THE EARLY WILLS AND ESTATE ACCOUNTS OF BRITISH INDIA

An important source of biographical information within the India Office records held by the British Library in London are the series of wills, administrations , inventories and estate accounts for persons (mainly those of European descent) who died in British India between 1618-1948. The records from approx. 1780 have been digitised and can be viewed online via subscription website Find My Past.

Now, with kind permission of the British Library, FIBIS have transcribed the indexes to the Accountant’s General records for an earlier period. These volumes, held under Library Reference L/AG/31/1-3, are located on the open shelves of the APAC reading room and cover Bengal (1704-1779) , Bombay (1728-1783) and Madras (1753-1779). They provide a wealth of information for the British India family historian as the indexes include useful information such as residence and profession of the deceased and details relating to nearest relatives. Search the database at https://search.fibis.org/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=1369&s_id=139

If an entry of interest is found, then the full record will be held at the British Library.

FIBIS are delighted to be bringing this unique information into the public domain and, once again, thank our team of worldwide volunteers for their ongoing diligence and dedication.

If FIBIS has helped you to further your research then please consider assisting the society by giving a donation or by volunteering time. (See https://www.fibis.org/get-involved/ for more details)