French

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Information relating to French ancestry in India, and also to the British in France.

Principal locations

The major French possessions in India were:

• Pondicherry (Pondichéry)
• Chandernagar (Chandernagor)
• Karikal
• Mahé
• Yanaon

Brief history of the French in India

The French East India Company was formed in 1664, but it was so closely tied with the state that its fortunes rose and fell with the careers of ministers and turns of politics. It was not until after 1720 that its fortunes revived rapidly. Until this time, the the French stake in India was not great enough to warrant the English fighting over it, so the two companies declared neutrality. However, between 1720 and 1740, the French Company's trade increased to ten times its value until it was nearly half the size of the English Company. The French Company now presented an economic threat to the English Company.

This threat was exacerbated by two wholly European wars : the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1763), in which England and France were on opposite sides. The two Companies, backed by their respective states, went to war in India. The ensuing conflicts were known as the Carnatic Wars. In 1746 the French captured Madras but the British exchanged this for Cape Breton Island in North America in 1748. The French and English then fought over Indian territory, aiding rival princes and governors, until the French were soundly defeated in 1760. Pondicherry fell and the power of the French in India was effectively ended, although a brief resurgence occurred in 1782 under Admiral de Suffren. The French colonies in India remained separate from British India until Independence came in 1947 and the French voluntarily ceded its former colonies to the new Indian state.

Some Frenchmen served in the Armies of the rulers of the Princely States. For example, M. Maistre De la Tour, was the French commandant of Hyder Ali’s artillery which had "un Corps de Troupes Européennes". Refer Historical books online below.

Other examples of a French background in India are a French Huguenot who worked for the King of Oudh and a family of plantation owners in South India whose ancestor was born early 1700s in France, and then emigrated to Isle de Bourbon (now Reunion Island) , (still an overseas department of France), around 1750.

FIBIS resources

• Some indexes to Chandernagore Civil Births, Marriages and Deaths have been transcribed and are available to search. For further information see Chandernagore.
• "Under Duress: The Tiger of Mysore and his Infidel Artisans (Part 1)" by David Atkinson FIBIS Journal Number 35 (Spring 2016), pages 20-30. An account of the French artisans who laboured in the workshops of Tipu Sultan's fort at Seringapatam during the 1790s. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals.
• The French in India - Parts 1, 2 & 3" by Peter Summers FIBIS Journals Number 49, 51 & 52 - For details of how to access these articles, see FIBIS Journals.

Records

General articles:

• Birth, marriage and death records
• Non-British Ancestors

Church records

If your ancestors were baptised, married or buried in a European church in British India, then the church records should have been transcribed and sent to the capital of the Presidency, where they would later have been forwarded on to London. See Birth, marriage and death records for further information. However, your French ancestors may not have lived in British India. In this case, the church records will not be kept at the British Library.

Births, marriages and deaths in Pondichéry from 1676 to 1784. Résumé des Actes de l'État Civil de Pondichéry. Published by the Société de l'Histoire de l'Inde Française (Pondichéry) 1917-1937

Tome I, De 1676 à 1735, Tome II, De 1736 à 1760, Tome III, De 1761 à 1784 Gallicia, Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Volume III contains an alphabetical index at the end, following page 408, which appears to be in respect of the third volume only. This displays in the “Table of Contents” box.

Some church records from French India have been microfilmed by FamilySearch (LDS). More details are available in the FamilySearch Library catalogue.
Digitised microfilms may be available to view online on home computers, or else have viewing restrictions such as being only viewable at at FamilySearch Centres, refer individual microfilm catalogue entries and the Fibiwiki page FamilySearch Centres. Please take this into account when reading the information below. :

• Parish records, 1676-1777 Catholic Church. Carnatic Mission, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609811
• Parish records, 1709-1990 Catholic Church. Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609796, 1609809-1609812
• Parish records, 1815-1990 Catholic Church. Notre Dame des Anges, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609813-1609814
• Parish records, 1903-1950 Catholic Church. Saint Francis of Assisi, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609747
• Parish records, 1908-1990 Catholic Church. Sacred Heart, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609747
• Parish records, 1587-1830 Catholic Church. Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Pondicherry - microfilm nos. 1083618-1083619, 1083790-1083792, 1083779
• Parish records, 1731-1830 Catholic Church Notre-Dame, Karikal - microfilm no. 1083797
• Parish records, 1723-1825 Catholic Church Ste-Thérèse Mahé - microfilm no. 1083799
• Parish records, 1690-1830 Catholic Church St-Louis Chandernagor - microfilm no. 1764204

