Ancestry adds London directories and East India Company records

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added a new collection of London directories and records of interest for India - here are the descriptions:

London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61265
Source: London Directories held by the London Metropolitan Archives, London, England. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation. The City of London gives no warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or fitness for the purpose of the information provided. Images may be used only for purposes of research, private study or education. Applications for any other use should be made to London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London EC1R 0HB (email: ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk). Infringement of the above condition may result in legal action.

About London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943

This database is a collection of directories for London from 1736 to 1943. Various types of directories exist, including:

• Street: listing of residents, businesses, and tradesmen according to street address
• Commercial: includes businesses, but may also include private residences; generally an alphabetical listing of traders
• Trade: not just for businesses, but anyone with a recognized trade or profession; an alphabetical listing of trades and businesses
• Court: lists wealthy residents and government officials
• Post Office: listing of householder's names and addresses

UK, Registers of Employees of the East India Company and the India Office, 1746-1939
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=61468
Source: The Wohl Library of the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London, England, Registers of Employees of the East India company from 1707 to 1861 and the India Office from 1862 to 1947.

About These Records

The records list the employees, both civil and military, of the East India Company and later, the India Office. You may be able to find (where available):

• Name
• Military Rank
• Place of residence or military service
• Date of death
• Place of death
• Date of marriage
• Name of parents

Chris

For my genealogy guide books, visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html, whilst details of my research service are at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. Further content is also published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES.

Kabristan Archive - Ireland, Ceylon and India gravestone indexes

I came across a website earlier that was new to me, entitled The Kabristan Archives: Ireland - Ceylon - India Genealogy, which may be of interest.

Located at http://kabristan.org.uk, it has a section called the Kabristan Indexes, which carries a series of indexed cemetery transcriptions from India, Ireland, Jamaica and Sri Lanka - to access a full transcript you need to place an order at £4 per look up. The site is run by Eileen Hewson, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and area representative for Ceylon/Sri Lanka and Kashmir on behalf of the British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia.

The Irish indexes, my main interest in the site, cover counties Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Sligo, Tyrone, as well as indexes of the memorial inscriptions detailed in The Forgotten Irish - Memorials of the Raj. The details returned in the Irish indexes is name and cemetery only, but that's half the battle dealt with!

Have fun!

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.

Forthcoming Society of Genealogists events in London

From the London based Society of Genealogists (www.sog.org.uk):

The following Events will take place at the Society of Genealogists in November. To book a place online, visit our website at: http://www.sog.org.uk/books-courses/events-courses. You can also book by telephone, at the number listed below.

Sat 2 Nov 10:30-13:00 Tying Down your Immigrant Ancestor
A half-day course with Michael Gandy Cost 17.50

Sat 2 Nov 14:00-17:00 Adoption: Tracing your Birth Relatives
Adoption did not become a legal requirement until 1927, and searching for living birth family members or ancestors who were adopted (whether formally or informally) can be tricky. This workshop is designed to help you navigate the difficult path to tracing your birth relatives, please do bring your own queries along.
A half-day workshop with Jeanette King Cost 17.50

Wed 6 Nov 14:00 Tracing your Quaker Ancestors (re-scheduled from 30 Oct)
A one-hour lecture with Michael Gandy Cost 6.00

Mon 11 Nov 10:30-17:00 Genealogy for Librarians & Archivists
The specific aim of this course is to work with those in the field to enhance their knowledge and understanding of genealogy and family history. As appropriate the methods used in this course will include the use of audio-visual materials and group exercises; the active participation of those attending the course will be encouraged and hence places will be limited. The course will be equally suited to staff in libraries and record offices with little experience in the field as well as those who wish to extend their existing knowledge and understanding of the subject.
A full-day course with Else Churchill Cost 60.00

Wed 13 Nov 14:00 My Ancestor Was a Shoemaker
Shoes have been hand made since the time of the Romans. Virtually every community had its own shoemaker, whose trade was handed down from generation to generation. Manufacture on a large scale began in the civil war when they needed boots and shoes. Today shoes are manufactured en-mass or even if only as piece-work factory hands. Learn about the skills, the records and the lives of our shoemaking ancestors.
A one-hour lecture with Ian Waller Cost 6.00

Sat 23 Nov 14:00-17:00 Land Records & Muniments, Deeds, Mortgages & Inquisitions
Family historians cannot undertake ancestral research without recourse to the many and varied records relating to land. From the 1912 Domesday Survey back to the oldest medieval deeds passing enclosure, manorial documents and the use of maps on the way they contain a wealth of detail about people. Very often land records are under-used or completely ignored. Find out what you are missing out on.
A half-day course with Ian Waller Cost 17.50

Wed 27 Nov 14:00 iPhone & iPad for Family History
A one-hour lecture with John Hanson Cost 6.00

Sat 30 Nov 10:30-13:00 Debts, Debtors, Bankrupts & Bigamists
Throughout the 1700s/1800s many people, as today, got badly into debt, some unable to pay them off and often ending in gaol. Records were generated at every level and this course looks at the wealth of family history information they contain by reference to several famous and not so famous cases from all the social classes. It examines the causes and remedies and also looks at the way spouses walked out on those in debt, causing many bigamy cases to result.
A half-day course with Ian Waller Cost 17.50

Sat 30 Nov 14:00-17:00 The British Library Oriental & India Collections
We will look at the records of British India, from the early days of the East India Company in the seventeenth century, are varied and numerous: birth, marriages and deaths; East India Company employees; EIC, British and Indian Armies merchants and traders. Most of the information is to be found at the India Office Library in London, but there is material elsewhere, and increasingly so on the Internet.
A half-day course with Paul Blake Cost 17.50

(With thanks to Lori Weinstein)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

Roman Catholics in the East India Company

The Catholic History Society has an interesting post about resources that can help research Roman Catholics who served in the East India Company. The post is available at http://catholicfhs.wordpress.com/2013/07/30/roman-catholics-in-the-east-india-company/

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

East India Company at Home Project podcasts

Podcasts from the recent East India Company at Home Project conference held in London can now be found online at http://historyspot.org.uk/podcasts/histories-home/domestic-subjects-east-india-company-home-1757-1857

(With thanks to Borders Family History Society)

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

East India Company at Home day

The University of Edinburgh Library is to hold a free to attend East India Company at Home 1757-1857 project day on Friday 7th September 2012, from 11.30am-5pm.

