India Office Records

The India Office Records are held in the Asia, Pacific & Africa Collection (APAC) at the British Library. They are the documentary archives of the administration in London of the pre-1947 government of India and are made up from the archives of the East India Company (1600-1858), the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784-1858), the India Office (1858-1947), the Burma Office (1937-1948) and many other related British overseas agencies. Records may be viewed in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.

If your ancestor was employed as a civilian in any arm of government, such as the police, post office, railways or civil service, then his records are most likely to be kept at the IOR collection. This also applies if your ancestor served in the East India Company Army, but not the British Army.

A number of indexes and transcribed records can be found online on the FIBIS database and other websites. However these are merely a snapshot of the whole collection. Many of the records have also been microfilmed by the LDS and can be made available for examination at local Family History Centres. However, generally, a visit would have to be made to the British Library to obtain the full background to your research.

Searching the catalogue

The catalogue may be searched either through the British Library's Archives search, or through the National Archive's Discovery search.
Refer External Links below.

Digital records

• Some records have been digitised and are available online through the commercial site findmypast.co.uk, including baptisms, marriages and burial records.
• Some records have been digitized by the British Library, to search for these records see “Digitised Manuscripts” below
• Some records in respect of the Iran, Iraq and the Persian Gulf are available on the Qatar Digital Library

Refer External links below for details.

• Some records have been digitised and are available in a database called "East India Company", available from Adam Matthew, Digital, consisting of "Module 1: Trade, Governance and Empire, 1600-1947". For more information about these records, refer Subscription websites - East India Company. This database is available in the British Library Reading Rooms.

Visiting the archive

See the British Library article for visiting and access information.

Related articles

• Armies in India- India Office Records at the British Library for details of the Military Department records in the series IOR/L/MIL.
• findmypast

External Links

• British Library Archive search The vast majority of catalogues for the official archives in the India Office Records are now available on the Library’s catalogue for archives and manuscripts. It is strongly advised that you consider a search for your ancestor here as many areas of interest are covered.
• British Library - India Office Family Search database contains c 300,000 brief biographical records searchable by name.
• South Asia: Resources for the study of South Asia, past and present Current British Library website (accessed at 6 July 2019).
• Archived versions of previous British Library webpages which contain information which may not be available on the current website.
  • The British in India Collection Summary list of the records available on findmypast. British Library’s Help for Researchers (archived)
  • India Office Records: Family History Sources (archived) including
    • List of record sources for occupations in India
    • Glossary for family history researchers British Library Help for Researchers (archived)
  • India Office Records and Private Papers (archived) including
    • India Office Records: Arrangement of the Records, and List of Classes
      • Finding Aid: British Colonial Policy and Intelligence Files on Asia and the Middle East, c. 1880-1950 IDC Publishers. Original records held in the India Office Records.
  • India Office Records: guide to archival sources for areas outside India British Library Help for Researchers (archived)
• Digitised Manuscripts Search for digitised records, including India Office Records.
• The India Office Records catalogue may also be searched through the National Archive’s Discovery catalogue (which has now replaced the previous Access to Archives (A2A) search). Note also entry to British Library Archive search shown above as, in some cases, this will give additional scope.

Discovery Advanced search. In the section “Held by” select “Search other archives”. Type India and the option "British Library: Asian and African Studies (previously Oriental and India Office Library)" will appear. Select this option

Note: Currently (November 2014) some India Office Records are missing from Discovery, and until this problem is fixed, it is recommended that you use the British Library Archive search above.

• Qatar Digital Library Digitisation of content from the British Library’s India Office Records Collection, in respect of Iran, Iraq and the Persian Gulf area

Historical books online

• A Guide to the India Office Records, 1600-1858 by William Foster 1919. Archive.org
• A catalogue of manuscript and printed reports, field books, memoirs, maps, etc., of the Indian Surveys, deposited in the Map Room of the India Office Printed by order of Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India in Council. 1878 Archive.org

Same underlying text, but with handwritten alterations, deletions etc, with a link to a pdf download. British Library bl.iro.bl.uk