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Directories reading list: Difference between revisions
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Ian Poyntz's [[Mailing lists|Roots Mailing List]] website has more [http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poyntz/India/directories.html information on Directories] and the holdings in many libraries around the world, including the British Library. | Ian Poyntz's [[Mailing lists|Roots Mailing List]] website has more [http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~poyntz/India/directories.html information on Directories] and the holdings in many libraries around the world, including the British Library. | ||
Yearbooks and directories tend to overlap in the information they offer and for this reason both are included in this reading list. The historical summaries offered in a yearbook can provide excellent background information on a particular year to the family historian. | |||
Searching directories that are available as online books is not as accurate as it could be, usually due to the quality of the print. As an example, a search led one researcher to an item in the 1838 ''Bengal Directory''. However, when the volume was read more widely several other items of interest were found, none of which had been picked up by using the search facility. If you are looking for something specific and you do not find it this way, it pays to look in the index, say for the births, marriages and deaths, and then go through the whole section. | Searching directories that are available as online books is not as accurate as it could be, usually due to the quality of the print. As an example, a search led one researcher to an item in the 1838 ''Bengal Directory''. However, when the volume was read more widely several other items of interest were found, none of which had been picked up by using the search facility. If you are looking for something specific and you do not find it this way, it pays to look in the index, say for the births, marriages and deaths, and then go through the whole section. | ||
Note that army and naval directories are listed in the [[ | Note that army and naval directories are listed in the [[Military reading list]]. | ||
See also: | |||
*[[Newspapers & magazines reading list]] | |||
*[[Directories online]] | |||
==Guide to directories== | ==Guide to directories== | ||
* Morgan, Richard | |||
[[Image:FFF3.jpg|right]]* Morgan, Richard | |||
''Indian Directories''. London: Families in British India Society, 2009 (FIBIS fact files; 3) | ''Indian Directories''. London: Families in British India Society, 2009 (FIBIS fact files; 3) | ||
This booklet provides an invaluable guide to the printed directories available on people who lived or served in British India, with examples of the kind of information useful to family historians to be found in them. Written by Richard Morgan, whom many will know from his articles in family history journals on genealogical research relating to India, it is in his characteristically brisk and down-to-earth style, and full of practical advice on how to get the best out of these important sources. In particular he draws attention to the sometimes underestimated Thacker's Indian Directory which so often comes to the rescue when your ancestor was a 'non-official' and therefore omitted from almost all the official records. All the directories discussed are readily available at the British Library and directions are given on locating them elsewhere. (reviewed by David Blake, FIBIS Trustee) | This booklet provides an invaluable guide to the printed directories available on people who lived or served in British India, with examples of the kind of information useful to family historians to be found in them. Written by Richard Morgan, whom many will know from his articles in family history journals on genealogical research relating to India, it is in his characteristically brisk and down-to-earth style, and full of practical advice on how to get the best out of these important sources. In particular he draws attention to the sometimes underestimated Thacker's ''Indian Directory'' which so often comes to the rescue when your ancestor was a 'non-official' and therefore omitted from almost all the official records. All the directories discussed are readily available at the British Library and directions are given on locating them elsewhere. (reviewed by David Blake, FIBIS Trustee) | ||
Available from the [ | Available from the [https://www.fibis.org/store/ FIBIS Bookshop] | ||
==General Indian directories== | ==General Indian directories== | ||
* ''The Bengal or East-India calendar''. [Online version] 1795 | * ''The Bengal or East-India calendar''. [Online version] 1795 | ||
This early directory includes details for Madras, Bombay etc. and is part of a number of directories from the late 1700’s available on the website [http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/ecco/index.htm Eighteenth Century Collections Online] (ECCO- A part of Gale Digital Collections).The access is restricted to library card holders (usually residents) of participating Libraries, including the National Libraries of [http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/er/index.html Scotland], [http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=otherresourcesa-z Wales], [http://www.nli.ie/en/eresources.aspx Ireland], [http://www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/list/licenced/e Australia], [http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/databases/athome.cfm State Library of NSW], and many Universities. ECCO may also be accessed from the British Library Reading Rooms. | This early directory includes details for Madras, Bombay etc. and is part of a number of directories from the late 1700’s available on the website [http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/ecco/index.htm Eighteenth Century Collections Online] (ECCO- A part of Gale Digital Collections). The access is restricted to library card holders (usually residents) of participating Libraries, including the National Libraries of [http://www.nls.uk/catalogues/online/er/index.html Scotland], [http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=otherresourcesa-z Wales], [http://www.nli.ie/en/eresources.aspx Ireland], [http://www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/list/licenced/e Australia], [http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/databases/athome.cfm State Library of NSW], and many Universities. ECCO may also be accessed from the British Library Reading Rooms. | ||
* ''The East India kalendar; or, Asiatic register for Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Fort Marlborough, China, and St. Helena''. [Online version] 1791, 1797 | * ''The East India kalendar; or, Asiatic register for Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Fort Marlborough, China, and St. Helena''. [Online version] 1791, 1797 | ||
