Church records

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There was some registration of Births and Deaths in British India, commencing in 1864 in Calcutta, but generally it was voluntary, and records which exist are difficult to access. The next best thing for a genealogist is to use Church Records.

An estimated 70% of all baptism, marriage and burial records have survived today in the India Office Records, and they are all indexed and available on microfilm, and many are now available online, see below.

Records of baptisms, marriages and burials are available 1698-1968. The records are housed in the British Library in London.

In 1930 the Anglican Church in India separated from the Church of England and became the autonomous Church of India, Burma and Ceylon, still within the Anglican Communion. From this time onwards fewer ecclesiastical records were sent to England, and the number continued to decline over time. By the 1940s there were relatively very few records sent to England.

Certificate of an 1885 marriage

As a general rule, there appears to be a better coverage of Anglican records compared to Roman Catholic and other church records. Records for some geographical/ occupational groups such as Railway Colonies appear to be under represented, or indeed non existent, even if the Railway Colonies were located in British India.

Records at the British Library

Accuracy

The ecclesiatical records in the India Office collection are transcriptions of registers from churches in India, sent to London for administrative purposes. As such, there are occasional transcription errors.

Note that the name of godparents are entered only occasionally on copies of baptisms in the Ecclesiastical Returns held at the British Library. This information is, however, generally available from the church registers in India.

Year of record may differ from year of event

The year a record was sent to England (which determines the Volume in which the record is located) may occasionally be later than the year in which the event took place, sometimes, for remote locations, by many years. Records a year or two late are more common. This fact may be of significance when locating a record in a microfilm, if you do not know full details.

Access at the British Library

Microfilmed copies of all the records are available for public inspection and indexes are on the open shelves of the Asian & African Studies Reading Room, broken down by Presidency, alphabetically and by year. Records are catalogued under the 'N' series (ie, the references for ecclesiastical records being with N), under the heading Ecclesiastical Returns which fully sets out the applicable years for each Volume number, for the three Presidencies, and other data sets.

The British Library page contains visiting tips and information.

Online records and transcriptions

• The commercial website findmypast digitised the India Office Church records and they were released online on 29 January 2014. Note that some India Office Records will not be found in the findmypast database, (for technical or other reasons).

For privacy reasons be aware that currently (March 2021) a limited transcription only is available on findmypast with no digital images for baptisms after 1921, and for marriages after 1936. Currently there appear to be additional records added on an annual basis, although this has not been consistent in past years.

Images of records after these dates can be obtained from digitised FamilySearch microfilm, viewable, for non-LDS Church members, at a FamilySearch Centre for free. Currently (2021/03) these digitised microfilms are also available at FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries, but such access has varied in the past, so check availability at AFs, also noting some AFs which are libraries of Societies may charge a visitor fee for non members. See FamilySearch Centres for details. The other option is to visit the British Library, or request a copy of the record (for which a charge applies) from the British Library, which may be the preferred option if your nearest FamilySearch Centre or Affiliate Library is not geographically or otherwise convenient for you.

• Many of the indexes have been previously transcribed by FIBIS Volunteers and are available in the FIBIS Search database under the heading Ecclesiastical Records.

• Enhanced indexes from the church records at the British Library were added in April 2010 to the LDS FamilySearch website. These are free to search and view but examination of the full record will give further information. There are some records which are not available on findmypast.
  • The FamilySearch website also contains some databases which are browsable collections of images, which have not been indexed, which are of church registers in India and Ceylon. Currently (2016/11) these are
    • India, Madras Diocese Protestant Church Records, 1743-1990. Hints for browsing these records.
    • India, Gujarat Diocese Protestant Church Records, 1854-2012
    • Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records 1677-1990

• Some records, a small proportion of the whole, have been transcribed and are searchable on the British Library's India Office Family History Search.

Geographic location

Most of the records relate to British India and in particular to the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay, whose boundaries varied over time.

Some Army (East India Company and Indian Army) cantonments were geographically located outside of British India, in areas in Princely States, leased by the Government in India. However, for record purposes these cantonments were considered to be part of British India and located in one of the Presidencies. The records from churches in these cantonments will generally be found in the Presidencies' records.

In contrast, railway colonies located in Princely States were not considered to be part of British India, even if the Railway was British owned, and records will not be found in the Presidency records. A possible source is the Indian States N/5 records mentioned below in Regional breakdown of ecclesiastical records, but many railway colony records are not included. The same applies to records from mining cities such as Kolar Gold Fields.

Even for British India, many railway colony records do not appear in the collection at the British Library, and must be sourced, if they still exist, from churches in India.

