Newspapers and journals online

This page contains links to online editions of historical newspapers and periodicals that are of use to the British India family historian. Many of the books are from the Google Books website.

See also

• Newspapers & magazines reading list
• Directories
• Military periodicals online
• Subscription websites-online newspapers, journals and directories
• Newspapers

Alexander's East India and Colonial Magazine

Originally Alexander's East India Magazine or East India Magazine : and Colonial and Commercial Journal c 1830. Then called Alexander’s East India and Colonial Magazine, and subsequently East India Magazine and Colonial and Commercial Journal.

Nov-Dec 1834 *

Volume IX Jan-June 1835

Vol X July-Dec 1835

* Contents at the back of the book. Google Books

The following volumes are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, with mirror editions on Archive.org.

• Alexander's East India Magazine, and Colonial And Commercial Journal Volume 7, January-June 1834.Pdf download, Archive.org version.
• The East India And Colonial Magazine Vol 11, Vol 12 1836. Pdf download, Archive.org version. Note: Poor quality text/filming.
• Alexander's East India and Colonial Magazine Volume 13, January-June 1837. Pdf download, Archive.org version.
• East India And Colonial Magazine Vol. 14 (1837). Pdf download, Archive.org version.

Allen's Indian Mail

Where there are two volumes in a year, the index is generally in the first volume, although there is no index for 1860, 1862, 1868 (missing volume) or 1872. The volume for January 1872 contains an index, but it is actually in respect of the year 1871.

Vol 1, 1843	Vol 1, 1844 from page 257	Vol 3, 1845	Vol 4, 1846	Vol 5, 1847
Vol 6, 1848	Vol 7, 1849	Vol 8, 1850	Vol 9, 1851	Vol 10, 1852
Vol 11, 1853	Vol 12, 1854	Vol 13, 1855	Vol 14, 1856	Vol 15, 1857
. Vol 16, 19 Aug to 20 Dec 1858	Vol 17, Jan-June 1859 Vol 17, July-Dec 1859	Vol 18, Jan-June 1860 Vol 18, July-Dec 1860	Vol 19, Jan-June 1861 Vol 19, July –Dec 1861	Vol 20, Jan-June 1862 Vol 20, July-Dec 1862
Vol 21, Jan-June 1863 Vol 21, July -Dec 1863	Vol 22, Jan-June 1864 Vol 22, July-Dec 1864	Vol 23, Jan –June 1865 Vol 23, July-Dec 1865	Vol 24 , Jan-June 1866 Vol 24, July-Dec 1866	Vol 25, Jan-June 1867 Vol 25, July-Dec 1867
. Vol 26, July –Dec 1868	Vol 27, Jan-June 1869 Vol 27, July –Dec 1869	Vol 28, Jan-June 1870 Vol 28, July-Dec 1870	Vol 29 Jan-June 1871 Vol 29 July-Dec 1871 1871 Index	Vol 30 Jan-June 1872# Vol 30 July-Dec 1872
Vol 31 Jan-June 1873 Vol 31 July-Dec 1873	Vol 32 Jan-June 1874 Vol 32 July-Dec 1874	Vol 33 Jan-June 1875 Vol 33 July-Dec 1875	Vol 34 Jan-June 1876 Vol 34 July-Dec 1876	Vol 35 Jan-June 1877 Vol 35 July-Dec 1877

#Incorrectly contains "Index" for Volume 29, 1871 and is catalogued by Google Books as 1871, but is actually the volume for 1872.

Also see Indian News and Chronicle of Eastern Affairs below.

Asiatic Annual Register

Vol 1, 1799	1799 (2nd ed)	Vol 2, 1800	Vol 3, 1801	Vol 4, 1802
Vol 5, 1803	Vol 6, 1804	Vol 7, 1805	Vol 8, 1806	1806 (pt 2)
Vol 9, 1807	Vol 10, 1808	Vol 11, 1809	Vol 12, 1810-11

Asiatic Journal

See the separate list of editions of the Asiatic Journal.

Asiatic Review

Published in England. The title varied over time: 1886-1890 Asiatic Quarterly Review; 1891-1912 Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record. Beginning April 1895, the Proceedings of the East India Association are also included; 1913 Asiatic Quarterly Review; 1914-1952 Asiatic Review.

Volume III January -April 1887, Contents	New Series Volume III January-April 1892, Contents	New Series Volume V January-April 1893, Contents
New Series: Volume VII January and April 1894, Contents	Third Series: Volume I January-April 1896 Contents	Third Series Volume IX January-April 1900, Contents
Third Series: Volume XV January-April 1903, Contents	Third Series: Volume XVI July-Oct 1903, Contents	Third Series: Volume XIX Jan-April 1905, Contents
Third Series: Volume XXVI July-October 1908, Contents

Archive.org

Many editions between 1886 and 1948 are available to read online on the Digital Library of India website, with
Mirror editions available on Archive.org.

