Orphans

It should be noted that the word orphan had a wider meaning than currently applies, and included children who had lost their father, but whose mother was still alive.

Bengal Presidency

See also Bengal Military Orphan Society

Calcutta

Upper Orphan School

• Maureen Evers, "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. "Part II: parents, conditions, prospects" FIBIS Journal No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 5-14. For details of how to access these articles, see FIBIS Journals.
• The location of the Upper Orphan School is shown on the far right hand side of the 1832 Calcutta Map by J.B. Tassin. Published in Calcutta Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 011490109)
• Etching of Kidderpore House in 1794 from the British Library's Online Gallery
• Photographic print of Kidderpore House in 1851 from the British Library's Online Gallery
• Photograph: Orphan School, Calcutta by Captain R. B. Hill 1850s Metropolitan Museum of Art New York. Probably Richard Barton Hill 1835-1873, who joined the Bengal Army in 1853.
• FIBIS database: Bengal Military Orphan Society including
  • FIBIS database: Bengal Military Orphans 1798. Alphabetical list of all orphaned children of officers of the Bengal Army who had been/were in the care of the Bengal Orphan Military Society from the inception of the Society to 31 December 1798. Includes children both in England and India. Based on The Continuation or Supplement to the Code of Bengal Military Regulations by Henry Grace, pages 369-380, published 1799, with some additional remarks, probably added by Sir Patrick Cadell . The Continuation is now available online at Archive.org (added 2023/09)
  • FIBIS database: Bengal Orphan Upper School 1877-1879. A List of children from the Upper Orphans Asylum in the late eighteenth, all the nineteenth and early twentieth century. In some instances are included reports and other data submitted by the Asylum authorities, including those relating to subscribers to the Bengal Military Orphans' Society and Bengal Military Fund.
  • FIBIS database: Bengal Orphan Upper School 1820-1857 . Alphabetical list of orphaned children of officers of the Bengal Army, 1820-1857 [located in the Military >Pensions category of the database]. The data include Dates of Birth, Dates of Admission to and Discharge from the Asylum, Name of father, etc. These were orphans who had returned to Britain and whose guardians had received payment there from the Bengal Military Orphan Society. They were not physically in an Asylum, so the date of discharge from the Asylum is rather the date of discharge from the Society, when benefits were finalised, as indicated by the British Library catalogue entry “alphabetical lists of orphans, admitted to pension c 1820-c 1857, giving dates of birth, admission and discharge” These records are also now available on the pay website findmypast.
• LDS microfilm catalogue entry Bengal military orphans society, 1818-1873.The original records are available at the British Library and are in respect of Officers’ orphans. Some of these records have been transcribed by FIBIS, and are available on the FIBIS database (refer above)
• An advertisement for a teacher at the Upper Orphan School in 1789 may be seen at Calcutta schools c late 1700-Advertisements for teachers
• Rules and Regulations c 1851 concering admission. Bengal Almanc for 1851, page 483
• "Kidderpore House" page 115 Thacker's Guide to Calcutta (1906) by Rev W.K. Firminger. Archive.org

Lower Orphan School

• Maureen Evers, "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. "Part II: parents, conditions, prospects" FIBIS Journal No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 5-14. For details of how to access these articles, see FIBIS Journals.
• The location of the Lower Orphan School is shown on the far right hand side, approximately midway, of the 1832 Calcutta Map by J.B. Tassin, near the Alipore Jail. Published in Calcutta Harvard Digital Maps (HOLLIS ID 011490109)
• Etching of the Lower Orphan School at Howrah in 1794 from the British Library's Online Gallery
• Image: Military Orphan School at Howrah between pages 131-132 with some text on page 133 Bengal Past and Present Volume 52 July-December 1936 Archive.org. The location from 1785 to 1815.
• Needlework of a very high standard was produced “by the directions of Mistress Parker School Mistress in the Orphan School near Calcutta”, believed to be the Lower Orphan School, circa 1790’s. A sampler by Anne Jennings is shown in Poor Relations, page 46. Samplers & tapestry embroideries, page 35 by Marcus Bourne Huish 1913 (Archive.org) describes a group of six samplers completed in 1797, also under the supervision of Mistress Parker, with an illustration. These samplers are now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.. India List post.
• A newspaper item which names 12 children in the hospital at 28 February 1806 is shown in Orphan newspaper items
• "Table of Mortality for ages from birth to twenty years framed from the Registers of the Lower Orphan School, Calcutta" by H. T. Prinsep Esq. page 818 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 7 1838 Google Books. Includes the statement

"…the volumes which show the name of every child, the date of his admission, and the manner of his having been disposed of, are deposited in the library of the Asiatic Society…"

The Library of the Asiatic Society of Kolkata has not responded to email requests trying to clarify whether these records are still held. It seems that a personal visit to Kolkata, with recommendations sufficient to gain entry to the Library, would be necessary to attempt to clarify this matter, and perhaps then to view the records.

