Introduction

Researchers of family history of Europeans in India, for the period between 1713 and 1948. usually use the Ecclesiastical returns found in the British Library and LDS centers as the primary source of records for marriages, baptisms and burials.    In addition, it is often found that Thackers Directories are a valuable source of information.   Published each year and covering the period until Indian Independence in 1947 the Directories contain annual lists of civilian European and prominent Indian residents which help to place many individuals in specific places and points in time and allows careers in India to be traced.   Military Officers are listed in the East India Registers and Army Lists.    Unfortunately only officers are listed, not the many thousands who made up the other ranks.    Women are rarely mentioned unless they have standing in their own right as principals or teachers in schools; owners and managers of boarding houses, missionaries etc.   The most extensive and comprehensive collection of directories for India is held in the Oriental and India Office Collections (OIOC) at the British Library, however, collections of reference material can be found in many libraries around the world.

The contents of this page include:

• Thackers Directories
  
• British Library
  
• Oriental and India Office Collections
  
• Bengal Presidency
  
• Bombay Presidency
  
• Madras Presidency
  
• HEIC and India Lists
  
• Army Lists
  
• Humanities collections of the British Library
  
• Bengal Presidency
  
• Bombay Presidency
  
• Madras Presidency
  
• Ceylon
  
• Army Lists
  
• Periodical Publications
  
• The Official Publications and Social Sciences Collections of the British Library
  
• Liverpool Central Library
  
• Guildhall Library, City of London
  
• School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
  
• Oxford University, Bodleian Library
  
• The Society of Genealogists, London
  
• Key books in the SOG collection
  
• Libraries outside the United Kingdom
  
• National Library of Australia
  
• Personal collection of Sylvia Murphy
  
• State Library of New South Wales
  
• Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, NSW
  
• State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
  
• Monash University Library, Victoria, Australia
  
• La Trobe University Library, Victoria, Australia
  
• State Library of Western Australia
  
• Western Australian Genealogical Society
  
• University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
  
• Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA
  
• The New York Public Library, NY, USA
  
• Digital South Asia Library
  
• The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
  
• The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA, USA
  
• Buy a copy of the 1895 Thackers Directory on a CD
  
• India Mailing List
  
• Contributors to this page
  

Thackers Directories

The following edited description of Thackers Directories is provided by Roz Monaghan of Sydney, NSW, Australia.

The best way of describing one of these directories is to say that it is a combination of a yellow pages directory and a telephone directory, (without the numbers).   The directory contains alphabetical lists of European residents and prominent Indian residents.   Thacker may also have street directories and maps of the major cities, e.g.. The Bengal section may contain a list of Calcutta streets, the names of the residents of each house and a map.   The names of property owners may not appear in the residents list, so it pays to check both lists.    You'll need a lot of patience and a good magnifying glass for this task.

To give you a better understanding of what sort of information Thacker contains, here's a list of some of the contents:-   almanac holidays, postal information, telegraph rates, addresses of Govt. officials for state telegrams, P.O. & Tel. stations in India, list of dak bungalows, chronological list of appointments in the Govt. of India, census (pop.numbers only), Secretary of State for India, Government of India, local Governments, official directory of India and Bengal Government offices, political officers, forest, telegraph, postal, survey and police departments, and army and civil vet. depts., railway directory of India, mofussil directory, list of the civil divisions of India, alphabetical lists of European and prominent Indian residents, British and foreign merchants and manufacturers, maps of India's railways, maps of environs of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay, newspaper and periodicals directory.

For Calcutta, Madras, Bombay and Burma, it holds the following:-   Ecclesiastical directory and missions, charitable societies and hospitals, education directory, institutions, etc., literary and scientific societies, clubs, freemasonry, commercial directory.   It also lists the commercial industries of India which include among others - cardomon estates, coal, cocoanut, coffee, cotton, distilleries, flour, gold, ice, indigo factories, jute mills, lead, lime and stone works, mica works, pepper estates, quarries, salt mines, saltpeter refineries, silk filatures, soap factories, tanneries, tea companies/gardens, etc., tobacco, wool.

The directories are designated "Reference Use Only" so have to be used in-house.   The editions after the 1880s are  about 4-5 inches thick.   The earlier editions from the 1860s and 1880s are not quite so unwieldy but of course they only cover Bengal, whereas the later ones include Madras and Bombay presidencies also.

