French

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Information relating to French ancestry in India, and also to the British in France.

Principal locations

The major French possessions in India were:

Brief history of the French in India

The French East India Company was formed in 1664, but it was so closely tied with the state that its fortunes rose and fell with the careers of ministers and turns of politics. It was not until after 1720 that its fortunes revived rapidly. Until this time, the the French stake in India was not great enough to warrant the English fighting over it, so the two companies declared neutrality. However, between 1720 and 1740, the French Company's trade increased to ten times its value until it was nearly half the size of the English Company. The French Company now presented an economic threat to the English Company.

This threat was exacerbated by two wholly European wars : the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) and the Seven Years War (1756-1763), in which England and France were on opposite sides. The two Companies, backed by their respective states, went to war in India. The ensuing conflicts were known as the Carnatic Wars. In 1746 the French captured Madras but the British exchanged this for Cape Breton Island in North America in 1748. The French and English then fought over Indian territory, aiding rival princes and governors, until the French were soundly defeated in 1760. Pondicherry fell and the power of the French in India was effectively ended, although a brief resurgence occurred in 1782 under Admiral de Suffren. The French colonies in India remained separate from British India until Independence came in 1947 and the French voluntarily ceded its former colonies to the new Indian state.[1]

Some Frenchmen served in the Armies of the rulers of the Princely States. For example, M. Maistre De la Tour, was the French commandant of Hyder Ali’s artillery which had "un Corps de Troupes Européennes". Refer Historical books online below.

FIBIS resources

Some indexes to Chandernagore Civil Births, Marriages and Deaths have been transcribed and are available to search. For further information see Chandernagore.

Records

General articles:

Church records

If your ancestors were baptised, married or buried in a European church in British India, then the church records should have been transcribed and sent to the capital of the Presidency, where they would later have been forwarded on to London. See Birth, marriage and death records for further information. However, your French ancestors may not have lived in British India. In this case, the church records will not be kept at the British Library.

Births, marriages and deaths in Pondichéry from 1676 to 1784. Résumé des Actes de l'État Civil de Pondichéry. Published by the Société de l'Histoire de l'Inde française (Pondichéry) 1917

Tome I, De 1676 à 1735, Tome II, De 1736 à 1760, Tome III, De 1761 à 1784 Gallicia, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Some church records from French India have been microfilmed by the LDS and are available at LDS Family History Centres. More details are available in the LDS Library catalogue:

  • Parish records, 1676-1777 Catholic Church. Carnatic Mission, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609811
  • Parish records, 1709-1990 Catholic Church. Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609796, 1609809-1609812
  • Parish records, 1815-1990 Catholic Church. Notre Dame des Anges, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609813-1609814
  • Parish records, 1903-1950 Catholic Church. Saint Francis of Assisi, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609747
  • Parish records, 1908-1990 Catholic Church. Sacred Heart, Pondicherry - microfilm no. 1609747
  • Parish records, 1587-1830 Catholic Church. Notre-Dame-des-Anges, Pondicherry - microfilm nos. 1083618-1083619, 1083790-1083792, 1083779
  • Parish records, 1731-1830 Catholic Church Notre-Dame, Karikal - microfilm no. 1083797
  • Parish records, 1723-1825 Catholic Church Ste-Thérèse Mahé - microfilm no. 1083799
  • Parish records, 1690-1830 Catholic Church St-Louis Chandernagor - microfilm no. 1764204

Civil registration

The LDS have microfilmed records of civil registration of births, marriages, deaths for French India. French Civil Registration records contain a great deal of information. The film details are:

  • Karikal 1731-1854 Chandernagor 1817-1854 Pondicherry 1817-1834, 1844-1854 Mahé 1815-1854 Yanaon 1817-1854 ten-year indexes - microfilm no. 1764204
  • Pondicherry 1791-1867 - microfilm nos. 1083780-1083784 and 1083793-1083795
  • Karikal 1792-1864 - microfilm nos. 1083797-1083798
  • Mahé 1826-1864 - microfilm no. 1083799

Cemeteries

The LDS have microfilmed the book List of inscriptions on tombs or monuments in Madras possessing historical or archaeological interest by Julian James Cotton, which includes cemeteries in Pondicherry. The microfilm no. is 795967. This book is also available to read online, refer Cemeteries-Inscriptions in online books

Jean-Claude Féray has transcribed Surnames in the European Cemetery in Pondicherry. They are in the French language, but non-French speakers should be able to work out the lists. This site is now archived.