Civil registration

The LDS have microfilmed records of civil registration of births, marriages, deaths for French India. French Civil Registration records contain a great deal of information. The film details are:

• Karikal 1731-1854 Chandernagor 1817-1854 Pondicherry 1817-1834, 1844-1854 Mahé 1815-1854 Yanaon 1817-1854 ten-year indexes - microfilm no. 1764204
• Pondicherry 1791-1867 - microfilm nos. 1083780-1083784 and 1083793-1083795
• Karikal 1792-1864 - microfilm nos. 1083797-1083798
• Mahé 1826-1864 - microfilm no. 1083799

Update: Civil registration Births, Marriages and Deaths from French India, in addition to other French colonies, are now available online. See Archives, below.

Cemeteries

The LDS have microfilmed the book List of inscriptions on tombs or monuments in Madras possessing historical or archaeological interest by Julian James Cotton, which includes cemeteries in Pondicherry. The microfilm no. is 795967. This book is also available to read online, refer Cemeteries-Inscriptions in online books

Jean-Claude Féray has transcribed Surnames in the European Cemetery in Pondicherry. They are in the French language, but non-French speakers should be able to work out the lists. This site is now archived.

BACSA has published many transcriptions of monumental inscriptions from headstones throughout South Asia. These include the French Cemetery at Calcutta.

Military records

The LDS have 51 microfiche of the French Government's "Alphabetical list of military and civilian officers serving in the French colonies, (abt. 1659-1873)." They are microfiche no. 6002212. Catalogue entry. The records are from ANOM, refer below.

Other

• See Biographical Records (IOR O series) for records which include some men born in France, mainly indigo planters.
• There are online records available at "Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer (ANOM)", see ANOM, previously CAOM below.
• For records generally in France
  • The Departmental Archives in France provide online records, see External links below, for The French Genealogy Blog (in English) which contains links to some of the online Departmental Archives
  • FamilySearch France research page. You must be signed in to FamilySearch to view records.
  • The pay website Filae, a " prime resource for accessing French archives and tracing French ancestors". (Filae is a Partner for Latter day Saints Church members). Filae has now been purchased by the pay website MyHeritage, which now contains many French records. (MyHeritage-Library Edition is available at FamilySearch Centres and elsewhere the Filae records are stated to be included in the MyHeritage-Library Edition.)
  • The pay website Geneanet has the best collection of French Family Trees, and may be accessed for free from FamilySearch Centres in the United Kingdom only, (although in the past it appears to have been available in all countries) see Family History Center Portal FS Wiki article. (Geneanet was/is also a Partner for Latter day Saints Church members, current status unclear). See FamilySearch Centres for more details.
  • To see what is available at pay website Ancestry, use the Ancestry Card Catalogue, a listing of all record collections. You can filter by Location Europe, then by Location France to see what records are available for France.
  • Pay website Findmypast All Record Sets currently (2021/02) indicates only one small database relating to France.
  • Other sources are detailed in Searching for French Family History Records FamilySearch Blog.

Archives

ANOM, previously CAOM

The Pondicherry archives are in the "Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer (ANOM)" previously known as the "Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer" (CAOM), in the city of Aix en Provence, France. The Archive website Archives nationales d'outre-mer includes the page Établissements Français de L'Inde (This link is reached through IREL; Etat general des fonds; Fonds territoriaux) (in French). Records for Île Bourbon (Réunion), [Reunion Island] and Île de France (Île Maurice), [Mauritius], islands which have links with India, are included in those available at ANOM.

The website has a limited English language version, see link further in this section, which includes the page French India and the French East India Company. For other pages, consider Google Translate or DeepL Translator which some consider more accurate than Google.
In addition to the five Districts, mentioned above, it is advised there were eight subsidiary trading stations (factories), at Balassore, Kassimbazar, Yougdia, or Jougdia now on the seabed near Sandwip, Dacca, Patna, Masulipatnam, Calicut, Surate and Iskitipitch, otherwise called the îles Iskitippah, or the Iskitippah Islands, (although only sandbanks) probably located in the vicinity of Yanaon.