Bengal Catholic Herald

Available on Google Books
The Bengal Catholic Expositor

Volume 1 1839

Volume 2 1840

Volume 3 1840

The Bengal Catholic Expositor was replaced by the Catholic Herald (published in Calcutta) which in turn was replaced by the Bengal Catholic Herald

Bengal Catholic Herald

Volume 1 1841	Volume 2 1842	Volume 3 1842	Volume 4 1843	Volume 5 1843
Volume 6 1844	Volume 7 1844	Volume 8 1845	Volume 9 1845	Volume 10 1846

The following editions are available as pdf downloads on the Digital Library of India.

Volume 11, 1846; Volume 15, 1848; Volume 16, 1850; Volume 17, 1850; Volume 18 1850

Volumes 20, 21, 1851, Volume 22, 1852; Volume 23, 1852; Volume 24, 1853; Volume 25, 1853, July-December

Further editions to 1864, and editions of earlier publications from 1839 are available on the subscription website "19th Century UK Periodicals".

Bengal Hurkaru

Bengal Hurkaru began as a weekly paper, moving to daily publication on April 29, 1819. Bengal Hurkaru: Issues from 1805, 1819, 1828-29, 1834 World Digital Library, a project of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society

See separate page Bengal, Past and Present, Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society

Bombay Quarterly Review

Vol 1 1855

Vol 2 1855

Vol 3 1856

Vol 4 1856

Vol 5 1857

Vol 6 1857

Vol 7 1858

Calcutta Annual Register

1821

Calcutta Christian Observer

Printed at Baptist Mission Press, Circular Road, Calcutta. Volumes 1-5 include listings of births, marriages, deaths, however the later volumes seem to be limited to missionaries etc. Available to view or download on Google Books.

Vol 1, June-Dec 1832	Vol 2, Jan-Dec 1833	Vol 3, Jan-Dec 1834	Vol 4, Jan- Dec 1835	Vol 5, Jan-Dec 1836
Vol 6, Jan-Dec 1837	Vol 7, Jan-Dec 1838	Vol 8, Jan –Dec 1839	Vol 1, New Series, Jan-Dec 1840

Calcutta Gazette

• The Calcutta Gazette was one of the official newspapers of the Government of India and its provincial governments, where official information was ‘gazetted’. Available on the Digital Library of India website for the years 1846 and 1872 to post independence (broken series). These volumes may be read online, but the volumes are not searchable. Some volumes, 1846 and 1872- 1942 (broken series) are also available on the website "DSpace at West Bengal State Central Library" under the subject category Gazetteers as pdf files. Theoretically the pdfs are searchable, but in practice do not appear to be. For editions published during the First World War, see separate list.

Calcutta Magazine and Monthly Register

Published by Samuel Smith & Co, Calcutta. Note that page numbers in some of volumes seem not to be consecutive, perhaps due to the way they have been bound or filmed.

Vol 1-3, 1830	Vol 4-6, 1830	Vol 7-9, 1830	Vol 10-12, '1830
Vol 13-16, 1831	Vol 17-20, 1831	Vol 21-24, 1831	n/a
Vol 25-28, 1832	Vol 29-32, 1832	Vol 33-36, 1832	n/a

Calcutta Monthly Journal

Published by Samuel Smith & Co, 1 Hare Street, Calcutta

Third Series Vol 2, Jan-June 1836	July-Dec 1836
Third Series Vol 3, Jan-June 1837
Third Series Vol 4, Jan-June 1838	July-Dec 1838
Third Series Vol 5, Jan-June 1839

Calcutta Review

See the separate list of editions of the Calcutta Review.

Colonial and Asiatic Review

Published in London from 1852-53. Was previously known as Simmond's Colonial Magazine and Foreign Miscellany (1844-49) and The Colonial Magazine and East India Review (1849-52). Editions can be viewed by page on the National Library of Australia's periodical site.

Google Books and Hathi Trust have:

Vol I, Jan-Apr 1844	Vol II, May-Aug 1844	Vol III, Sept-Dec 1844	Vol IV, Jan-Apr 1845	Vol V, May-Aug 1845	Vol VI, Sept-Dec 1845
Vol VII, Jan-Apr 1846	Vol VIII, Apr-Aug 1846	Vol IX, Sept-Dec 1846	Vol X, Jan-Apr 1847	Vol XI May 1847
			Vol XVI, Jan-June 1849	Vol XVII, July-Dec 1849
Vol I, Jul-Dec 1852	Vol II, Jan-June 1853

Colonial Magazine and Commercial Maritime Journal

Published in London between 1840-42, then under the title Fisher's Colonial Magazine and Commercial Maritime Journal from 1842-43. Editions can be viewed by page on the National Library of Australia's periodical site.

