Directories online
This page contains links to online editions of directories. Almost all the books are on the website Google Books.
Lists of birth, marriage and death, usually under the heading "Domestic Occurrences" and lists of ships sailing and their passengers embarking/disembarking at various ports can be found towards the back of most annual directories published before about 1850. This type of information can also be found in the more frequent monthly or quarterly journals and newspapers. These periodical publications are listed in Newspapers and journals online.
For more details of the information contained in the books, refer to the Directories reading list, which also has information about libraries which hold copies of the books, and alternative versions available on CD-Rom and microform.
Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazetteer
Bengal and Agra Directory
- The Bengal and Agra Directory and Half Yearly Register for the year 1843 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website.Note some pages appear to be missing. The contents page is computer page 8, Shipping Arrivals and Departures from December 1842 computer page 472, BMD from December 1842 computer page 484
- The Bengal and Agra Directory and Annual Register for 1848 is available to read online on the Digital Library of India website. The contents page is computer page 8, Shipping Arrivals and Departures from computer page 592, BMD from December 1846 from computer page 609
Bengal Directory and Annual Register
East-India Register & Directory
The editions with an M following the year are available on the subscription website The Making of the Modern World-The Goldsmiths’-Kress Library of Economic Literature 1450-1850
1804 M | ||||
1805 M | 1808 M | 1809 M | ||
1810 M | 1814 M | |||
1815 M | 1816 M | 1819 | ||
1820 M | 1821 | 1822 M | 1823 | 1824 M |
1825 | 1826 M | 1827 M | 1828 | 1829 |
1831 M | 1832 M | |||
1837 M | ||||
1841 M | 1842 | 1843 | 1844 | |
1845 | 1846 | 1847 | 1849 | |
1850 | 1851 | 1852 | 1853 | 1854 |
1855 | 1856 | 1857 | 1859 |
India List and India Office List
Nilgiri Guide And Directory
1916 Archive.org
Thacker's Indian Directory
The 1895 edition is available through the website Ancestry.
Singapore, The Straits and Penang
The National Library of Singapore has some Directories which can be downloaded. Refer Singapore for details
Subscription websites
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)
A number of directories from the late 1700’s are available on the website Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO- A part of Gale Digital Collections). The access is restricted to Library Card holders of participating libraries including the following National Libraries (noting there is generally a residential requirement): Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, State Library of NSW, and many University Libraries. ECCO may also be accessed from the British Library Reading Rooms.
- A List of the Company's civil servants, at their settlements in the East-Indies, the island St. Helena, and China. 1790, 1799. -HEIC lists of senior and junior merchants, factors, and writers
- Bengal calendar. 1787, 1789
- Bengal calendar & register. 1790
- Bengal kalendar and almanack. 1792
- Bengal kalendar and register. 1795, 1800
- Bengal or East-India calendar. 1795 includes details for Madras, Bombay etc
- Bengal register, containing lists of the Hon. Company's civil and military establishments, under the Presidency of Fort William 1787. HEIC employees in Bengal, including surgeons
- Calcutta monthly register. Vol 1, November 1790.
- East India kalendar; or, Asiatic register for Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Fort Marlborough, China, and St. Helena. 1791, 1793, 1794, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800.
- Oriental magazine; or, Calcutta amusement. 1785
The Making of the Modern World
The Goldsmiths'-Kress Library of Economic Literature 1450-1850. A part of Gale Digital Collections. Similar access conditions apply as for ECCO, refer above.
In addition to volumes noted under The East India Directory and Register above, the following directories relating to India have been noted:
- A List of the Company's civil servants, at their settlements in the East-Indies, the island St. Helena, and China 1785
- East India kalendar; or, Asiatic register for Bengal, Madras, Bombay, Fort Marlborough, China, and St. Helena. 1791, 1792 (1791 is also available on ECCO)
- The Calcutta Star almanac and strangers’ guide in Calcutta : including commercial & trade list for MDCCCXLV. [1844?].
For further details about these two websites , refer Subscription websites-online newspapers, journals and directories