India Office Records

Arms of the United Company of Merchants Trading to the East Indies

The India Office Records are the documentary archives of the administration in London of the pre-1947 government of India. They comprise the archives of the East India Company (1600-1858), of the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784-1858), of the India Office (1858-1947), of the Burma Office (1937-1948), and of a number of related British agencies overseas. The India Office Records are administered by The British Library as part of the Public Records of the United Kingdom, and are open for public consultation.

This is the first in a series of pages which together introduce the India Office Records, explain the arrangement of the Records with a list of classes of documents, and offer suggestions for further reading on the archives and history of the East India Company and the India Office.

Some of our catalogues can be consulted on A2A - Access to Archives: the English strand of the UK archives network.

The India Office Family History Search database contains around 300,000 records for British and European people in India between 1600 and 1949.

History and Scope of the Records
Arrangement of the Records, and List of Classes of Documents
Pre-Independence Indian Official Publications
Further Reading on the East India Company and India Office
Private Papers
Sources for Family History Research in the India Office Records
Moving Here
Internet Sources

Further Information

The India Office Records may be consulted in the Asian and African Studies where the services and facilities of the Reading Room are available to researchers.

The British Library
Asia Pacific & Africa Collections
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7873
Fax: +44 (0)20 7412 7641
Email: apac-enquiries@bl.uk