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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Baptism certificate
India is home to many religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Islam. In the sixteenth century, Portuguese and French Catholic missionaries began to arrive in India along with European traders, and as the East India Company expanded, so did the numbers of missionaries in India.
"Family History: Cultures and Faiths", by Michael Gandy, published by the National Archives, explains how to trace Church of England, Catholic, Nonconformist, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu records, amongst others. The book explores how the lives of ancestors were shaped by faith and gives useful tips on where to start looking for useful records.
If your British ancestor was a missionary, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) holds a wealth of information relating to missionaries, their activities, and records of individual missionaries. You should be able to find the dates of enlistment, and in some cases the places that the missionaries were sent, as well as individual records containing dates and places of birth.
The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has microfilmed copies of surviving birth, christening, marriage and death records for many countries. Search the online database to locate the records. The LDS have many family history libraries all over the world, and you can order in copies of the microfilms to view in your nearest LDS family history centre. Use the website to locate your nearest centre.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frame
set_fhc.asp
The Society of Genealogists holds a collection of material from India, including copies of church records and inscriptions from Indian cemeteries. You will be able to find the date of death and name of your ancestors, including both Indians and Britons who were buried in India.
Religious records of baptisms, marriages and burials are still held locally in the relevant country, but some of the records are available in the Guildhall Library in London. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leisur
e_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_galleries/ci
ty_london_libraries/guildhall_lib.htm
There is also an extensive collection called the Bishop of London's International Memoranda. Some of these records were deposited with the General Register Office, and are now transferred to The National Archives, Kew. They can be viewed at Kew and are indexed in class RG43. The best starting point to see if The National Archives or the Guildhall Library have any relevant records is by using 'The British Overseas' by Geoffrey Yeo. You should be able to order this from your local library. This lists all sources available country by country.