Tony Fuller,   London, U.K., adds the following:

Be careful with Thackers - it is only an indication, it is incomplete and is only as good as the information given to the publisher and then to the printers.   Thackers were an India/UK firm who ended up as one of the official printers to the India Government.

Prior to Thackers, which as Rosaline said started in Bengal where the firm was based, there were a number of other directories/almanacks dating from the late 18th century, based on the three Presidencies or specific areas like the early Calcutta directories.    They contain all sorts of information, some of which is consistent, like military officers but in some years they will have one set of contents and the next year drop some stuff - continuity and ease of use cannot be guaranteed.

They should be used in conjunction with the India Lists, which are the formal HEIC publications of the Company's activities in India and the UK - but, only the HEIC chaps and chapesses - no licenced inhabitants, uncovenanted people.   A reminder that some of the India lists are available on micro fiche.

The British Library

Oriental and India Office Collections

"Returns of baptisms, marriages and burials, relating mainly to European and Eurasian Christians in India, Burma and other areas administrated by the East India Company and the Government of India.    The returns were transmitted by chaplains and ministers to the Government of India, and thence to the India Office, primarily for record purposes.   Apart from the series for the three Indian presidencies (Bengal 1713-1948; Madras 1698-1948, and Bombay, 1709-1948), there are returns for St Helena (1767-1835), Fort Marlborough (1759-1825), Penang (1799-1829), Macao and Whampoa (1820-1833), Burma (1937-1957), India and Pakistan (1949-1968), Kuwait (1937-1961), and Aden (1840-1969).   Copies of the contemporary indexes and microfilm of many of the registers may be consulted directly in the Reading Room."

Additional reference material of use to family historians is included in the Oriental and India Office Collections, the Humanities Collections and the Official Publications and Social Sciences Collections.

In the following tables the OIR shelfmarks are available on the open shelves of the Oriental and India Office Reading Room, the P.P. shelfmarks are contained in the Humanities collections but can be requested for consultation in the OIOC reading room, and the B.S. and I.S. shelfmarks are in the Official Publications and Social Sciences Collections, which are on 2nd floor directly below the OIOC reading room.

Directories that are available on the open shelves of the   OIOC

Thackers Directories

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
OIR 954	The Bengal Directory	1873, 77-80, 83, 84	Thacker & Co.: Calcutta
OIR 954	Thacker's Indian Directory *	1885(-1960) **	Calcutta

*Some volumes are not on shelf because of their fragile condition, e.g. 1912.
**Entries in each volume are for the year previous to the year of the directory, or in years when two volumes were issued, for the previous six months.
(The same rule applies to all Almanacs, Army Lists and similar year books that went to press at the end of the year).

Bengal Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)
OIR355.332	List of the Officers of the Bengal Army. Alphabetically arranged and annotated with biographical and genealogical notices by Major V. C. P. Hodson.	1758-1834
OIR 954.14	Original Calcutta Annual Directory and Calendar	1813
OIR 954.14	Calcutta Annual Register and Directory	1814
OIR 954.14	Bengal Directory	1815
OIR 954.14	Original Calcutta Annual Directory and Bengal Register	1817
OIR 954.14	Bengal Almanac and Annual Directory	1818, 1820
OIR 954.14	Calcutta Kalendar	1821
OIR 954.14	Bengal Directory	1822, 1823
OIR 954.14	Bengal Directory and General Register	1824, 1834 - 1858
OIR 954.14	Calcutta Annual Register and Directory	1831, 1835
OIR 954.14	Scott and Co's Bengal Directory and Register	1842, 1852
OIR 954.14	New Calcutta Directory	1856 - 1862

Bombay Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)
OIR 954.792	Bombay Kalendar and Register	1806, 1811-1813, 1816-1817, 1819-1828
OIR 954.792	Bombay Calendar and Almanac	1829-1844
OIR 954.792	Bombay New Almanack , Directory and General Register	1844
OIR 954.792	Bombay Calendar	1845
OIR 954.792	Bombay Calendar and General Directory	1846-1851
OIR 954.792	Bombay Almanac and Directory	1851-1853, 1856-1860, 1862-1868
OIR 954.792	Bombay Almanack and Book of Direction	1854, 1855, 1861