BACSA has published many transcriptions of monumental inscriptions from headstones throughout South Asia. These include the French Cemetery at Calcutta.

Burials at St Theresa’s Church and cemetery at Mahé may be found in the book Malabar: Christian Memorials 1737-1990, by Dr John C. Roberts and N P Chekkutty. For details, see Mahé

Military records

The LDS have 51 microfiche of the French Government's "Alphabetical list of military and civilian officers serving in the French colonies, (abt. 1659-1873)." They are microfiche no. 6002212.

Other

See Biographical Records (IOR O series) for records which include some men born in France, mainly indigo planters

Archives

ANOM, previously CAOM

This India List post says that the Pondicherry archives are in the "Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer" (CAOM) in the city of Aix en Provence, France. The archive is now known as the Archives Nationales d'Outre-Mer (ANOM), which includes the page Établissements Français de L'Inde (This link is reached through IREL; Etat general des fonds; Fonds territoriaux) (in French)

This India List February 2011 post indicates it is possible the former French Asian territories records at ANOM will be available online later in the year. At 27 July 2012, the records for some countries were on line, but not yet India, so it appears there is a delay which may be ongoing. This link seems to be the link to use. It may be reached through IREL; Inventaires détaillés; État civil; Registres numérisés, then select “choisir un territoire”

  • Ulysse, ANOM's searchable database of images from the colonial period (in French).
  • ANOM on ArchivesWiki. See the linked "Easy Archive Tip" document for details of visiting ANOM.
  • ANOM Wikipedia

Tracing the British in France

Records of Departments in France

This India List post advises how the author’s research involved going through records of various departments in France.

Many British people with Indian connections lived in Boulogne-sur–Mer which had a large foreign population with schools, boarding houses etc catering for these residents. The online archives for Boulogne-sur-Mer are available as part of The Archives of Pas-de-Calais

This India List post advises that Avranches (Wikipedia) in Lower Normandy was very popular with retirees from British India.

This India List post advises that there were three very large enclaves for British ex-pats in France: Pas de Calais, Paris and the Mediterranean coast of France and in addition there was also a very large group living in Biarritz (Wikipedia) where there was a very popular spa and casino.

This further India List post includes advice of Anne’s The French Genealogy Blog (in English) which contains links to some of the online Departmental Archives

Searching for French Family History Records Family Search Blog

Miscellaneous information

  • This India List post advises that in French, if you see a surname with the word ‘dit’ after it such as ‘Smith dit Brown’ it means Smith known as Brown.
  • This India List post advises that a number of the marriages at the end of the 17th century and in the 18th century in French Indian territories were between Frenchmen and women of mixed Indian-Portuguese blood.

Further reading

This book list was provided by Cathy Day from her former Family History in India website. New recommendations should be added to the recommended reading pages.
  • Dictionnaire généalogique et armorial de l'Inde française, 1560-1962 by Place, Agnès de. Published in 1997 in Versailles. The available at the LDS Family History Centre in Salt Lake City. If you know where other copies are available, please update this page.
  • Dictionnaire généalogique des familles de l'Inde-française by Lucien­Jean Bord and Michel Gaudart de Soulages. Paperback edition (1984).
  • The French in India : From Diamond Traders to Sanskrit Scholars by Rose Vincent (Editor). Hardcover edition (1990).
  • Fortunes a Faire : The French in Asian Trade,1719-48 by Catherine Manning (Editor). Hardcover edition (1996).
  • Indika Essays in Indo-French Relations : Essays in Indo-French Relations, 1630-1976 by Jean Marie Lafont. Hardcover edition (2000).
  • French in India and Indian Nationalism by K.S. Mathew (1999).

References

  1. ↑ A History of India (Volume Two) (1978) by Percival Spear p.68, p.77

External links

Wikipedia:

Other:

  • An Ancestor From Pondichéry? The French Genealogy Blog (in English)
  • Prof. Frances Pritchett's The French
  • Medicographia, Volume 31, No. 1, 2009, issue no. 98, (pdf) includes
    • "Spices, diamonds, and Ayurvedic medicine: French physicians in 17th Century Mughal India" by Christian Régnier pages 92-99 (page 93 of the pdf) and
    • "West Meets East: Pondicherry and the French East India Company" by Dominique Camus, pages 100-110 (page 101 of the pdf), both articles with coloured illustrations.
The first article is available in a html version with no illustrations.

Historical books online


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