Family Tree
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YourGenealogyProblemsSolved
T
hereareseveralonlinearchives
containi nginformationonBritons
whoworkedandlivedinI ndia
whileitw asunderBriti shimpe rialrule.
Theplac etos tartiswithFindmypast’s
(FMP)exclusive‘BritishinIndia’
collection ,whichspans1698 to1947.It’s
beenproduce dinpartnershipwiththe
BritishLibraryandisa fullyindexed
archiveofa round2.7millionrecords.
Narrow your searchtosix sets
FMP’scollection comprises 18recordsets
intotal.Afterloggingintoyouraccou nt,
goto(www.snipca.com/40409)toview
thefulllis t.Thevastbulkoftherecords
–around2.4million–arecontainedin
sixsets,coveringbirths/bapt isms,
marriages,deaths/burials,wills/probate,
armyandnavypensions,andEastIndia
CompanyandCivilServicepensi ons.
To searchallsixsets,visitwww.snipca.
com/40410thenen teryourancestor’s
surnam eintothe‘Lastname’field–you’ll
immediatelyseethe‘View2,424,
Results’buttonchang etor evealthe
numb erofmatches(110^1 inour
screenshotaboveright).Ifthat’stoo
many,usetheother fieldston arrow
resultsfurther usingcriterialikefirst
name^2 ,andyearofbi rth^3 anddeath^4.
Oncedone,clickthe‘View... Results’
buttontoseeasummaryofnames,birth
anddeath years(ifrecorde d)andtheyear
recordsetstoo,includingnewspapers,
direc toriesandgraveinscri ptions.Mostof
theFiBISrecordsarefreetoaccess,with
onlyasmallselectionof records
restrict edtomembersoft hesociety
(membershi pcosts£12peryear).
ForcesWarRecords(www.forces-war-
records.co .uk)provides detailed military
historiesformanyIndianunitsfighting
inbothworldwarsalongwithindividual
records.Ancestryhassomeuseful
recordstoo.Gotowww.snipca.
com/40413toviewitsdocu ments,
including650,000employmentrecords
fortheEastIndiaCompanyandIndia
Office.
Finally, ifyourancestorfoughtont he
MesopotamianFrontinWorld WarI,as
my great-grandfatherPercyPink did,
theymayhavetakenleaveinIndiaat
somepoint.IhavetwophotosofPercy
takenata picnicpartyinLando ur,
norther nIndia,on10August1918.By
checkinghisservicerecordonA ncestry
(www.snipca.com/40416),Idiscovered
hearr ivedinIndiaatBombay(see
screenshotbelow)andthathisvisitwas
partoftwomonths’leavegrantedfrom
JulytoSeptember1918.
oftherecord,aswellasde tailsof
therecordsetit self.Totheright
you’llseebuttonstoviewa
transcri ptand–ifavailable–an
imageoft heoriginalrecord,whichoften
contains moredatathanthetranscri pt.
Onerestrictionisthatinformation
frombi rthrecordsafter1915isli mitedin
acco rdancewithdata-protectionla ws.If
youfindyourancestoramongthesela tter
records,you’llseefewerdetailsandthere
won’tbeanoriginalimage.You’llneedto
visittheBritishLibraryinperson (see
http://www.snipca.com/40411fordetails)to
obtainthese.Somerecordsmaycontain
abbreviation sandot hertechnic alterms
you’renotfamiliarwi th–visitwww.snipca.
com/40412forane xcelle ntglossaryof terms.
Search ‘FamiliesinBritish
IndiaSociety’database
Anothe rgoodresourceistheFamiliesin
BritishIndiaSociety(FiBIS),whichoffers
afreeonlinedatabase(https://fibis.
ourarchives.online)ofo ver2million
records.Youcanse archthemby
surnam e,orbyclicki ngthe‘Advanced’
linktoa ddse archtermsincludingna me,
place andyearrange.
Somerecordsmay overlapwithFMP’s
collections ,butther earemany additional
Doanygenealogyprogram shavetools
thatcancolouris eoldphotos?
Alex Stewart
Theonly genealogyprogram that contains
acolourisingtool is MacFamilyTree
(www.snipca.com/4 0405 ), formacOS
only.Thereare freeonlineoptionsfor
Windowsusers, includingColorize (www.
snipca.com/3 8167 ), andMyHeritage
(www.myheritage.com/incolor), which
alsohasatoolforrestoringdamaged
photos.
Have agenealogyquestion forNick?
[email protected] with
‘GrowYourFamily Tree’inthe s ubject line.
NickPeersreve alswhich onlinerecordsshowwhether
yourance storsworkedforthe...
BritishEmpire inIndia
NickusedAncestrytoconfirmthathisgreat-
gran dfather tookleaveinIndia in
19 January–1February 2022 •Issue6 23
IfFindmypastproducestoomany
results,narr owyoursearchus ing
morespecificcriteria
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