Madras Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)
OIR 954.8	Madras Register	1799
OIR 954.8	Madras Almanac	1800, 1803, 1811-1861
OIR 954.8	Asylum Press Almanac	1863 - 1936

HEIC and India Lists

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)
OIR 354.5	East India Company List of Civil Servants	1771,1774,1776,1782,1790,1799
OIR 354.5	Correct List of East India Company's Civil and Military Servants	Nov. 1784
OIR 354.5	List of East India Company's Civil and Military Servants Bengal Asylum Press Almanac	Aug. 1785
OIR 354.5	India Calendar	1789
OIR 354.5	Bengal Calendar and Register for the year	1790
OIR 354.5	Bengal Calendar for the year	1792
OIR 354.5	Proprietors of East India - Stock	1795,1806,1838
OIR 354.5	East India Register and Directory	1803 - 1842
OIR 354.5	India Register	1843 - 1860
SM 205. OIOC	Allen's Indian mail	1843; 1845 - 1891
Hendon	The Indian Mail, a monthly register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia. vol. 1, 2.	1845 - 1891
OIR 354.5	Indian Army and Civil Service List	1861 - 1876
OIR 354.5	India List	1877 - 1895
OIR 354.5	India Office List	1893 - 1895
OIR 354.5	India List and India Office List	1896 - 1937
OIR 354.5	India Office and Burma Office List	1938 - 1940
OIR 354.5	India Office and Burma Office List	1947 supplement
OIR 354.5	Supplement to India Office List	1947
OIR354.5P	The directors of the East India Company, 1754-1790 James Gordon Parker,   University of Edinburgh	1977

Army Lists

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)
OIR355.31	A register of titles of the units of the H.E.I.C. & Indian armies, by Chris Kempton	1666-1947
OIR 355.33	Indian Army List	April 1891 - October 1946

The following directories are available in the Humanities collections of the British Library

Bengal Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
P.P.2551.a.	The Calcutta Annual Directory and Kalendar (The Original Calcutta Annual Directory and Calender-The Original Calcutta Annual Directory and Bengal Register)	1809, 1810, 1812, 1817, 1818.	Calcutta
P.P.2551.d.	The New Annual Bengal Directory and Calcutta Kalendar	1824	Calcutta
P.P.2551.d.	Bengal Directory & General Register	1825 [29, 31, 33, 37, 39, 42]	Calcutta
P.P.2551.d.	The Bengal and Agra Directory and Annual Register	1843 [44, 49-51, 53, 54.]	Calcutta
P.P.2551.d.	The Bengal Directory and Annual Register	1855	Calcutta
P.P.2551.c	Scott and Co.'s Bengal Directory and Register with the almanac, and an appendix, etc	1839 (41, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52)	I. B. Scott & Co.: Calcutta
P.P.2551.e.	The New Calcutta Directory, for the town of Calcutta, Bengal, the North-West Provinces, Punjab, Arracan, Assam, Pegu, Tenasserim.  Compiled by A. G. Roussac.	1856 - 1858	F. Carberry: Calcutta,
P.P.2551.dc.	Thacker's Calcutta Directory, City and Suburbs.  Together with a directory of the chief industries of Bengal, etc.	1906, etc.	Thacker, Spink & Co.: Calcutta
P.P.2551.ba.	Metro's Calcutta Directory, with Howrah & suberbs	1941	Calcutta

Bombay Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
P.P.2557.b.	The New Bombay Directory.  With an appendix	1838	Bombay
P.P.2557.ba.	Thacker's Bombay Directory, city and island.  Together with a directory of the chief industries of Bombay, etc.	1913 [etc.]	Thacker & Co.: Bombay
P.P.2555.da.	The "Times of India" Calendar & Directory (Bombay Directory)	1864(-1929)	Bombay
P.P.2557.bb.	The Times of India Directory of Bombay City & Presidency	1930	Bombay

Madras Presidency

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
	Madras Register	1799
P.P.2564.	The Madras Almanac (The Madras Almanac and Compendium of Intelligence)	1812, 17, 19, 24, 26, 33, 39, 40, 42, 43, 45-48, 50, 51, 56, 57	Madras
P.P.2564.d.	The Illustrated Madras Almanac	1863, 1865, 1866	Madras
P.P.2564.d.	Foster's Illustrated Madras Almanac	1867	Madras
P.P.2564.d.	Foster's Madras Almanac	1870, 1876	Madras
P.P.2564.	The Asylum Press Almanac and Compendium of Intelligence	1867, 73, 74, 92	Madras
P.P.2564.ba.	The Madras Almanac and Directory	1892	Madras
P.P.2564.	The Asylum Press Almanack & Directory of Madras and Southern India, including Burma, etc.	after 1892	Madras
P.P.2566.caa.	The Madras Directory & Who's Who 1946, (1856-57) etc.		Madras