Anglican Records

Since the East India Company only officially accepted employees of Protestant faith, all early Ecclesiastical Records are Anglican. The India Office categorization of these records and their earliest dates are:

Bengal	N/1	1713
Madras	N/2	1698
Bombay	N/3	1709

Roman Catholic Records

The Company initially legislated against the employment of Roman Catholics. However, such was the pressure to find recruits for its armies in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in the late 18th Century, it was forced to repeal this legislation and to recruit Catholic soldiers from Ireland. The pastoral needs of these soldiers were generally met by the independent Catholic Missionaries, largely established by the Portuguese or the French.

Following Catholic emancipation in England and Wales (1829) Irish soldiers prevailed upon the presidency authorities to provide English-speaking Catholic chaplains and churches for their use. These were established beginning in the mid-1830s. Again, their BMD returns were made to the presidency ecclesiastical authorities. Initially, these returns were filed separately (N/x/RC series, where x=1 for Bengal, x=2 for Madras and x=3 for Bombay) but after a few years, they were amalgamated with the Anglican records.
N/1/RC 1842-1856, N/2/RC 1835-1854, N/3/RC 1842-1854. These records are available on LDS microfilm, refer table below.

Missionary and Non-Conformist Church records, including the Church of Scotland

It may be noted that a number of independent missionary and non-conformist churches were requested to return their BMD records to the presidency authorities. The latter considered it necessary to record proof of relationships of its employees for official purposes such as rights to pension, etc. A number of priests refused to do this, largely on the grounds of time taken and of cost. Accordingly, many of their vital events are not recorded in the APAC today. Foremost among these are the records of the large numbers of Catholic soldiers who used the missionary churches during the thirty years or so before emancipation. To obtain details from these ‘missing’ records, it is necessary to visit the church where the ceremony was performed and to apply to see the original register.

With the passage of time, the BMD returns became increasingly included and therefore more likely to feature in the ‘N’ series of returns at the BL. As an example, baptismal records for January-March 1854 for St Andrew's Bombay were seen on findmypast. Note, however, a number of marriages performed in the Church of Scotland feature in the Registrar marriages, as explained in the link.

Some Church of Scotland Bombay church records and records for St Andrew's Church of Scotland, Madras may be found in LDS Microfilms of Church registers in India, but the records for St Andrew's Church of Scotland in Calcutta have not been filmed and are only obtainable from the church, refer Calcutta-Churches and missions. St Andrew's Church in Calcutta also holds the Baptism and Marriage Registers and some other documents for Church of Scotland cantonment Churches throughout India, Ceylon, Burma and some Gulf stations.. See Burma: Records: LDS (Mormon) for details of Presbyterian church magazine extracts reporting baptisms, marriages and deaths in Burma, and also Malaya, Sumatra, and Siam, (available either now, or in the next few years), on LDS digitised microfilm.

Other records

• The FamilySearch website contains some databases which are browsable collections of images, which have not been indexed, which are of church registers in India and Ceylon, refer above.
• See Cemeteries for details of monumental inscriptions in books, including books available online.
• Bengal Past and Present: Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society, available at the British Library has lists of baptisms, marriages and burials based on the original church registers in Calcutta, up to 1800. They are probably mostly covered by the Ecclesiastical Returns in the B.L., however there may be some additional entries which never made it to England (e.g. the ship carrying the returns to England was lost).

Transcriptions from Registers of St John's, Calcutta by E W Madge as they appeared in Bengal Past and Present. Each listing contains many pages of biographical notes. Some articles are available online, on the Digital Library of India website, or through the mirror editions on Archive.org. Other articles are available at the British Library. Note: Records for Baptisms 1767-1777 have been transcribed and are available on the FIBIS database in the category Publications.