Civil registration Births, Marriages and Deaths from French India, in addition to other French colonies, are now available online, for free. The English language webpage Searches contains a link to the Digitised Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths, in addition to a People and Families Name Database. If you can't see the record images, you may need to download the latest Java software.

• ANOM English language website: Site Plan Note this seems to be an older website, and some of the internal links no longer work.
  • ANOM: Practical Information English language. Includes
    • Useful links English language. Then click on the headings Territorial; Practical information; Genealogy.
• Ulysse, ANOM's searchable database of images, including maps from the colonial period (in French).
• ANOM Wikipedia
• Easy Archive Tip on the CAOM written by Stephanie Hare in 2005. This is a Word document to download, (which you may need to locate in your downloads folder, depending on your browser), from the France page of LSE’s now archived Archives Made Easy.

Service historique de la Défense [SHD]

• Service historique de la Défense [SHD] French military archives. The military personnel archives (Centre des archives du personnel militaire (CAPM)) is at Pau. French language website.

Tracing the British in France

Records of Departments in France

Many British people with Indian connections lived in Boulogne-sur–Mer which had a large foreign population with schools, boarding houses etc catering for these residents. The online archives for Boulogne-sur-Mer are available as part of The Archives of Pas-de-Calais

Avranches in Lower Normandy was also very popular with retirees from British India.

There were three very large enclaves for British ex-pats in France: Pas de Calais, Paris and the Mediterranean coast of France and also a very large group living in Biarritz (where there was a very popular spa and casino).

For French records generally available online, see Records - Other above.

Some retirees from India also settled in the Channel Islands, particularly in Jersey.

British Records

See General Register Office. As an example, a 1917 French "Etat Civil" death certificate was seen in the RG 35 series.

Miscellaneous information

• In French, if you see a surname with the word ‘dit’ after it such as ‘Smith dit Brown’ it means Smith known as Brown. More details. (FamilySearch classifies French "dit" names as "Name variants caused by naming customs".)
• A number of the marriages at the end of the 17th century and in the 18th century in French Indian territories were between Frenchmen and women of mixed Indian-Portuguese blood.
• Use Google Translate if required for a translation of French text, or French websites, or your browser may translate automatically.

Also see

• Sardhana for a brief mention of French mercenaries.

Further reading

This book list was provided by Cathy Day from her former Family History in India website. New recommendations should be added to the recommended reading pages.

• Dictionnaire généalogique et armorial de l'Inde française, 1560-1962 by Place, Agnès de. Published in 1997 in Versailles. Also includes Mauritius and Reunion Island. Available at the British Library and at the LDS Family History Centre in Salt Lake City. "Consultation de la table des noms de famille cites" (French language). "Consultation of the table of cited surnames" which appear in this book. memodoc.com.
• Dictionnaire généalogique des familles de l'Inde-française by Lucien­ Jean Bord and Michel Gaudart de Soulages. Paperback edition (1984).
• The French in India : From Diamond Traders to Sanskrit Scholars by Rose Vincent (Editor). Hardcover edition (1990).
• Fortunes a Faire : The French in Asian Trade,1719-48 by Catherine Manning (Editor). Hardcover edition (1996).
• Indika Essays in Indo-French Relations : Essays in Indo-French Relations, 1630-1976 by Jean Marie Lafont. Hardcover edition (2000).
• French in India and Indian Nationalism by K.S. Mathew (1999).

External links

Wikipedia:

• French India
• French East India Company
• Causes for Liberation of French colonies in India

Other:

