Church records
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 80% of all baptism, marriage and burial records have survived today, and the good news is that they are all indexed and available on microfilm. Records of baptisms, marriages and burials are available 1698-1968.
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 the number of ecclesiastical records sent to England was smaller than previously, and continued to decline over time.
The records are housed in the APAC reading room in the British Library, London. If you live outside London, then the best way to have access to these records and their indexes is to use the LDS (Mormon) microfilms, which will be available in an LDS Family History Centre near you.
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 APAC, 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
Many of the indexes have been transcribed by FIBIS Volunteers and are available in the FIBIS Search section of this web site under the heading Ecclesiastical Records. Some records, a small proportion of the whole, have been transcribed and are searchable on the British Library site India Office Family History Search.
Read the article British Library before you visit.
Anglican Records
Since the East India Company only officially accepted employees of Protestant faith, all early Ecclesiastical Records in the APAC 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.
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 APAC. Note, however, that for some reason, a number of marriages performed in the Church of Scotland feature in the Registrar marriages.
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 – 1844 | 527437 |
| 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 – 1844 | 528361 |
| 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.
- 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.
- Churches in North India, a list of the postal addresses and phone numbers of all bishops of CNI dioceses in India, correct in 1993.
- 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
- Local Catholic Church History in India. This is a terrific site by Ann Mensch which provides a wealth of information on all Indian Catholic dioceses, as well as some interesting links on Catholic family history.
- This India List post advises individual 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 gives details of a [marriage] Banns book at Roman Catholic churches. The example mentioned contained information additional to the marriage record.
- 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.