• Baptisms 1713-1758 BPP Volume XXI, pp 143-159. Archive.org/DLI
• Baptisms 1759-1766 BPP Volume V, pp 325-332
• Baptisms 1767 -1777 BPP Volume XXV, January-June 1923, pp 130-155, Archive.org/DLI
• Baptisms 1778-1782 BPP Volume XXVI 1923, pp 142-168. Archive.org/DLI
• Baptisms 1783-1785 BPP Volume XXVIII, pp 193-221. Archive.org/DLI
• Baptisms 1786 to 1788 Volume XXX, 1925, pp 79-107. Also contains an addendum for the years 1783-1785
• Marriages 1713-1754 BBP Volume IX, Part II, Serial No 18, Oct-Dec 1914 pp 217-243. Also Marriages 1713-1754-II pages 282-284. Archive.org/DLI. Note on page 218 it is stated that in the 18th century, 'Mrs' is often used to denote a young unmarried lady of quality. "'Miss' appears but rarely in these early registers".
• Marriages 1759-1779 BBP Volume IV, July-Dec 1909 pp 486-512. Archive.org/DLI
• Marriages 1780-1785 BPP Volume VII, pp 164-171. Archive.org/DLI
• Marriages 1786-1792 BBP Volume XVI, Part I, Serial No 31, Jan-March 1918 pp 41-71. Archive.org/DLI
• Marriages 1781-1800 (Supplementary Register) BBP Volume XXI, pp 76-141. Archive.org/DLI.
• Burials 1713-1755 BPP Volume X, Jan-June 1915, Serial Nos 19-20, pp 257-284 . Archive.org/DLI.
• Burials 1759-1761 BBP Volume V, pp 136-142
• Burials 1762-1774 BBP Volume VI 1910, pp 92-126. Archive.org/DLI.
• Burials 1775-81 BPP Volume 31 (Jan-Jun 1926) pages 130-156. Archive.org/DLI.
• Burials 1782-88 Volume 32 II (Oct-Dec 1926) pages 109-132. Archive.org/DLI.

• See Madras (City) for online details of Marriages at St Mary’s , Fort St George, and Marriages at Outstations 1680-1805.
• Also see other Fibiwiki Location pages , including Cawnpore for online monumental inscriptions.

Regional breakdown of ecclesiastical records

(Baptisms, Marriages and Burials)

Catalogue Section	Presidency or Region	Range of Volumes	Range of Years	LDS Film Range* (I = Index)
N/1	Bengal	1 – 641 For more details see LDS Microfilms for Bengal Presidency Church Records	1713 – 1948	498954 - 535699.
.	.	RC/1-5	1842 – 1856	LDS Library catalogue
N/2	Madras	1 – 176 For more details see LDS Microfilms for Madras Presidency Church Records	1698 – 1948	463296 - 527486
.	.	RC/1-8	1835 – 1854	530008 - 530011
.	Cochin	177	1751 – 1804	.
N/3	Bombay	1 – 178 For more details see LDS Microfilms for Bombay Presidency Church Records	1709 – 1948	462965 - 523914
.	.	RC/1-5	1842 – 1854	LDS Library catalogue
N/4	India and Pakistan	1 – 8	1949 – 1968	527415 - 527421
N/5	Indian States	1 – 2	1890 – 1946	498603 (I) & 527422-3
N/6	St. Helena	1 – 3	1767 – 1835	498603 (I) & 498605
N/7	Fort Marlborough, Bencoolen	1	1759 – 1825	498603 (I) & 498606
N/8	Penang (Prince of Wales Island)	1	1799 – 1829	498603 (I) & 498606
N/9	Macao & Whampoa(Canton)	1	1820 – 1834	498603 (I) & 498606
N/10	Burma	1 – 7	1937 – 1957	527436 (I) & 534495
N/11	Registry Office Marriages	1 – 11	1852 – 1911	Not Filmed
N/12	Kuwait Political Agency	1 – 16	1937 – 1961	Not Filmed
N/13	Aden	1 – 21	1840 – 1969	Believed unfilmed
N/14	Register Lists	.
.	(Registration Act 1886)	.
.	.	1 Bengal
.	.	2 Bombay
.	.	3 Madras, Assam, Burma, Central Provinces and Punjab

* or Film Numbers to insert into LDS Catalogue to yield full range. Note: The LDS tend to classify the locations of these ecclesiastical events according to the present day Indian States, which the researcher will have to relate to the provinces of the former British Presidencies.

Other sources

• Birth, marriage and death records, an overview of sources.
• IGI, details of searching the LDS genealogical index and using their microfilms of Church records.
• LDS Microfilms of Church registers in India, a list of microfilms of church records in India which are not held by the APAC.
• LDS Microfilms for Church Records outside of the usual Presidencies Lists of microfilms of European church records in India that do not fall under the usual three Presidencies. These include Native States, and post-Independence church records in addition to the Catholic records for Bengal, Madras and Bombay mentioned above and Madras Omissions and Corrections.
• Goa Church Records, a list of microfilms of church records in Goa.
• Society of Genealogists, London has some church records relating to India, some of which are not found in the N series of India Office Records at the British Library. To see what is available refer to Church records of India at SOG.
• Cemeteries

Churches

Some church registers in India have not survived due to climate conditions such as flooding, or may have been eaten by insects. For those registers which survive, some churches retain their original registers, while some registers have been centralised in Diocesan offices. As a general rule, many churches and church organisations do not answer emails or letters, due either to a lack of staff, a lack of interest, potential problems with money transfer, or other reasons. Telephone contact perhaps may be more successful. There are exceptions, generally when the minister of a church has an interest in historical records. Most people who have obtained records from India have personally visited and have generally made a (generous) donation to a church or organisation.