These very early editions of the ''East-India register'' are part of a number of directories from the late 1700’s available on the website [http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/ecco/index.htm Eighteenth Century Collections Online] (ECCO- A part of Gale Digital Collections | These very early editions of the ''East-India register'' are part of a number of directories from the late 1700’s available on the website [http://www.gale.cengage.com/DigitalCollections/products/ecco/index.htm Eighteenth Century Collections Online] (ECCO- A part of Gale Digital Collections - see note above under ''The Bengal or East-India calendar''). | ||
* ''An East-India register and directory''. [Microform] 1803-1860 | * ''An East-India register and directory''. [Microform] 1803-1860 | ||
The EIRs provide complete lists of the servants (employees) of the East India Company both at home and abroad including civilians, military and marine personnel, also Europeans and mariners with interests in India, but not in the service of the Company, for a particular year. | The EIRs provide complete lists of the servants (employees) of the East India Company both at home and abroad including civilians, military and marine personnel, also Europeans and mariners with interests in India, but not in the service of the Company, for a particular year. The EIRs were superceded by ''The India list''. | ||
The [[LDS]] (Mormon) Family Search Library has many editions from 1803 to 1860 in microfilm format listed in its [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=778871 Library Catalogue]. This [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=778871 page] from the Catalogue shows the various titles which are included in the series and will be available to view at a local [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp Family History Center] | The [[LDS]] (Mormon) Family Search Library has many editions from 1803 to 1860 in microfilm format listed in its [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=778871 Library Catalogue]. This [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=778871 page] from the Catalogue shows the various titles which are included in the series and will be available to view at a local [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp Family History Center]. | ||
* ''The East-India register and directory''. | * ''The East-India register and directory'' (Digitised editions). | ||
Fully searchable editions covering various years can be found Online. See [[Directories_online#East-India_Register|our index to volumes]]. | |||
* ''Thacker's Indian directory 1895''. | |||
* '' | **This directory can now be searched or browsed online at [http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=31426 Ancestry.co.uk] | ||
This | |||
Thacker's annual directories are the most comprehensive of all the Indian directories. | Thacker's annual directories are the most comprehensive of all the Indian directories. | ||
==Regional Indian directories== | ==Regional Indian directories== | ||
* ''The Bengal and Agra annual guide and gazetteer | |||
* ''The Bengal and Agra annual guide and gazetteer''. [Online version] Calcutta: W. Rushton and Co., 1841 | |||
Can be viewed, searched and downloaded on [http://books.google.com/books?id=6iQoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11 Google Books]. | Can be viewed, searched and downloaded on [http://books.google.com/books?id=6iQoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11 Google Books]. | ||
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* ''The Calcutta annual register 1821''. [Online version] Calcutta: Government Gazette Press, 1823 | * ''The Calcutta annual register 1821''. [Online version] Calcutta: Government Gazette Press, 1823 | ||
This provides, in what is termed historical sketches, a comparison between British India in 1810 and 1821, including information on the policies of the Indian states and British India, territorial expansion, finances and trade. There are also government regulations, plus parliamentary and India House proceedings for the year. There are some articles and an obituary. At the end is a section compiled from Calcutta newspapers listing the administrators/executors for the estates of various deceased people, arrivals and departures, marriages, deaths, and births. The births are arranged by the child's gender with twins at the end of the sequence. | |||
Available to view or download on [http://books.google.com/books?id=26sEAAAAQAAJ Google Books]. | Available to view or download on [http://books.google.com/books?id=26sEAAAAQAAJ Google Books]. | ||
==Civil Service directories== | ==Civil Service directories== | ||
* ''The India list''. [Microform] 1861-1947 | * ''The India list''. [Microform] 1861-1947 | ||
When the governing of India was transferred from the HEIC to the British government, ''The East-India register'' was superceded by what was initially called ''The Indian army and civil service list''. This later series is collectively referred to as ''The India list''. The [[LDS]] (Mormon) Family Search Library has microfilmed editions of this from 1861 through to 1947 and these are listed in [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=778871 Library Catalogue] under the title ''An East-India register and directory''. This [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=778871 page] from the catalogue shows the various titles which form the series. The films can be viewed at a local [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp Family History Center]. | When the governing of India was transferred from the HEIC to the British government, ''The East-India register'' was superceded by what was initially called ''The Indian army and civil service list''. This later series is collectively referred to as ''The India list''. The [[LDS]] (Mormon) Family Search Library has microfilmed editions of this from 1861 through to 1947 and these are listed in [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=778871 Library Catalogue] under the title ''An East-India register and directory''. This [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=778871 page] from the catalogue shows the various titles which form the series. Note that some of the volumes do not contain an Army List eg the 1905 volume mentioned below. The LDS(Mormon) Library catalogue has the following [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=578082 entry] for India Office Army Lists 1886-1940 available on fiche. | ||
The films can be viewed at a local [http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp Family History Center]. | |||