Letter to Harry McLure, editor of the Anglo-Indian.
Hi Harry, you asked me to draft a story about Anglo Indians searching for their roots, so I have written this. Please feel free to edit it as you wish.
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Many years ago I read an interesting book by Alex Haley called roots, a story many of you will be familiar with, for those who have not heard of it, Alex researches his family’s past to find his history and origins to try and find out how this dark skinned man from Africa came to be in America.
Since reading that story I was fired with the idea of researching my own family history, something I have always been keen to investigate. Most of my early research centred around word of mouth and information passed down through the generations, all these bits of information I kept in my head for years doing nothing with it, then came the advent of the internet and the whole world became my library, I had access to information that was now available at my fingertips. However it was another 10 years before I devoted enough time to this quest , as over the years the ensuing generation were asking the same questions about our origins and I thought it was time I got down on paper the family story, so finally when I retired I took up the thread again. I realised along the way that stories passed down through the family were not always accurate there were some embellishments and fanciful extras in there, so I had to put aside these things and concentrate only on written records for the absolute facts, if it was to be accurate.
Without doubt the best source of information for Anglo’s is the British Library Asian Studies section, here I found records going back to the early days of British settlement in India, and in particular the East India Company whose records are held there. Here I was able to trace my family back to 1800 to an ancestor who was in the East India Co. service, however beyond this date I hit a brick wall as there were no records for further reading, I was advised to write to a couple of places in India as at that early stage of British India the records were a bit erratic, whilst all Military records are quite comprehensive at the British Library, the parish records are a bit hit and miss and the records that I was seeking were Church records in precisely the time period that was missing. After writing to these addresses for some 14 months and not getting a reply I soon realised there was only one course of action, and that was to go in person to Madras from the UK, a place I had never been to before, ( not a mean feat ) and try and get some answers face to face, I planned to do this at a cool time of year so as not to get exhausted by the famous Madras heat, and not too late in the year to get drenched by the rains, so I chose October as the lesser of all evils.
Now in hindsight I was lucky to have had the good sense to contact Harry McLure who put me in touch with Domnic Johnson, this was a godsend as my previous idea was to just arrive with the addresses from the British Library and go hunting, this was Naïve on my part as without Domnic’s local knowledge and contacts, I would have been stopped on my first day, it is vital to have a guide with local knowledge and contacts before entering this minefield. The first barrier I encountered was language something I didn’t think would be a problem, Madras… right, a former part of the British Empire, everyone speaks English, right…..wrong they didn’t, this was a huge obstacle, secondly was the red tape around everything Indian, the most common question I got asked was why do you need this information, I was not prepared for the grovelling we has to do, or how high up the ladder we had to go to get answers, it almost had to be something official before they would give you the time of day, in this area Domnic smoothed many paths using those ancient tools called charm, and flattery, and the waving of my British Library readers card, in most cases they worked, in others they fell on Pallavaram Granite, the most helpful were the Anglo’s themselves who were able to point us in various directions, which proved to be very useful. Parish records are vital to researchers, so getting a look at them is a big must if you want absolute answers, and of course always photograph the evidence, as you may not get a second chance.
After spending the entire week going from one place to another, I am still waiting for the archives office in Egmont to look into my request as they were unwilling to follow this up while I was in town, thankfully Domnic has kept on my case & is following it up.
I have had one question answered which has been on my mind which is, why will nobody reply to my emails, I have the answer now.....
Incidentally, FIBIS - Families In British India Society are also a very useful London based organisation who work closely with the British Library.
...........................................................................................................................................................
Many years ago I read an interesting book by Alex Haley called roots, a story many of you will be familiar with, for those who have not heard of it, Alex researches his family’s past to find his history and origins to try and find out how this dark skinned man from Africa came to be in America.
Since reading that story I was fired with the idea of researching my own family history, something I have always been keen to investigate. Most of my early research centred around word of mouth and information passed down through the generations, all these bits of information I kept in my head for years doing nothing with it, then came the advent of the internet and the whole world became my library, I had access to information that was now available at my fingertips. However it was another 10 years before I devoted enough time to this quest , as over the years the ensuing generation were asking the same questions about our origins and I thought it was time I got down on paper the family story, so finally when I retired I took up the thread again. I realised along the way that stories passed down through the family were not always accurate there were some embellishments and fanciful extras in there, so I had to put aside these things and concentrate only on written records for the absolute facts, if it was to be accurate.
Without doubt the best source of information for Anglo’s is the British Library Asian Studies section, here I found records going back to the early days of British settlement in India, and in particular the East India Company whose records are held there. Here I was able to trace my family back to 1800 to an ancestor who was in the East India Co. service, however beyond this date I hit a brick wall as there were no records for further reading, I was advised to write to a couple of places in India as at that early stage of British India the records were a bit erratic, whilst all Military records are quite comprehensive at the British Library, the parish records are a bit hit and miss and the records that I was seeking were Church records in precisely the time period that was missing. After writing to these addresses for some 14 months and not getting a reply I soon realised there was only one course of action, and that was to go in person to Madras from the UK, a place I had never been to before, ( not a mean feat ) and try and get some answers face to face, I planned to do this at a cool time of year so as not to get exhausted by the famous Madras heat, and not too late in the year to get drenched by the rains, so I chose October as the lesser of all evils.
Now in hindsight I was lucky to have had the good sense to contact Harry McLure who put me in touch with Domnic Johnson, this was a godsend as my previous idea was to just arrive with the addresses from the British Library and go hunting, this was Naïve on my part as without Domnic’s local knowledge and contacts, I would have been stopped on my first day, it is vital to have a guide with local knowledge and contacts before entering this minefield. The first barrier I encountered was language something I didn’t think would be a problem, Madras… right, a former part of the British Empire, everyone speaks English, right…..wrong they didn’t, this was a huge obstacle, secondly was the red tape around everything Indian, the most common question I got asked was why do you need this information, I was not prepared for the grovelling we has to do, or how high up the ladder we had to go to get answers, it almost had to be something official before they would give you the time of day, in this area Domnic smoothed many paths using those ancient tools called charm, and flattery, and the waving of my British Library readers card, in most cases they worked, in others they fell on Pallavaram Granite, the most helpful were the Anglo’s themselves who were able to point us in various directions, which proved to be very useful. Parish records are vital to researchers, so getting a look at them is a big must if you want absolute answers, and of course always photograph the evidence, as you may not get a second chance.
After spending the entire week going from one place to another, I am still waiting for the archives office in Egmont to look into my request as they were unwilling to follow this up while I was in town, thankfully Domnic has kept on my case & is following it up.
I have had one question answered which has been on my mind which is, why will nobody reply to my emails, I have the answer now.....
Incidentally, FIBIS - Families In British India Society are also a very useful London based organisation who work closely with the British Library.
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