British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia
The British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia (or BACSA) was established in 1976 to care for, and to record, European cemeteries wherever the East India Company operated. It has published an extensive series of books, including transcriptions of gravestones throughout India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and surrounding areas, as well as more general information on the British presence in this region.
BACSA have put indexes to the majority of their cemetery books online and these indexes are free to browse. If an indexed name is of interest then application can be made to BACSA for details of the relevant burial inscription - charges apply for this service. Many of the burials indicated in the search facility do not appear in the N Series of burials held in the British Library and this is , therefore, an invaluable supplementary resource to those records. Names on India related Monumental Inscriptions known to BACSA have also been included in the search facility - many of these being UK inscriptions.. See BACSA Search for more information.
In addition to their published material, the archive containing all of BACSA's transcripts is deposited in the private papers collection (shelf mark Mss Eur F370) at the British Library, where it may be consulted by readers. BACSA Search has details about the items contained in the BACSA Archive in the "Browse records" section, in category 1 "Cemetery files and registers" and categories 5, "Family history files" and 6, "Reference materials".
In respect of category 1 "Cemetery files and registers", the website advises "Some files contain little information. Others may include information of all kinds, for example photographs, reports and correspondence on the cemetery's condition, burial registers, copies of inscriptions, notes on individuals buried there, or descriptions of the town in which the cemetery is situated" The archive includes some card indexes/papers prepared by Lt Col H K Percy Smith (1897-1975) who also prepared the Percy Smith card index collection at the Society of Genealogists. It is also possible to browse the contents of the BACSA archive from the British Library catalogue by entering the name BACSA, or Library reference MssEurF370.
See also
- Cemeteries and monumental inscriptions reading list for a list of BACSA publications. To view the Cemetery Record books currently available, and also those out of print, go to BACSA Books and select Cemetery Record Books
- Cemeteries for more information about cemeteries generally.
External links