• Rules and Regulations c 1851 concerning admission. (Scroll down page) Bengal Almanc for 1851, page 487

Free School

• Maureen Evers, "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. "Part II: parents, conditions, prospects" FIBIS Journal No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 5-14. For details of how to access these articles, see FIBIS Journals.
• FIBIS Database: Calcutta Free School Prizes 1878 The description of these records states that there were 395 children on the school roll, of whom 130 were girls, and that there were 10 times as many applicants as places.

The Free School is now known as St Thomas' School, Kidderpore and the address is 4 Diamond Harbour Road, Kidderpore Kolkata 70023 West Bengal.

European Female Orphan Asylum

• Maureen Evers, "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. "Part II: parents, conditions, prospects" FIBIS Journal No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 5-14. For details of how to access these articles, see FIBIS Journals.
• The East India Charitable Trust is mentioned in the above article as a possible source of records. Currently (9 February 2021) a website could not be located, but there is a Facebook page.

Other

• The Catholic Male Orphanage (C.M.O.) was established in 1848 at Murghihatta, (or Murgihatta, now Murgighata), Calcutta. In June 1947 it moved to Dum Dum and was renamed St. Mary's Orphanage, Dum Dum.
• Also see Calcutta, for brief mentions of Roman Catholic and other (orphan) schools

Lawrence Military Asylum, Sanawar

See Lawrence Military Asylum

Madras Presidency

Madras city

See Orphan Schools in Madras.

Lawrence Asylum, Lovedale, near Ootacamund

See Lawrence Military Asylum

Bombay Presidency

Bombay

The Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor, Within the Government of Bombay, known as the Bombay Education Society was established in 1815. It ran schools for boys and girls, known as the Central Schools.

• Establishment in 1815 Google Books
• November 1816 First Annual report Google Books
• A Military Asylum (Fund?) was established in 1820 to which soldiers and noncommissioned officers subscribed, which provided for the admittance of orphans to the schools, which were later at Bycullah. Google Books
• 1824 Military Regulations Google Books. Subscribers to the Military Asylum could be both officers and soldiers.
• Government Allowances were paid for military children when a boarder at the Central Schools of the Bombay Education Society Google Books 1824
• Foundation stones for the Schools at Bycullah were laid in May 1825 Google Books
• The Schools were opened at Bycullah in 1826 Google Books
• 1829 Google Books
• "Report on the Measles which prevailed epidemically in the Central Schools at Byculla, during the months of December 1838, January, February and March, 1839" by C. Morehead MD, page 181 Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay Volume II 1839 Google Books. Mentions some of the sick children by name.
• Twenty Fourth Annual Report 1839 Google Books
• Twenty Fifth Annual Report 1840 Google Books History page 7 in the 1840 report.
• A description of the marriage procedure applying, possibly c 1840s, from a novel "founded on fact": Page 181 Ned Fortescue; or, Roughing it through life; a story founded on fact by E W Forrest, late Her Majesty’s Indian Army, published 1869 Archive.org. The author appears to have been in India from the early 1840s. Somewhat similar accounts are also available in respect of the Lower Orphan School, Calcutta.
• Situation c 1853 Google Books
• Situation c 1857 Google Books
• Medical History of the Central Schools, from the 1st July to the 31st December 1858, including another visitation of Measles by H. J. Carter, Esq., Surgeon, page 253 Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay, Volume IV, New Series 1857-58 Google Books
• Letters to the editor of a Bombay Newspaper 1859 Google Books
• Removal of the Military Asylum to Poona was considered in this 1864 Report Google Books
• With the foundation of the Bombay Volunteer Rifles in 1877, a Cadet Unit was established at the school, refer First Annual Report Of The Bombay Volunteer Rifles For Season 1877-78, page 36 Archive.org
• David King’s webpage states that in the early 1920’s a decision was made to move the Boarding part of the Schools away from Bombay to the cooler and healthier Deccan Plateau. In 1925 Barnes High School, named after the Venerable Archdeacon George Barnes, founder of the Bombay Education Society, was opened at Devlali. Much of the School land at Bycullah was sold . Christ Church School, Bycullah, with the parish church there, stand on part of the land given originally to the B.E.S. More details are in David King’s webpage, now archived, about Barnes High School, Devlali.
• Christ Church Byculla Wikipedia
  • FamilySearch catalogue entry microfilm number 1989672 Parish registers (baptisms, marriages), Church of North India, Christ Church, Byculla, Archdeaconry of Bombay, 1862-1996. These records are viewable on your home computer, provided you are signed in to FamilySearch.