The following announcement was written by the Families in British India Society (FIBIS):
The Families in British India Society (FIBIS) is pleased to announce that it has placed details of about 15,000 European soldiers who served in Bombay (now Mumbai) into its online database, FIBIS Search, and that these are freely available at www.fibis.org.
The records have been transcribed from registers of enlisted men, including casualties, who served between 1795 and 1862 in the Bombay Army of the Honourable East India Company. The records were established in 1831 and include those soldiers still serving in that year with subsequent additions constantly made until the demise of the army in 1862. These books are held by the British Library in the India Office Records as part of its Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections but are not available on micro-film there. The registers, pieces 109-116 in the L/MIL/12 series, were compiled by clerks in the East India House in London, largely from regimental Muster Rolls sent back from India and comprised personal details aggregated during an individual’s career. The registers have never been indexed before.
In addition to a name, initial rank and unit, the records of service can include (where known) place of origin, date of entry to service, date of Attestation, term of enlisted service, date of arrival (in India) and ship arrived on, date of death (if in service), when and where re-enlisted, promotions, transfers and when pensioned.
The successful uploading of data into FIBIS Search last Friday (18 September 2009) was the culmination of two years of transcription and checking by a team of hard working FIBIS volunteers, led by Robert Charnock and co-ordinated by Penny Tipper (both FIBIS Trustees). The project would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of the British Library.
