The British in India

Taking a break from the NLA website (on the advice of my optician) I began re-investigating the other Inglis family; namely the ancestors and siblings of Jessie Anne Inglis, who married Alexander Brand Inglis.

Wanting to be thorough I revisited the FIBIS website to add sources for the data I have collected so far.  FIBIS (Families in British India) was my first port of call, as the Inglis family, both Jessie’s and Alexander’s in fact, seemed to be drawn to the Indian subcontinent during the 1800s.

When I got to FIBIS and searched on Inglis I suddenly noticed that there was far more data than I remembered, and then I looked at the transcription dates, and then it hit me: just because I had halted research didn’t mean others had.  Tireless and countless hours have been spent by volunteers in the painting-the-forth-bridge-like (i.e. neverending) task of transcribing and logging records, and it still goes on.  I found a death date from an article transcribed just one week ago, I found out a few middle names from data transcribed in December last year, and more.

One of the recent / ongoing transcription sets is the “Times in India”, specifically the “Domestic occurences” column (hatch match n dispatch).  Whilst purists may sniff that this is not primary evidence – it is reported or secondary evidence – more often than not the announcements can be backed up with primary evidence later, or at least backed up by circumstantial evidence, or just point one in the right direction: for example, a death announcement in a particular year might be backed up by the spouse being listed as a widow or widower in the next census, or remarrying, or just not having any more children.  Many of these “domestic occurences” have already been seen on the rootsweb website, but there are more here, and they are indexed and searchable.  The transcribers are even named.  FIBIS deservedly won an award for their work.

Of particular interest to my research was an entry on John Inglis (1805 – 16 Feb 1849).  John was married to Louisa Maria Loveday and died of injuries sustained in battle in India on 16 February 1849.  Other FIBIS records recently found concern his children’s “orphan pensions” and to whom they were paid, and when the payments were stopped (either as the child reached 18 or died, which in 2 children was found to be the case), but John himself was still a dead-end.  John, as you may notice, is not an unusual name and in Scotland (and Victorian Anglo-India) Inglis is also common.  There were at least two John Inglis in the Bengal army – mine rose to Captain only, and was initially in the 2nd regt of light cavalry before being transferred to the late-formed 11th light cavalry; the other fought at Lucknow and became a Sir.  Indeed, there was another John Inglis in India  in my family: John Knox Inglis (1849-1878; Alexander Brand Inglis’ younger brother), who was a headmaster in Fyazabad.  My John Inglis, apparently born in “Midlothian, Scotland” in 1805, I believe applied for a cadetship in the Bengal army in 1821-22, and it is this record that could unlock his past.  The data available on the website itself is not immense, but it does note in the section above that an application would have been accompanied by details of birth, baptism, parents’ occupation, schooling, and a letter of introduction by a director of the EIC (East India Company).  Then it gives a film reference number and notes that this is all handily available on microfiche at an LDS centre.

I’ll get my coat.