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 the good news is that they are all indexed and available on microfilm. Records of baptisms, marriages and burials are available 1698-1968.
The records are housed in the British Library in London. If you live outside London, the best way to access these records and their indexes is to use LDS (Mormon) microfilms, available in local LDS Family History Centres. The commerical website findmypast.co.uk are digitising these records and they will be online from early 2012 (more details).
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.
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. As an example, this India List post advises that the British Library IOR records show the surname as 'Hobeau', whereas the original hand written entry in the register at the church in Madras shows the name as 'Hobson'.
Records 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
Online transcriptions
Many of the indexes have been transcribed by FIBIS Volunteers and are available in the FIBIS Search database under the heading Ecclesiastical Records. Some records, a small proportion of the whole, have been transcribed and are searchable on the British Library's India Office Family History Search.
The British Library article contains visiting tips and information.
Many of the names from the records at the British Library were added in April 2010 to the LDS Family Search website.
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.
This India List post gives further details.
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. 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 it seems the records for St Andrew's Church of Scotland in Calcutta have not been filmed and are only obtainable from the church. Contact the Church of North India, refer Calcutta-Churches and missions.
Other records
Bengal Past and Present: Journal of the Calcutta Historical Society, available at the British Library has a list of burials based on the original registers in Calcutta, two articles written by Rev W. K. Firminger. 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). There are also some biographical details.
- Burials 1713-1755 Volume 10 (1915) pages 257-284 (author not known)
- Burials 1759-1761 Volume 5 (Jan-June 1910) pages 136-142
- Burials 1762-1774 Volume 6 (July-Dec 1910) pages 92-126
- Burials 1775-81 Volume 31 (Jan-Jun 1926) pages 130-156
- Burials 1782-88 Volume 32 II (Oct-Dec 1926) pages 109-132
Regional breakdown of ecclesiastical records
| Catalogue Section | Presidency or Region | Range of Volumes | Range of Years | LDS Film Range* (I = Index) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/1 | Bengal | 1 – 641 | 1713 – 1948 | 498954 - 535699 |
| . | . | RC/1-5 | 1842 – 1856 | LDS Library catalogue |
| N/2 | Madras | 1 – 176 | 1698 – 1948 | 463296 - 527486 |
| . | . | RC/1-8 | 1835 – 1854 | 530008 - 530011 |
| . | Cochin | 177 | 1751 – 1804 | . |
| N/3 | Bombay | 1 – 178 | 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
- 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.
- 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.
External links
- 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.
- Photos of Churches in India flickr.com
Roman Catholic
- Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has a category 'Dioceses of India', with contact details.
- List of Roman Catholic dioceses in India Wikipedia
- 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.
- This India List post advises individual Roman Catholic parish churches were obliged to send an annual copy to their Diocesan offices. These are known in the UK and elsewhere as "Bishop's 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.
- The same procedure is followed in the Anglican church, and the same reasoning applies
- This India List post suggests contacting the church in India for hard to find information. “I have seen many comments and notes in register books that are not repeated in the returns which are now in the BL”.
- This would also apply to Anglican churches
- This India List post gives details of a [marriage] Banns book at Roman Catholic churches. The example mentioned contained information additional to the marriage record.
- India New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia
- Archdiocese of Goa New Advent Catholic Encyclopaedia
- "[Catholic] Archdiocese of Calcutta" from The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 Saintwiki.com