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East India Company & Civil Service Pensions

Explore the pension registers of ancestors who worked in India, Burma and other territories administered by the India Office with the British East India Company and the Civil Service. Discover where they were posted, what they did and the size of their pension, and other biographical information.

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Explore the pension registers of ancestors who worked in India, Burma and other territories administered by the India Office with the British East India Company and the Civil Service. Discover where they were posted, what they did and the size of their pension, and other biographical information.

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What can these records tell me?

The amount of information you can discover can vary, but the East India Company Service pensions usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestors:

Pension Details

  • Name of applicant

  • Date of application

  • Liability of applicant

  • Sum paid

  • Date of payments

  • Duration of payments

Biographical Information

  • Name of recipient

  • Age of applicant

  • Station of applicant

  • Relations of applicant

  • Baptism, marriage and death details of applicant

  • Baptism details of applicant’s children

  • Death of applicant

  • Daughter's marriage dates

  • Remarks on applicant

What do the records look like?

Most records from the British in India Collection include an image and a transcript of the original document.

Key facts about the East India Company and Civil Service pension records

  • Over 10,074 records of pensions paid to Company employees and civil servants between 1762 and 1947.

  • The records consist of pension registers from the Poplar and Civil Funds.

  • The Poplar Fund applied to officers and seamen of the East India Company mercantile marine and their families. Service records are given, as well as details of marriages and the baptisms of children.

  • The Bengal Civil Fund, the Madras Civil Fund and the Bombay Civil Fund provided benefits for the widows and children of members of the East India Company and Indian Civil Service. They also include details the applicant’s occupation, family members and period of employment as well as details of payments.

Find out more

The almost 2.5 million British In India records are sourced from the original India Office Records and Private Papers held by the British Library. These records comprise the archives of the East India Company (1600-1858), the Board of Control or Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (1784 – 1858), the India Office (1858-1947), the Burma Office (1937-1947), and a number of related British agencies.