French

Brief History and Principal Locations

The major French possessions in India were Pondicherry, Chandernagar, Karikal and Mahé. 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 was then 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. In 1746 the French captured Madras but the British exchanged Madras 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.

Source : A History of India (Volume Two) (1978) by Percival Spear p.68, p.77

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. These records were indexed and about 80% of church records in British India are believed to have survived. You can access these records at the APAC in the British Library in London, or at LDS Family History Centres. The FIBIS website has extensive information on locating church records on microfilm for British India. However, your French ancestors may not have lived in British India (i.e. that portion of India that was controlled by the British - this grew from a very small area in 1600 to almost all of India by 1947). In this case, the church records will not be kept in the APAC at the British Library.

Some church records from French India have been microfilmed by the LDS and are available at LDS Family History Centres:

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 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

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

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. [1]

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

Books

The following book is available at the LDS Family History Centre in Salt Lake City. If you know where other copies are available, please update this page:

Dictionnaire généalogique et armorial de l'Inde française, 1560-1962 by Place, Agnès de. Published in 1997 in Versailles.

The following books related to the French in India are currently available :

Dictionnaire généalogique des familles de l'Inde-française By Lucien­Jean 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).

Other Information

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.