St. Helena

The East India Company occupied St Helena from 1659 when it became an important trading colony. Garrisons were installed to guard landing places from attack by foreign powers and a fort was established at Jamestown. The defence strength comprised "a regular garrison of Company's European Artillery and Infantry, and a militia drawn from the planters. The Charter Act of 1833 transferred the island to the Crown from 23 April 1834 and the Company's forces were disbanded on the arrival of British Army units in 1836.’’

Records

British Library

• Baptisms and Deaths recorded in St Helena Consultations 1737, IOR /G32/10
• Baptisms and Deaths recorded in St Helena Consulatations 1747-1766, IOR/G32/12-26
• Ecclesiastical Returns: Baptisms, Marriages and Burials at St Helena 1767-1835, IOR N/6/1-3. These records are probably included in the digitised records now available on the commercial site FindMyPast
• Summaries of civil and military establishment on St Helena 1780-1794, IOR/ G/32/41-47
• Wills and inventories recorded in St Helena Judicial Consultations 1820-182, IOR /G32/102

(For confirmation of the above five British Library references see British Library Sources)

• Nominal Muster Roll of St Helena Artillery, Infantry , Invalids and Pensioners 1789-1859 -British Library ref IOR/L/Mil/13/1-14
• St Helena Pensioners 5 Dec 1835- 19 July 1837 - British Library ref IOR/L/Mil/13/15

(For further details of what information is held under the two military records above see )

• The British Library's Endangered Archives Programme has digitised some files from St. Helena (found by using EAP 524 in the Search ) See FIBIS Resources below for transcriptions/searchable database of the marriage records from this source.

FamilySearch

• LDS microfilms of records from St Helena may be found with this catalogue entry (keyword search St. Helena, India) (Ordering microfilms)
• There are also some records for St Helena in the "World Miscellaneous" records on FamilySearch. The source of these records is unknown.

The National Archives

• There are muster rolls for the St. Helena Regiment at the National Archives WO 12/11042 – WO 12/11058 1842-1865. Note however the records after 1855 are only in respect of "St. Helena Regiment (Depot)", believed to be the Depot in England.

• The British Army Service records on the pay website findmypast appear to contain some records for men who served in the St. Helena Regiment

FIBIS members unable to access the records they require may wish to enlist the help of the FIBIS Research team. Please email research@fibis.org for further information about this voluntary service.

Records in St. Helena

• "Introduction to Seventeenth Century Records in the St Helena Archives" by Anna Winterbottom, Centre for Editing Lives and Letters, Queen Mary, University of London Lives and Letters, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 2009 html version original pdf
  • "Appendix 1: East India Company Consultations" html version, original pdf
  • "Appendix 2: Letters from England" html version, original pdf
  • "Appendix 3: Goodwin’s Abstracts" html version original pdf

FIBIS Resources

• Banns of marriages published in the Parish of St James 1849-1924 Taken from British Library Reference EAP524/2/3/1
• FIBIS Journal no 21 (pages 42-47) contains an article entitled "Some 'Anglo-Indian' and other Memorials at St Helena" by the late Trevor Hearl.
• Photographs of Gravestones & M.I.s in St James and St Paul's taken in 2008 fibis database
• Photgraphs of St Helena FIBIS Images Gallery

Ships and travel

• The ship Friendship called at St Helena in October 1799 and on the return voyage in March 1801 as described in Cursory Remarks, on board the ship Friendship by Mrs Mary Anne Reid (Google Books).
• St Helena in November 1804 page 287 A Voyage To India by Rev James Cordiner 1820 Google Books
• Twelve years' military adventure in three quarters of the globe: or, Memoirs of an officer who served in the armies of His Majesty and of the East India Company, between the years 1802 and 1814 Volume 2, page 118 by John Blakiston 1829. (Google Books) Describes calling in at St Helena on a voyage back to England
• The East Indiaman [ship] General Goddard in battle off St Helena in 1795 www.shipstamps.co.uk

Boer POW Camp

"Nothing remains of a prisoner-of-war camp on a high plateau where 6000 Afrikaners were held during the Boer War, but the graves of 156 who never saw their homeland again are carefully tended on a steep hillside. Two granite obelisks bearing their names stand as a memorial to farmers who fought bravely against what was then the mightiest army in the world".

Related articles

• POW Camps in India

External Links

Other

• The St Helena Institute’s website says it aims to provide a focal point for research into St Helena and its dependencies, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha. It provides detailed resources for St Helena family history. Information is given about available records, including equivalent LDS microfilms.

• The Institute has a Mailing List/Message Board for St Helena family history and genealogy (incl. Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha).

• St. Helena Wikipedia
• Robert Brooke, Governor of St.Helena 1788-1800 Wikipedia
• Six Views of St Helena from Macquarie University’s Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquarie Archive
• "St Helena: 1792 – 1840: the latter days of Slavery" by Colin Fox. An expanded version of a presentation made to Society of the Friends of St Helena (FOSH) at their AGM held at Kenwood House on 21 May 2011 html version, original pdf
• St Helena National Trust Education Packs : Places of Historic Interest - Pilling School html version, pdf version. Contains information about the St Helena Regiment, formed in 1842 as part of the British Army for garrison duty, disbanded June 1863
• "Boer prisoners of war on the Island of St Helena" by A J Nathan Military History Journal 
Vol 11 No 3/4 - October 1999, The South African 
Military History Society

• "The Construction of Islandness, a Literal Example: St Helena in the Seventeenth Century" by Stephen A Royle (2008: 1–9) The Construction of Islandness (Refereed papers from the 3rd International Small Island Cultures Conference. Institute of Island Studies, University of PEI, June 29–July 2, 2007) html version original pdf

Historical Books Online

• A history of the island of St. Helena: from its discovery by the Portuguese to the year 1806 Thomas H Brooke (1808) Google Books
• A history of the island of St. Helena, from its discovery by the Portuguese to the year 1823 Thomas H Brook (updated 2nd Edition 1824) Google Books
• A St. Helena who's who; or, a directory of the island during the captivity of Napoleon by Arnold Chaplin, 1914 Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged 1919 Archive.org
• Extracts from the St. Helena Records compiled by Hudson Ralph Janisch, Governor of St Helena 1885 Archive.org
• St. Helena: the Historic Island from its Discovery to the Present Date by E.L. Jackson, illustrated from photographs, 1905 Archive.org