Google Books and Archive.org have:

Vol I, Jan-Apr 1840	Vol II, May-Aug 1840	Vol III, Sept-Dec 1840
Vol IV, Jan-Apr 1841	Vol V, May-Aug 1841	Vol VI, Sept-Dec 1841
Vol VII, Jan-Apr 1842
Vol II, Jan-Apr 1843	Vol III, May-Aug 1843	Vol IV, Sept –Dec 1843
Vol I New Series 1844

Gazette of India

• The Gazette of India was the official newspaper of the Government of India, where official information was ‘gazetted’. Available on the Digital Library of India website for the years 1877-1922 (broken series). These volumes may be read online, in TIFF format, or as pdf downloads, see Gazette of India online. Currently the digital files do not appear searchable, however you could try the Search facility on the website. Some volumes 1877-1918 (broken series) are also available on the website "DSpace at West Bengal State Central Library" under the subject category Gazetteers as pdf files.

Hicky's Bengal Gazette or The Original Calcutta General Advertiser

• 1781 Many weekly editions from 1781. Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

India

First published as, and catalogued at the British Library as India : a journal for the discussion of Indian affairs Vol 1, no 1 (Feb 1890)-v. 55, no 1202 (14 Jan. 1921). British Committee of the Indian National Congress. UIN: BLL01013929409 . Also titled India: A Record and Review of Indian Affairs.

• India 1890-1920, broken range. Issues from 21 November 1919 have title India: The Organ of the Indian National Congress. English language monthly then weekly newspaper published in London. Proprietors, The "India" Newspaper Company, Limited, alternately called the India News Agency. digital.soas.ac.uk.

Indian News and Chronicle of Eastern Affairs

The British Library has holdings for 11 June 1840-27 July 1858. It was then incorporated into Allen's Indian Mail.

1848	1849	1850	1851	1852
1854^	1855	1856	1857	1858

^ From the Bavarian State Library website

London and China Telegraph

The London and China Telegraph. Published in London. Covers China, Hong Kong, Japan, Straits Settlements (Singapore, Penang), Batavia and perhaps a wider area. One weekly issue (13 Jan. 1860) included notices for two deaths in India, and one in Alexandria, perhaps an indication for the rest of the series. There are two series of digitisations, both on Google Books, one from the Bavarian State Library, the other from Cornell University, the latter labelled A. Links for both series are provided, in case the content or digitisation quality varies.

1860	1861	1863	1864	1865
1866	1867 1867 A	1868 1868 A	1869 1869 A	1870 A
1871 1871 A	1872 1872 A	1873 1873 A	1874: Jan-June 1874: July-Dec 1874 to Dec. A	1875 to Dec. 1875 to Oct. A

Madras Courier

• Multiple editions of the Madras Courier are available on the Tamil Digital Library, category Periodicals. Currently (2018/12/15), there are 417 editions but unfortunately it is not possible to easily locate them. Publications for the years 1793, 1795, 1797, 1803, 1805-1814, have been noted, although it is possible there are additional years. Currently, from the Search, first click on E (for English) at the top of the webpage, click on Periodicals, then use the search term Madras Courier. You should be presented with a list of thumbnail book covers. Hover your mouse to see the titles. Alternatively use the Advanced Search, ensure Periodicals are the selected option, and use the search term Madras Courier as the title. A list will be presented currently 417. If you leave the number of items per search result page as 10, you are then able to click on the tab 'Select Volume' to view the editions included - (if you select more results per page, you are still only presented with a list of 10 editions). Searching by keywords does not appear to be successful. For a name search try a Google search: Name of interest site:tamildigitallibrary.in. Note however the underlying text may be poor quality, with small font size, so OCR searching may also be of poor quality. The online Tamil Virtual Library viewer has the facility to use your full computer screen. Marriage, birth and death noticed were noted on the front page of Volume XXV (25) Number 1249 September 13 1809.
• Madras Courier January 12 1819 Archive.org. It is recommended that the newspaper be read using the single page option. Some of the pages are torn and incomplete.

Naval & Military Gazette and East India and Colonial Chronicle

• Naval and Military Gazette and East India and Colonial Chronicle. The earlier title of the publication following.

1839: Jan.-Dec. Note, title page says 1838, but content is for 1839; 1844: Jan.-July Very poor quality. Archive.org; 6 issues (weekly), 15 Jan-19 Feb 1853 wellcomelibrary.org

• Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service is available on findmypast, category "Newspapers & periodicals", with the same contents also available on the British Newspaper Archive, both pay websites. The date range is Saturday 09 February 1833 to Wednesday 17 February 1886, with issues 1833-1846, 1860-1886, with details on a BNA page. It is possible to browse individual editions on BNA, in addition to searching, whereas the findmypast editions appear to be browsable only if you have a search result.

