the service of British families.
During the nineteenth century the British sent many Indians to other parts of the British Empire including the West Indies, Africa and Southeast Asia, as indentured workers. There are extensive records on indentured labour migration and immigration control, land settlement, racial segregation and political representation held in the India Office records at The British Library.
http://www.bl.uk/collections/pdf/indiansoverseas.
pdf
In addition, 'Moving Here' has some useful background detail about the migration of indentured labourers around the globe.
http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/roots/asia
n/migration/colonies.htm#
When India became independent in 1947, the creation of Pakistan caused migration to take place on a large scale between India and Pakistan, mainly of Muslims relocating to West Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs relocating to India. A similar migration took place on the East side of India in the Bengal region between East Pakistan (Bangladesh since 1971) and the Indian state of West Bengal. Indians had travelled to Britain for centuries but large-scale migration of Indians and Pakistanis took place in the years following independence and partition.
The National Archives keeps records of passenger lists for those leaving Britain for India from 1890-1960. To search these, it's necessary to know the departing or arriving port and the date your ancestor left Britain. The records are in series BT27, and contain names, occupations, ages, UK addresses and landing port of all passengers leaving the UK.
The National Archives also holds incoming passenger lists for 1878 to 1960 and they cover voyages from India. These details people arriving in Britain and contain the same information as the outgoing passenger lists. Again, it is necessary to know the port of arrival, and the approximate date. These are in record class BT26.
Many of these passenger lists are also available to search online. The existing online records contain the same information as you would find in the original records, but the complete set isn't currently available online. However, it is being added to all the time, and is much easier and quicker than searching the lists at The National Archives. http://www.findmypast.com/passengerListPersonSear
chStart.action
Family history societies are also making indexed passenger lists available on their websites, although the level of detail contained in the indexes varies from website to website. They are good to use if you are looking for details of a specific boat, and the lists are growing daily, but are not as complete as the registers on the 'Find My Past' website.
Passenger List of HEICS Minerva bound for Madras 1827
http://users.rootsweb.com/~indwgw/minerva.htm
Passenger List of Duke of Cornwall bound for Madras 1843
http://users.rootsweb.com/~indwgw/DC_Embark.htm
Mariners' Certificates presented in South Australia and issued in India 1897-1900
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~clday/mariners.htm
Earlier records may be found in the India Office at the British Library. These are the records for the East India Company vessels, which include any applications for passage to the East India Company Board. They are not available online, so you need to visit the library in person.
Another way to trace an individual family member's journey to Britain is to search for their naturalisation papers. Not everyone who came to Britain went through the naturalisation process, but some papers for those who did are held at The National Archives, Kew. However, these papers are not complete, so there is no guarantee that you will find the ones you are looking for. Records survive in several series, and some records will also include correspondence on individual naturalisations. The main series to search are C 54 for 1844-1873 and HO 334 for 1870-1987.
Some of the HO 334 records can be searched online. Although you can't view the individual record, you can see if one exists for your ancestor by searching by name and series (HO 334). If the document is dated 1922 or later and held by The National Archives it may not be available for public access, but you can request a review under the Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue
Records of naturalisations after 1987 are available via the Home Office Immigration and Nationality Department, and are only available to the person themselves or the next of kin. Records dating from before 1844 can be rare and complicated. The National Archives have a useful research guide which is available online.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLe
aflet.asp?sLeafletID=242
