ONLINE RESOURCES
India Office Family History Search (c.1600-1949)
http://indiafamily.bl.uk/UI/
Transcribed birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records from the British Library's India Office Records (mainly for British and European people in India). Once references have been located in this index, copies of many of the records can be ordered to be viewed at LDS Family History Centers (for a small fee).
Families in British India Society (FIBIS)
http://www.fibis.org/
Excellent website for those researching family of British or Anglo-Indian descent who lived or served in India and surrounds from 1600 to 1947. Includes many free searchable databases. Also includes copious research advice, including information about:
Indian Cemeteries
http://www.indian-cemeteries.org/
Records/transcriptions from historic cemeteries in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma
Moving Here: Tracing Your Roots: South Asian Roots
http://www.movinghere.org.uk/galleries/roots/asian/asian.htm
Detailed research guide focusing on South Asians (people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka) who immigrated to the UK, and on Anglo Indians. Also includes advice about records available outside of the UK.
Tracing your Asian roots on the Indian subcontinent
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/next_steps/researchplaces_01.shtml
Includes information about records in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Discusses some obstacles to accessing information
Ancestry Library Edition
http://www.ancestrylibrary.com/
Only accessible in the Library, or with a personal subscription.
Includes:
The East India Register & Directory, 1844
Thacker's Indian Directory, 1895 (includes 'Alphabetical List of Residents in the Cities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, and throughout the Indian Empire')
Goan records
Note that Goa was under Portuguese control until the early 1960s. As such 'British Indian' records are not relevant. It is difficult to determine what, if any records are available. The following websites may hold some clues:
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Goa_Church_Records (available at Mormon Family History Centres in Australia)
http://www.wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Goa
'It would help if you knew the taluka/desa - Bardez, Ilhas (Tiswad) or Salsette, and the village and even better the ward (Vaddo).
BOOKS
Glimpses of India: An Annotated Bibliography of Published Personal Writings by Englishmen, 1583-1947
Who Was Who in British India
Sources for the Study of British India in the State Library of Victoria (Library Council of Victoria, 1977). This work of 74 pages seemed to be the beginning of a larger project, as it was marked ‘Part 1’ and was devoted to ‘Serials’.
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Peter Bailey
Tracing soldiers in the East India Company armies
Family Tree Magazine (October 2007, pages 26-29)
Details the 8 most useful sets of records for researching soldiers and non-commissioned officers in the East India Company armies. These records are held by the British Library.
An article in the previous issue of this magazine details how to research officers in these armies.
John Dunham
‘The British India Holdings of the State Library of Victoria’
La Trobe Journal (no.16, October 1975, pages 77-88)
LT994.005 LA3
http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-16/t1-g-t1.html
Sylvia C M Murphy
Sahibs, nabobs and boxwallahs: the British in India 1600-1947
The border and beyond: papers from the 7th Victorian Family History State Conference
Mulwala/Yarrawonga, 2010
Available on CD-ROM. Jenny B is organising for a copy to be printed, bound and placed on open access. Anne B has a printed copy.
Gives a useful summary of key resources to start your research with. Discusses the types of occupations that people were employed in, and how to understand the terminology associated with these occupations or positions in society.
DVD
Who Do You Think You Are (UK Series 1) included an episode about Indo-British comedienne, writer and actress Meera Syal. Syal's family came from the Punjab, and this episode provides a fascinating introduction to locating Indian records:
'In India it is difficult to trace your ancestry through documents like birth certificates, in the way that you can in the United Kingdom, but instead Indian family records are kept at shrines in the country's many holy cities. It is in the ancient city of Haridwar, on the riverbanks of the Ganges, that a Hindu priest is responsible for preserving the genealogy of the Syals, in a book called a Bah. It was in this book that Meera found that the Syals have been living in Lasara for the past 250 years.' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/wdytya_s1_celeb_gallery_09.shtml)
This series is widely available at local libraries, on DVD.
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