Oriental Magazine, and Calcutta Review

Volume 1, Jan-June 1823

Volume 2, July-December 1823

Oriental Herald and Colonial Review

Jan-April 1824	May-Aug 1824	Sept-Dec 1824	n/a
Jan-March 1825	Apr-June 1825	July-Sept 1825	Oct-Dec 1825
Jan-March 1826	Apr-June 1826	July-Sept 1826	Oct-Dec 1826
Jan-March 1827	Apr-June 1827	July-Sept 1827	Oct-Dec 1827
Jan-March 1828	Apr-June 1828	July-Sept 1828	Oct-Dec 1828
Jan-March 1829	Apr-June1829	July-Sept 1829	Oct-Dec 1829

Parbury's Oriental Herald and Colonial Intelligencer

Published by Parbury & Co. London (Later, from 1839, became Madden & Co).

Vol 2, July-Dec 1838

Vol 3, Jan-June 1839

Vol 4, July-Dec 1839

Pioneer Mail and Indian Weekly News

Printed weekly at Allahabad. Each weekly edition is separately numbered.

• No. 27, Volume 47. Friday July 2, 1920 to Friday December 31, 1920 Google Books
  • Contains a BMD section each week, for example July 9, 1920, page 45

Quarterly Oriental Magazine, Review and Register

Published by Thacker & Co, Calcutta.

	Mar/Jun 1824
Jan/Jun 1825	Jul/Dec 1825
Jan/Jun 1826	Jul/Dec 1826
Jan/Jun 1827	Jul/Dec 1827

Pay websites

• findmypast - British Newspapers and Irish Newspapers are available to individuals with a Pro subscription (previously called World subscription, or the top subscription) but not via library and community subscriptions. (Previously British newspapers were also available with the British subscription, but this no longer applies). The newspapers are from the collection of the British Library and are the same newspapers as are included in the British Newspaper Archive see next item. The date ranges for the newspapers are not listed on findmypast, but are listed on the BNA. The Search may be better on the BNA, (BNA says it is "more sophisticated") and some people are known to search on the BNA, and then access the images on findmypast.
• British Newspaper Archive, a findmypast company, is a pay site, with newspapers from the collection of the British Library. The majority of the newspapers were published 1830-1950 and now includes some Irish newspapers. However the website does include some published pre 1800 and some post 1950, with details on this list of publications .This website may also be accessed (free) from the British Library Reading Rooms.
• Newspaper Archive is an American pay website which includes British newspapers and other publications. British newspapers may include information about people and events in India. A researcher found the newspaper Week's News contained B,M,D announcements for India. The following volumes with a (probable) India connection were noted, all published in Britain:
  • Allen’s Indian Mail to 1870, but excluding January to April 9th 1868.
  • Asiatick Miscellany 1785-1786
  • British And Colonial Weekly Register 1824
  • British Foreign And Colonial Journal 1823-1824
  • British And Indian Observer 1889-1890
  • British Indian Advocate 1841-1842
  • Calcutta Chronicle 1788
  • Colonies And India 1877-1898
  • India Gazette 1790
• Irish Newspaper Archives is a pay site also available as a subscription website through subscribing libraries. Currently (October 2012) it contains 23 titles, mainly from the 1900s, but with some earlier publications dating back to the 1700s. This website may also be accessed (free) from the British Library Reading Rooms.
• The Times Digital Archive, refer next section is also available to those with a current Times subscription

Websites Accessible by participating Library Cardholders

There are seven sites which contain online newspapers, journals, directories etc, published in India. These websites, and additional websites, may also contain newspapers etc published in Britain which contain references to people and events in India.

Apart from minor exceptions, the access is restricted to Library Card holders of participating libraries, including the following National Libraries (noting there is generally a residential requirement): Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, State Library of NSW, and many University Libraries. Most of the websites may also be accessed (free) from the British Library Reading Rooms.

The sites are

• Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
• Eighteenth Century Journals, Newspapers and Periodicals c 1685-1815
• 19th Century UK Periodicals
• The Making of the Modern World

The Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature 1450-1850

• Proquest Historical Newspapers, Times of India option
• South Asian Newspapers, 1864-1922
• 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers

Other British publications

• The Times Digital Archive 1785-1985
• 19th Century British Library Newspapers
• Illustrated London News Historical Archive 1842-2003
• House of Commons Parliamentary Papers 1801-2008
• Irish Newspaper Archives

For details about the publications published in India included in these seven sites, and more details about the sites containing British publications, refer Subscription websites-online newspapers, journals and directories