Where can I find information on births, baptisms or deaths from a former British colony?
Answer
We hold records of some baptisms / births, marriages, deaths / burials of British, Anglo-Indian, and European Christians who were born, married, or died in India, Pakistan and Burma pre-1947. Birth registration was not compulsory in British India. The majority of our records are ecclesiastical returns (i.e. parish records), rather than civil registrations. These records are available on the open access shelves in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room.
We do not hold records of births, marriages or deaths from other former colonies (e.g. Sri Lanka, Africa, the Caribbean, etc.). Some Birth, Marriages and Death records of British subjects overseas are available through the General Register Office. Please note that we can provide access to the General Register Office indexes only, which are available on microfiche in the Social Sciences Reading Room.