Suffolk Record Office

The Suffolk Record Office is based in Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds and Lowestoft. They hold many records that could be useful to people researching their family in British India. Many families in India in the time of the British Raj had Suffolk connections.

Suffolk Regiment Archives

The Suffolk Regiment was earlier known as the 12th Regiment of Foot.

The Regimental Archives are held in the Bury St Edmunds Branch and include a lot of material that could help research Officers and men of the regiment that served in India. Some items being:

• Printed Histories
• The Suffolk Regimental Gazette - published February 1890 - July 1959. Contains lists of birth, marriages and deaths, lists of promotions, appointments and awards, sporting and social events, and many photographs from November 1897 as well as regimental histories etc.
• The Army List
• Lists of Honours and Awards
  • Medal Roll for the Afghan Campaign (1st Battalion), 1880
  • Officers and Men entitles to the India General Service Medal with Hazara Clasp (1st Battalion), 1890
• Diaries
  • Col R Bayly: India 1796-1830
  • Unidentified soldier of the 2nd Battalion: India 1930
• Photographs
  • Individuals and Groups - There is a database of names available in the searchroom
  • Many from Afghanistan 1880 onwards
• Maps and Plans

There is a lot of other material available not listed here. A more detailed list can be found on the Suffolk Record Office Suffolk Regiment Archives Information for Searchers Leaflet pdf version, html version

School Admission Registers

Many children of the British Raj were sent to schools in Suffolk.

Miscellaneous

• Reveley Family Papers: Correspondence with family in India 1751 - 1858 (Ipswich Branch)
• 3rd Duke of Grafton: Correspondence relating to the East India Company 1766 - 1767 (Bury St Edmunds Branch)
• Charles Marquis Cornwallis: letter-book as Governor-General of India, 1787 (Ipswich
• Bishop of Calcutta
  • Correspondence with the Bishop of Lincoln, 1814-1817 (Ipswich Branch)
  • Account of journey through India by the wife of the Bishop of Calcutta, 1816(Ipswich Branch)
• Sir Charles Fraser: letters and papers relating to India, and the Indian Mutiny, 1840-1879 (Ipswich Branch)
• Letter from Charles Webber describing a journey on the River Ganges and the town of Calcutta, 1843 (Ipswich Branch)
• 1st Earl of Cranbrook (Secretary of State for India, 1878-1881): correspondence and papers relating to India, 1867-1892 (Ipswich Branch)
• Sketchbooks and diaries of W B Gurdon on travels in India (Ipswich Branch)
  • sketchbook, India, 1879-1880
  • diary, India, 1881-1882
  • sketchbook, India, 1881-1883

Optical magnifier-a transcription aid

The Suffolk Record Office has an Optelec magnifier which allows you to magnify and view a document in two of several contrasting colours. "I found this a great help in deciphering the document and well worth the effort of visiting the record office".

Ipswich Branch

Suffolk Record Office
Gatacre Road
Ipswich
IP1 2LQ
Searchroom: 01473 584541
Fax: 01473 584533
Email: ipswich.ro@suffolk.gov.uk
Open: Monday-Saturday,9.00am-5.00pm

Bury St Edmunds Branch

Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk Record Office
77 Raingate Street
Bury St Edmunds
IP33 2AR
Phone: 01284 741212
Searchroom: bury.ro@suffolk.gov.uk
Open: Monday-Saturday, 9.00am-5.00pm

Lowestoft Branch

Lowestoft
Suffolk Record Office
Clapham Road
Lowestoft
NR32 1DR
Searchroom: 01502 405357
Fax: 01502 405350
Email: lowestoft.ro@suffolk.gov.uk

Open: Monday, Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, 9.00am-5.30pm;
Tuesday 9.00am-7.00pm;
Saturday, 9.00am-5.00pm;
Sunday, 10.00am-4.00pm