Professional genealogical researchers appear not to exist in India and this may be related to the fact that churches are reported willing to supply church records only to family members, not to unrelated researchers.

• Churches in South India, a list of postal addresses and phone numbers of all bishops of CSI dioceses in India, correct in 1993 together with some current website details.

Update December 2016: BDM records for CSI are now kept at CSI Diocesan Office, 226 Cathedral Road, Chennai 600 086.

• Churches in North India, a list of the postal addresses and phone numbers of all bishops of CNI dioceses in India, correct in 1993, together with some current website details.
• Catholic Churches in Madras, a list of Roman Catholic churches in Madras, with their date of building and approximate location. This list was kindly transcribed by Peter Bailey.
• Calcutta, a reference to a listing of church records in Calcutta to 1800.

Bishops' Transcripts

In India, as in England, parish churches, both Church of England and Roman Catholic, were obliged to send an annual copy of baptisms, marriages and burials to their Diocesan offices. These are known in the UK and elsewhere as "Bishop's Transcripts" ( BTs, also known as Parish Register Transcripts)

"As long as the Diocesan records have not been destroyed, you will always find a copy there from every single parish church within that diocese. If you don’t get a result from the parish (where for instance, as in Burma, many have been destroyed) then write to the Bishop's secretary".

External links

• findmypast
• House of Lords: Indian Church Bill 31 May 1927 Hansard. An Act to make provision incidental to and consequential on the dissolution of the legal union between the Church of England and the Church of England in India. Follow the links "Forward to" on each page
  • Churches Vested in The Crown. (Towns and Names of Churches) Revised List Part 1, Part 2
  • Churches Not Vested in The Crown. (Towns and Names of Churches) Part 1, Part 2
• Photos of Churches in India. Stephen Luscombe has a fascinating website on the British Empire which includes, amongst other things, photos of former British churches in India. The whole site is worth exploring for general information on the British Empire.
• Photographs of Churches in India taken by 'DBHKer' flickr.com
• Photographs: Churches of British India: 1, 2,3 and 4, and Historic Anglican & Scots Churches in Asia (includes Rangoon, Maymyo and Moulmein, Burma) from DBHKer’s galleries on flickr.com (photographs taken by others , but gathered together by DBHKer)
• [Photographs of] Churches in Pakistan nativepakistan.com
• Churches and Cathedrals of India by 'ChurchesofIndia' on You Tube
  • Part I - Western India: Konkan and Malabar Coasts includes Bombay
  • Part II - North India includes Simla, Nainital, Mussoorie, Allahabad, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Delhi, Agra and also Poona etc
  • Part III - South India includes Madras. Secunderabad etc
  • Part IV - South India includes Ooty, Bangalore, Pondicherry etc
  • Part V - Eastern India includes Calcutta, Serampore, Kalimpong, Darjeeling etc
• Historical Background of the United Church of Northern India, a union of Presbyterian Churches of India

Roman Catholic

• Dioceses of India from Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India
• List of Roman Catholic dioceses in India Wikipedia
• Church in India Database of Catholic Dioceses in Asia. Lists the names of the Archdioceses and Dioceses. It is suggested that you search the internet for individual websites such as
  • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Calcutta
  • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Madras and Mylapore
  • Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bombay
• All Catholic Dioceses in [current] India including historical and All Catholic Dioceses in Pakistan including historical from Catholic-Heirarchy.org
• Local Catholic Church History in India. This is a terrific site by Ann Mensch but which is now archived, which provides a wealth of information on all Indian Catholic dioceses, as well as some interesting links on Catholic family history. Archived version at 30 April 2008.
• India New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia
• Archdiocese of Goa New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia
• "[Catholic] Archdiocese of Calcutta" from The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 Saintwiki.com
• Archdiocese of Lahore, one of the two Roman Catholic Archdioceses in Pakistan, the other being that of Karachi.

Historic books online

• Established Church and Roman Catholic Church page 294, Statistics of the Colonies of the British Empire from the Official Records of the Colonial Office by Robert Montgomery Martin 1839 Google Books. Book IV- Possessions in Asia “Chapter I-Hindostan”
• "List of Churches in the Diocese of Calcutta" page 443, The Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazetteer for 1842 Volume I Google Books
• Comments about "The registers of Persons Baptised etc Abroad: The East Indies" page 238 Registrum ecclesiae parochialis : the history of parish registers in England : also of the registers of Scotland, Ireland, the East and West Indies... by John Southerden Burn 2nd edition 1862 Archive.org.