• The French Genealogy Blog (in English) which contains links to some of the online Departmental Archives. At least one Department, Côtes-d'Armor blocks access for those out of France. Includes the hint page Research Your Ancestor Through Archives on the Town about a tool available on some online Departmental Archives.
• An Ancestor From Pondichéry? The French Genealogy Blog (in English)
  • Gives links for online listings of all of the births, marriages and deaths in Pondichéry from 1676 through 1784. (see above). There is also a page which mentions a book published in India The Last Post : Inscriptions on French Graves in India by K.J.S. Chatrath, which includes Pondichéry records.
  • Compagnies des Indes > Équipages et passagers Includes a Search. "Mémoire des hommes" category "Compagnies des Indes". sga.defense.gouv.fr (in French)
• Prof. Frances Pritchett's The French
• The French Banglapedia (National Encyclopaedia of Bangladesh)
• Medicographia, Volume 31, No. 1, 2009, issue no. 98, (pdf, now archived) includes
  • "Spices, diamonds, and Ayurvedic medicine: French physicians in 17th Century Mughal India" by Christian Régnier pages 92-99 (page 93 of the pdf) and
  • "West Meets East: Pondicherry and the French East India Company" by Dominique Camus, pages 100-110 (page 101 of the pdf), both articles with coloured illustrations.
• "Colour of Fraternity: Citizenship, Race and Domicile in French India" by Adrian Carton 2004, a paper presented at Asia Examined: Proceedings of the 15th Biennial Conference of the ASAA, 2004, Canberra, Australia, now archived.
• Theses from the Department of History, University of Pondicherry from Indian ETD Repository @ INFLIBNET including
  • Trade and commerce in Pondicherry ( A. D. 1701 -1793 ) by M Manickam February 1995
  • Society and economy of the French colonies with special reference to Pondicherry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (A.D. 1674 - 1754) by Mary. A. Sr Georgia May 1996
• Mauritius
  • AMA : Association Maurice Archives Genealogy of Mauritius. French language website. Mauritius was a French colony from 1710-1810, then known as Isle de France, or Île de France.
  • Cercle de Généalogie Maurice- Rodrigues [CGMR] Mauritian Genealogy Association. English language version available
  • Mauritius: Civil Status Division Civil Registration, Government of Mauritius. The FAQ page implies birth records are available from 1861, marriage records from 1940 and death records from 1950 "subject that accurate information is provided by applicant".
• CGB : Cercle Généalogique de Bourbon. Île de la Réunion, or Reunion Island. It was previously known as Île Bourbon. It is located about 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest of Mauritius, the nearest island.
• French and Latin language and other research aids
  • Beginning French Research for Non-French Speakers 2021 RootsTech, FamilySearch. Links to three video presentations by Amberly Beck, also available on YouTube. Direct YouTube links Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
    • Part 1 recommends the pay websites Filae and Geneanet, see above under Records, Other.
  • France includes France Language and Languages which includes a Word List. FamilySearch Wiki.

  French Handwriting FamilySearch Wiki.

  • France Research With the Wiki Part 1 of 8: The France Main Page with links to a total of 8 Lessons including France Research With the Wiki Part 5 of 8: Reading Records in French and Latin FamilySearch Help Center.
  • FamilySearch Indexing Help then select "Language Resources and Handwriting Helps"/French
  • French records extraction : an instructional guide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Genealogical Department c [198-?] 171 page guide. FamilySearch Digital Library. You need to be signed in to FamilySearch to view this online guide.
  • Script Tutorial: French Documents Brigham Young University
  • Rudy Schmidt’s French Glossary of Causes of Death and other Archaic Medical Terms, now archived.
  • Latin Genealogical Word List. Some Roman Catholic records may be in Latin. Family Search (LDS) Wiki.
    • The abbreviation "L. C." stands for loco citato = in the place cited. This abbreviation sometimes appears after the mother's name. It likely means the parents live in the city/village/town where these parish records come from.

Latin Handwriting Lesson 1 with links to a series of a total of 10 Lessons. FamilySearch Help Center/Lessons

Latin For Genealogists. Note however, the records discussed are from German church registers. FamilySearch Help Center/Lessons

• Script Tutorial: Latin Documents Brigham Young University
• Rudy Schmidt’s Latin/English Glossary of Causes of Death and other Archaic Medical Terms, now archived.