For full details visit Borders FHS blog at http://blog.bordersfhs.org.uk/2012/07/come-to-east-india-company-at-home.html.

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Review - Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors

Pen and Sword have kindly sent me through some family history titles to review, so here goes with the first!

Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors
Emma Jolly

It was not that long ago that I discovered that I had a few connections to India. On the one hand, a cousin of my grandfather, Rev. William Paton, worked as a missionary there in the early 20th century, counting Mahatma Ghandi as one of many Indians with whom he would have regular dealings. More specifically to my own bloodline is my connection through my three times great grandfather Alexander William Halliday. Alexander's death entry in a military muster roll in 1866 pointed out that he had an Indian birth, but the person who found the actual birth record for me at the British Library was genealogist Emma Jolly.

Based in London, Emma lives and breathes British Indian research, and so as a prospective author for a title in the Pen and Sword "Tracing" series, there was no better candidate. As with other titles in the range, Emma's work very much focusses on how to get the best from the vast myriad of resources both offline and online that can help with the subject matter at hand. In that regard it is as competent as some of the best in the range, but the thing that I really like about this book is the fact that it did not just tell me about those resources, it also told me about the very history of British India itself, with some occasional and surprising gems. For one thing, I had no idea that Scotland temporarily tried to compete with the English East India Company in the east through "The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies", which lasted just a few years from 1695 (have only just twigged that this was the same company behind the Darien disaster!) For another, the colonial connections of the British Empire to China and Africa become greatly crystallised when you realise how important the role of India was as the lynchpin of that empire. It's one of the few books that I've read where I actually understand that empire.

The book is structured across ten chapters. the first provides a solid overview of the key repositories and societies that can help with your research, from the British Library and the National Library of Scotland to the Families in British India Society. The next three chapters are where the fun really begins with a comprehensive overview of the history of the East India Company and the subsequent Raj. Chapter 5 sees a full discussion on the research of military forces, both raised locally and dispatched from Britain (with Alexander Halliday and his father William making a guest appearance on p.72!). Subsequent chapters deal with maritime industries and merchants, schools, religion, the railways and more. Chapter 9 has a helpful guide to probate research in India, whilst the final chapter deals with India after 1947, and the end of the British Empire.

A thoroughly solid and enjoyable read from start to finish, this provides both a definitive history for beginners and a comprehensive family history guide for all to the greatest asset of the former British Empire.

£14.99, paperback (£10.30 through P&S - see www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-British-Indian-Ancestors/p/3356/)

(With thanks to Pen and Sword)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors

A shameless plug now for a new book out by a friend of mine!

Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors by Emma Jolly takes a look at our British connection to India, and in particular how to trace those who lived there. It's a massive subject with a lot to pack in, and there's no better person to tackle it than Emma, who has helped me with my own Indian connections in the past - one of my ancestors was stationed in Bombay in the 19th century and had two children born whilst there, for whom she brilliantly located their baptismal certs on my behalf in the British Library.

I've been looking forward to reading this, and hope to get a review copy soon from Pen and Sword - in the meantime it is now available from the company's website at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-British-Indian-Ancestors/p/3356/ - here's the cover blurb:

Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors gives a fascinating insight into the history of the subcontinent under British rule and into the lives the British led there. It also introduces the reader to the range of historical records that can be consulted in order to throw light on the experience of individuals who were connected to India over the centuries of British involvement in the country.

Emma Jolly looks at every aspect of British Indian history and at all the relevant resources. She explains the information held in the British Library India Office Records and The National Archives. She also covers the records of the armed forces, the civil service and the railways, as well as religious and probate records, and other sources available for researchers.

At the same time, she provides a concise and vivid social history of the British in India: from the early days of the East India Company, through the Mutiny and the imposition of direct British rule in the mid-nineteenth century, to the independence movement and the last days of the Raj.

Her book will help family historians put their research into an historical perspective, giving them a better understanding of the part their ancestors played in India in the past.

Should be a great read!

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

East India Company at Home project

The Families in British India (FIBIS) website has an announcement concerning a new three year long University of Warwick project entitled The East India Company at Home 1757-1857, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The project organiser is seeking participants to help with the project.

From the project leaflet at
www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ghcc/research/eicah/about/east_india_leaflet_web.pdf :

The East India Company at Home will combine the project team’s research findings with historical material and objects identified by local and family historians, curators and others, weaving together a series of connected histories – of objects, people and places – to illuminate the ways in which colonial exploits and Asian commodities shaped British material culture and social identities in the Georgian and Victorian eras.

The project will look at the effects of the East India Company's success by tracing its impact in Britain - part of the work will be an in depth look at Roxburghshire as a case study.

Further information is available at the leaflet and on the FIBIS blog post at www.new.fibis.org/archives/503.

(With thanks to @fibiswebmaster on Twitter)

Chris