Ceylon

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
P.P.2576.a.	The Ceylon Calendar	1814, 23, 30	Colombo
P.P.2576.a.	The Ceylon Almanac and Compendium of Useful Information	1833-1850	Colombo
P.P.2576.a.	The Ceylon Almanac and Annual Register	1851-1859, 1861, 1862	Colombo
P.P.2576.bae.	Peterson's Ceylon Almanac	1870	E. H. Peterson: Colombo
P.P.2575.q.	The Ceylon Almanac and Directory.  Compiled by Joseph Savarimuttoo	1888	Jaffna

Army Lists

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
P.P.2566.a.	The Quarterly Army List of Her Majesty's and the Honorable Company's Services, on the Establishment of Fort St. George. To which is added, the Civil Servants on the Madras establishment. A list of the Officers in ... the Nizam's service: a gradation list, with an appendix and index.	1844, 1849	Madras
P.P.2566.a.	The Madras Army List, etc.	Jan., July, Oct. 1850	Madras
P.P.2566.b.	The Quarterly Army List; Her Majesty's British and Indian Forces on the Madras Establishment	corrected to 30th September, 1859	Madras
P.P.2566.c.	The Adelphi Press Army List, and Civil List for the Madras Presidency.	Apr.-Aug. 1865	Madras
P.P.2486.lba.	The New Army List, Militia List and Indian Civil Service List.	1870-1880	London
P.P.2486.lba.	The New Army List, Militia List, Yeomanry Cavalry List and Indian Civil Service List.	1881-1893	London

Periodical Publications

Shelfmark	Title	Years(s)	Publisher
251.l.21.	The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and its Dependencies. vol. 1-25.	1816-28	London
P.P.3780.	vol. 26-28	1828, 29	London
P.P.3780.	The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China, and Australasia. New series.	1830-43	London
P.P.3780.	The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany. Third series	1843-45	London
P.P.3780.	The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Review. Fourth series	1845	London
1509/1021.	The Asiatic Journal, etc. New Series, vol. 31. no. 124.	1840	London

The Official Publications and Social Sciences Collections of the British Library

Liverpool Central Library

Guildhall Library,    City of London

School of Oriental and African Studies,    University of London.

Oxford University, Bodleian Library

The Society of Genealogists, London

Key books in the SOG collection:

Libraries outside the United Kingdom

National Library of Australia

Personal Collection of    Sylvia Murphy

Society of Australian Genealogists, Sydney, NSW

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Monash University Library, Victoria, Australia

La Trobe University Library, Victoria, Australia

State Library of Western Australia

Western Australian Genealogical Society

University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA

The New York Public Library, NY, USA

Digital South Asia Library

The University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA, USA

Buy a copy of the 1895 Thackers Directory on a CD

If you are interested in researching your British or European ancestors in India, then you might like to join the INDIA mailing list.   You can exchange ideas, suggestions, queries, questions and family details with a group of people who are interested in the same subject.   The list currently has over 700 members and grows at the rate of about one or two members a day.

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Online resources for India-L subscribers include the following sites:

Where Do I Start?

Family history in India web site

Church Records of baptisms, marriages and burials in Colonial India

European Cemeteries in India

Associations and Societies

Background Information on the British in India

The Map Library for the India-L mailing list

Professional researchers who specialize in India and/or military records

Family History in India Bookstore

Rootsweb's archives of messages for this list

Historical maps of India

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Contributors to this page are:

Simon Deefholts London England	Carol Gall Sydney, NSW Australia	Mary Anne Gourley Melbourne, Victoria Australia	Jill Grey Cambridge England
Sylvia Murphy Carlingford Court, NSW Australia Passages to India	Ian Poyntz Houston, Texas USA The Poyntz Family in India	David Railton Cheshire England	Nadia Wright Melbourne, Victoria Australia

 

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Last update: June 15, 2005