• "Remembering the Bengalis who fought for France in WWI" by Stéphanie Trouillard 2014-02-25 france24.com

Historical books online

• An account of the war in India, between the English and French, on the coast of Coromandel, from 1750 to the year 1760 by Richard Owen Cambridge (1761) Google Books
• Notes on Pondicherry: or, The French in India. To which is added A sketch of the Moguls. etc by an Officer of the Madras Artillery (1845) Google Books
• History of the French in India: From the Founding of Pondichery in 1674 to the Capture of that Place in 1761 by George Bruce Malleson (1868) Google Books
• Final French Struggles in India and on the Indian Seas by George Bruce Malleson (1878) Archive.org
• A Particular Account of the European Adventurers of Hindustan 1784 to 1803 by Herbert Compton (1893) ( Benoit De Boigne (French), George Thomas, General Perron (French)) Archive.org
• Hindustan Under Free Lances, 1770-1820: Sketches of Military Adventure in Hindustan by Henry George Keene 1907 Archive.org. This book is about European adventurers, many of them French.
• Three Frenchmen in Bengal; or, The commercial ruin of the French settlements in 1757 by Samuel Charles Hill 1903 Archive.org
• John Company at Work: a study of European expansion in India in the late eighteenth century by Holden Furber. 1970 reprint of 1948 original edition. Archive.org Lending Library. Includes the English, French, Dutch, and Danish East India Companies.
• "Echoes from Old Chandernagore" page 343 Bengal Past and Present Volume 2, July 1908. Archive.org/Digital Library of India Collection. Contains some cemetery records, and a few marriage and baptism details.
• Private diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai, dubash to Joseph François Dupleix, a record of matters political, historical, social, and personal, from 1736 to 1761 published 1904 Volume 1, Volume 2 Archive.org
• Transactions in India, from the commencement of the French War in seventeen hundred and fifty-six, to the conclusion of the late peace, in seventeen hundred and eighty-three: Containing a history of the British interests in Indostan, during a period of near thirty years; distinguished by two wars with France, several revolutions and treaties of alliance, the acquisition of an extensive territory, and the administration of Governor Hastings by John Moir 1786 Google Books
• The History of Ayder Ali Khan, Nabob-Bahader: or, New Memoirs Concerning the East Indies by M. M. D. L. T. [M. Maistre De la Tour, the French commandant of Hyder Ali’s artillery] 1784 Volume 1, Volume 2. Original Edition in French Volume 1, Volume 2 1783 Google Books
• Dupleix et la défense de Pondichéry (1748) d'après les documents inédits et les archives de la famille de Dupleix by Marquis de Nazelle 1908 Archive.org Written in French.
• Correspondance du Conseil superieur de Pondichéry et de la Compagnie [des Indes]:Volume 2 1736-1738, Volume 5 1755-1759 Google Books. Written in French
• Correspondance du Conseil supérieur de Pondichéry avec le Conseil de Chandernagor Volume 2 1738-1747 1916 Archive.org. Written in French
• Hygiène des blancs, des mixtes, et des Indiens à Pondichéry by Docteur Huillet 1867 Google Books. Written in French
• "The French In India" by 'Cato' page 507 The United Service Magazine Volume 8 New Series October 1893 to April 1894 Archive.org
• French Possessions in India Handbook prepared under the direction of the Historical Section of the Foreign Office-No 77. Reprint edition. Originally published 1920 London: H.M. Stationery Office. HathiTrust Digital Library. World Digital Library version, Library of Congress.
• Archives administratives des Etablissements français de l'Inde French language, broken range from 1826-1913. gallica.bnf.fr
• Journal Officiel des Établissements Français dans l'Inde Editions from 1894 to 1937. Printed at Pondicherry. In French, with parts in an Indian language, thought to be Tamil. gallica.bnf.fr
• Digitised publications of French india published in Pondicherry These publications are currently held at the library of the French Institute in Pondicherry (FIP). British Library Endangered Archives Programme. Includes the titles above Journal Officiel des Établissements Français dans l'Inde to 1954, the title changing in 1943 to Journal officiel de l’Inde française . Also includes the series Archives administratives des Établissements français de l’Inde from 1823 continued as Bulletin des actes administratifs des Établissements français de l’Inde and then as Bulletin officiel des Établissements français de l’Inde, to 1910.
• Mauritius
  • Rough Notes of a Trip to Reunion, the Mauritius and Ceylon: With Remarks on the Eligibility as Sanitaria for Indian Invalids by Frederic J Mouat, Bengal Medical Staff 1852 Google Books
  • Blue Book of the colony of Mauritius and its dependencies [for] 1920, also containing 1921 from digital page 272. Archive.org