Bengal Military Orphan Society

Bengal Military Orphans were sent to either:

A. The Upper Asylum in Calcutta (for children of Officers) or

B. Lower Asylum, also in Calcutta, (for children of NCOs or soldiers).

Both were entitled to a pension and the Pension Records for orphans of officers are generally available in the IOR L/AG/21/27 series.

Also see

• Orphans

FIBIS resources

• Articles: Maureen Evers, "Four Orphan Schools in Calcutta and the Lawrence Military Asylum Sanawar, Part 1: History," FIBIS Journal No 22 (Autumn 2009), pages 1-14. "Part II: parents, conditions, prospects" FIBIS Journal No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 5-14.
• FIBIS database: Bengal Military Orphan Society including

• FIBIS database: Bengal Military Orphans 1798. Alphabetical list of all orphaned children of officers of the Bengal Army who had been/were in the care of the Bengal Orphan Military Society from the inception of the Society to 31 December 1798. Includes children both in England and India.
• FIBIS database: Bengal Upper Orphan School 1820-1857 . "Alphabetical list of orphaned children of officers of the Bengal Army, 1820-1857. The data include Dates of Birth, Dates of Admission to and Discharge from the Asylum, Name of father, etc." These were orphans who had returned to Britain and whose guardians had received payment there from the Bengal Military Orphan Society. They were not physically in an Asylum, so the date of discharge from the Asylum is rather the date of discharge from the Society, when benefits were finalised, as indicated by the British Library catalogue entry “alphabetical lists of orphans, admitted to pension c 1820-c 1857, giving dates of birth, admission and discharge”

Other online resorces

• Some records of Bengal Military Orphan Society have been digitised and are being hosted on the subscription website, findmypast. These are held amongst the British India Office record section of Findmypast under heading British India Office Army and Navy Pensions. According to British Library website, the records on Findmypast are those contained under British Library references L/AG/23/7/7-20