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Guest blog: The British in India

By Mike Trenchard

Following on from Mike’s Journey into Genealogy podcast interview where we discussed the British in India, Mike has written a guest blog post about the East India Company, the British in India and where records can be found.

The British in India

The East India Company (EIC) was a British company founded in 1600 and wound up in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia), and later with East Asia. The company seized control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world. The EIC had its own armed forces in the form of the company’s three Presidency armies – Bengal, Madras and Bombay.

The Company traded in various items including cotton, silk, indigo, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium.

It was founded in 1600 by Royal Charter – given a monopoly on trade to the East Indies. Initially it was based on trade grown out of sea voyages and there were factories (settlements) set up on the Indian Coasts. In 1670 EIC was granted powers to raise armies and rule land it had acquired.

Three main factories were formed in Bombay, in Fort St George (which became Madras) and on the Hooghly River which became known as Calcutta.

Nabobs (EIC men who made great wealth in India) included Thomas Pitt, Robert Clive and Warren Hastings. In 1784 the UK Government passed an Act establishing the Board of Control over the EIC. The EIC lost the monopoly of trade to India in 1813 and to China in 1834. After the Indian Mutiny (or the First War of Independence) in 1857, the East India Company was replaced by the India Office in 1858 and this was the start of the British Raj.

Separation of Burma occurred in 1938 and the independence and partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. Burma became independent in 1948.

The records of the East India Company and the India Office are now housed in the British Library and can be seen in the Asian and African Reading Room. The records include:

  • Ecclesiastical Records of Baptisms, Marriages and Burials of Europeans and Anglo-Indians in India (they are also available on Findmypast).
  • Civil Pensions
  • Probate records
  • Railways
  • Civil Servants
  • Military records including:
    • Recruitment Registers
    • Depot Muster Books
    • Embarkation Registers
    • Medal Rolls
    • Transfer to the British Army after the Indian Mutiny. Records of the British Army are in the National Archives
    • Pension Records

Other Sources

Other useful sources of information are:

  • FIBIS (Families in British India Society) Membership £12-15/year.

Useful finding aids are the following:

  • Baxter’s Guide – Biographical Sources in the British Library
  • FIBIS Research Guides by Peter Bailey:
    • East India Company Armies up to the Indian Mutiny
    • o Indian Army 1858-1947
  • FIBIS Research Guide – British Ships in Indian Waters – Richard Morgan
  • FIBIS Fact Files
  • Tracing your British Indian Ancestors – Emma Jolly 2012. Kindle version available from Amazon.
  • Jute industry – Dundee University and V&A Dundee

Links to the podcast episode are on the image below.

Mike Trenchard, Fellow of the Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (AGRA)

For Indian ancestor research enquiries: mike@trenchardpartnership.co.uk and www.trenchardpartnership.co.uk and 07735988717.

Listen to the podcast interview here: journeysintogenealogy.co.uk

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