It is due to the nature of the British Empire and the Honourable East
India Company as international actors that the records they produced
are often fragmented, scattered, or simply poorly catalogued. As a
result, the British Library's collection of Honourable East India
Company records can be intimidating for those who have not yet
delved into the catalogues of logs, pay books, and other miscellaneous
records - let alone linking those records to other archives.
Richard Morgan's guide, then, is of invaluable use to both the veteran
and budding historian. However, its real values for the biographer,
family historian, and genealogist (which is to be expected, it being a
Families in British India Society publication.) In addition to a wealth of
knowledge on practical use of a variety of archive collections, Morgan
also provides a helpful, if brief, walk through the history of HEICo and
interloper sailors and passengers in India. The bulk of the publication is
divided into five parts with corresponding appendices, with the first
covering HEICo ships, and the second 'Country Ships' (non-HEICo
ships operating in Indian waters within the HEICo monopoly.) The
third section covers 'Interlopers' (those ships that flaunted the HEICo
monopoly), unfortunately very few records exist on these vessels;
perhaps unsurprising considering that such smugglers would not want
to be recorded. Consequently, Part III is a single page indicating the
scant records where one can find information. Part IV, however,
thoroughly walks the reader through the history and records of the
HEICo's Marine Service; and Part V provides a useful directory of
British steam ships in India.
The vast majority of the records produced by the British East India
Company are today catalogued in three lists: L/MAR/A, L/MAR/B, and
L/MAR/C: while A and B are relatively straightforward collections of
ships' pay books, logs, etc., the final list is infamously imposing,
consisting of any and all documents that survived the HEICo's
documentation purge when it ceased trading in 1833. It is here that
Morgan's work really shows value in the appendices; by enabling the
researcher to find corresponding records across the A, B, and C series.
In this he builds on Anthony Farrington's work for the British Library;
Farrington was the first to untangle the confused records saved by
Charles Danvers in the nineteenth century. While the ability to cross reference
the above lists offers a unique value, Morgan also helpfully
indicates where supplemental records may be found when the HEICo
records fall short (such as the Military Embarkation Lists, since few
captains recorded all military passengers by name). These are scattered
within the relevant chapters: so directions on where to find Wills of
HEICo civil servants within the Public Works Department are located
in Section IV, which covers the Marine Service. In addition, he gives
detailed directions to where information can be accessed, and always in
a clear and straightforward manner. Morgan's book is of great use to the
biographer and family historian, whether their subject worked the roads
to India or China, or in-country within the Marine service. It is equally
recommended for those researching non-HEICo crews and vessels, for
while records are scarcer Morgan provides useful directions to where they can be found. In addition to thorough directions to useful sources,
the book is also peppered with helpful historiography - which, while
brief in interpretation, goes a long way to contextualising the primary
materials he helps the reader uncover. Really then, this second edition
has been nailed to the mast as a vital tool to anyone, as the publisher
puts it, to 'study their ancestors' lives in India'.
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