Grandchildren of the Raj

One winter evening in Bordeaux, France, the cold didn’t allow retired entrepreneur Michael Pearce to pursue his usual hobbies of gardening and camping, so he settled on an indoor one instead: researching his family name.

That was the beginning of a search that led Pearce to discover long-lost relatives in Australia and Zimbabwe and that revealed to him in great detail his family’s connection with the Indian Railways. His ‘hobby’ gave him enough information to fill a privately-published 180-page book on the Pearce family, 35 copies of which were distributed across the world to relatives.

Why is grandpa keeping mum?
Pearce, 67, last travelled to India in 1995 when he backpacked through Maharashtra, Goa, Rajasthan and West Bengal with his wife. “We travelled by trains extensively. But at the time, I had no clue that seven members of the Pearce family had been employed with the Indian Railways from 1855 through 1920. Some of the railway tracks were probably laid by them,” he says.

He knew there was an India connection. Growing up in London, young Pearce would often ask his grandmother about life in India but was met with a stony silence. “My cousins and I often wondered why they refused to speak of their time in India,” he said.

Like Pearce, Helen Leggatt, 45, was also curious about her family history, especially its Indian connections. But whenever she started a conversation on the issue, the subject was changed abruptly. “When granddad found out I was researching family history he told me to keep anything ‘sinister’ that popped up to myself,” she laughs.

Leggatt, who grew up in the UK, is now based in New Zealand where she runs a cemetery recording project, Hunting Kiwis. Her job is to assist those who are trying to trace their ancestry through records on tombstones.

“I always nurtured an interest in the origins of my paternal grandparents Winifred and George Moorfield. I remember seeing a picture of my great grandmother, Winifred May McCoig-Lees. Her features weren’t typically European. She unfortunately died young and is buried in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh). We didn’t know much about her but have always wondered what her life was like,” she says.

Dusty musters are now online
People of British-origin who are keen on tracing their ancestry usually hit a dead end when they find that their forefathers were in India. That’s when the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) steps in.

“The East India Company maintained exhaustive records of every British citizen that left for India, what post they held, where they married and when they died,” says Peter Bailey, FIBS chairman. The FIBIS resource includes arrival and departure notices on British ships, army musters, census reports, lists of government officials and church records.

Bailey says the Internet has encouraged more young people to search for their roots. It certainly helped Pearce. “There is a sea of information available over the Internet, which was my main resource,” says Pearce, who was able to trace his family history back to his great-great-grandfather with documentation to support it.

Pearce’s father Chris was born in Mussoorie in 1918, the youngest of three brothers, all of whom were born in India. As soon as the children were old enough, they were put on a steamer and packed off to England to study where they were cared for by an aunt. “The family became disconnected because of this distance. I still wonder why they weren’t sent to school at one of the hill stations in India like other European families did at the time,”
says Pearce.

His research found that his paternal grandfather, Fredrick, was born in Howrah and worked for the Indian Railways. Fredrick’s father Robert, born in Cheshire, England, also worked in the Railways as Deputy Carriage & Wagon Superintendent.

“There is a legend that since the railway job required that the family move around a lot — they travelled in a spare wagon which also functioned as a makeshift home till they found proper accommodation,” says Pearce.

When all other searches hit a dead-end, a FIBIS representative helps by visiting the London public library that houses the India Office Records, an archive of the East India Company between 1600 to 1947.

Pearce made a trip to London himself. “To hold the original Contract of Employment signed by my grandfather Frederick Spencer Pearce was a memorable moment,” he says.

A scanned image of the contract finds its way in the family history book that Pearce proudly displays to his seven grandchildren, all under the age of 10. He is in touch with his newly-discovered second cousins.

“The family visits in the summer and it’s a frequent topic of conversation. It has brought us all closer and I’m planning a trip to Calcutta and Howrah soon,” he says.

Going home post independence
After much digging and with help from FIBIS and the Internet, Leggatt was successful in her search too. She discovered that her family was in India since the late 1700s. “In fact, one of my ancestors was a well-known shipbuilder of a shipyard in Sulkeah.”

Facebook helped her trace friends of her grandmother who attended Oak Grove School in Jabalpur. “It turns out my grandmother loved her life in India and was devastated to have to return to England after Partition. She had never been to England until then,” says Leggatt.

So why do people want to trace their roots? There are many reasons, says Leggatt. “The one I come across the most from clients who have lost a relative recently is that they realise how little they knew about their family’s lives and want to know more.”

The East India Company maintained exhaustive records of every British citizen that left for India. The Families in British India Society has copies of such records.

They include arrival and departure notices on British ships, army musters and census reports. The society also has over 1,000 images sourced from members who share photographs from their personal collections.

An untitled photo contributed by a member of FIBIS



The second battalion of The Royal Sussex Regiment in Peshawar in 1932 during the Queen’s Birthday Parade



George Collett holds tiger cubs. The image is a part of FIBIS member Valmay Young’s personal collection



The Wardley family on a boat trip near the Pachmari gardens in Madhya Pradesh



Michael Pearce (in red) has traced his family history back to his great-great-grandfather.



In this 1924 photo (from left to right) his uncle Dick, born in Allahabad in 1908, Michael’s father Chris, then aged 6, born in Mussoorie in 1918 and his uncle Robin, born in Dinapore in 1915.



The photo shows Michael’s grandfather Frederick aged 4, born in Howrah in 1879, posing with his brothers Walter and Arthur.



Photos courtesy: Families in British India Society