India Office Records: Minutes of the East India Company's Directors and Proprietors
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
eng
Contact information: postal address
96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Contact information: phone number
0044 (0)1937 546060 (Customer Services)
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
mss@bl.uk
Reference number
IOR/B
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
India Office Records: Minutes of the East India Company's Directors and Proprietors
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
East India Company
Date(s)
1599/1858
Language(s)
eng
Extent
275 volumes
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This section of the India Office Records comprises the minutes of the meetings of the Court of Directors and the General Courts of Proprietors. The minutes of the General Courts of Proprietors are included in the same volumes as the minutes of the Court of Directors up to April 1833 (IOR/B/185), and thereafter in a separate series of General Court Minutes (IOR/B/255-273). Both sets of minutes ended in 1858 when the East India Company’s executive functions were transferred to a Secretary of State for India operating through the newly created India Office. Before October 1807, the Court Minutes also include copies of dissents entered by individual directors against the orders and resolutions passed by the Court as a whole. Later dissents appear in the separate series Appendix to Court Minutes: Dissents (IOR/B/237-246).
For most of the 17th century, the volumes of Court Minutes also contain minutes of committees, i.e. groups of directors appointed to consider and deal with specific aspects of administration. From the 1680s, the minutes of such committees were normally recorded separately from the minutes of the Court (IOR/D General Committees and Offices). From 1695 (IOR/B/41), the Court Minutes have lists of the directors appointed in April or May to serve on committees for the following year.
The Court of Directors recorded its business in a regular pattern, listing letters read or received, notes of action taken, warrants signed for payment, reports and recommendations submitted by the committees, and drafts of letters to be sent out after approval.
Considering the major role played by Jewish merchants in the Indian diamond trade, this section, as well as others of the India Office, contain relevant information on Sephardic trading networks. For instance, IOR/B/39 and the following volumes contain numerous references to the Portuguese Jewish merchant Joseph Salvador (see Woolf, 1962). Abraham and Jacob Franco, Alphonso Rodrigues and Francisco Pereira from London, Rodrigo Álvares Pinto from Amsterdam, and Daniel de Castro, agent in Madras, are other examples of Sephardic merchants whose trading activities are reported in the minutes of the Court of Directors' meetings. See Gedalia Yogev (1978) for references to documents from this section.
For most of the 17th century, the volumes of Court Minutes also contain minutes of committees, i.e. groups of directors appointed to consider and deal with specific aspects of administration. From the 1680s, the minutes of such committees were normally recorded separately from the minutes of the Court (IOR/D General Committees and Offices). From 1695 (IOR/B/41), the Court Minutes have lists of the directors appointed in April or May to serve on committees for the following year.
The Court of Directors recorded its business in a regular pattern, listing letters read or received, notes of action taken, warrants signed for payment, reports and recommendations submitted by the committees, and drafts of letters to be sent out after approval.
Considering the major role played by Jewish merchants in the Indian diamond trade, this section, as well as others of the India Office, contain relevant information on Sephardic trading networks. For instance, IOR/B/39 and the following volumes contain numerous references to the Portuguese Jewish merchant Joseph Salvador (see Woolf, 1962). Abraham and Jacob Franco, Alphonso Rodrigues and Francisco Pereira from London, Rodrigo Álvares Pinto from Amsterdam, and Daniel de Castro, agent in Madras, are other examples of Sephardic merchants whose trading activities are reported in the minutes of the Court of Directors' meetings. See Gedalia Yogev (1978) for references to documents from this section.
Archival history
In 1858, control of British India passed from the East India Company to the Crown and a new department of state, the India Office, was created. The department inherited a great number of archives. These were the records of the East India Company (1600-1858) and of the government body set up to control the Company’s civil and military administration, the Board of Control (1784-1858).
Staff at the India Office quickly undertook a review of the records and threw a number of them away, particularly those relating to the Company’s commercial activities. The records which remained were moved in 1867 into the new India Office building in Whitehall.
From the 1880s to the 1920s, record keepers at the India Office made a sustained effort to organise and list their historical collections.
Following Indian Independence in 1947, the India Office was dissolved, and its records passed under the control of the Commonwealth Relations Office, later to become the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Over the 1960s, archivists worked to open up the collections for researchers. The current alpha-numerical classification scheme dates from this time. The 1960s also saw additional deposits of records from various overseas agencies which had once been connected to the India Office.
In 1982, the management of the India Office Records was transferred from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the British Library. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains ultimately responsible for the collections; the records also form part of the public records of the United Kingdom.
Staff at the India Office quickly undertook a review of the records and threw a number of them away, particularly those relating to the Company’s commercial activities. The records which remained were moved in 1867 into the new India Office building in Whitehall.
From the 1880s to the 1920s, record keepers at the India Office made a sustained effort to organise and list their historical collections.
Following Indian Independence in 1947, the India Office was dissolved, and its records passed under the control of the Commonwealth Relations Office, later to become the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Over the 1960s, archivists worked to open up the collections for researchers. The current alpha-numerical classification scheme dates from this time. The 1960s also saw additional deposits of records from various overseas agencies which had once been connected to the India Office.
In 1982, the management of the India Office Records was transferred from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the British Library. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office remains ultimately responsible for the collections; the records also form part of the public records of the United Kingdom.
Administrative / Biographical history
The East India Company was established in 1600 as a joint-stock association of English merchants trading to the Indies. For 250 years, the Company underwent several substantial changes in its basic character and functions. A period of rivalry with a "new" Company after 1698 resulted in the formation of the United Company in 1709. This "new" East India Company was transformed during the second half of the eighteenth century from a mainly commercial body with scattered Asian trading interests into a major territorial power in India with its headquarters at Calcutta. The political implications of this development eventually caused the British Government to institute a standing Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India (or "Board of Control") to supervise the Company's Indian policies. This change in the Company's status, along with other factors, led to the Acts of Parliament of 1813 and 1833, which opened the British trade with the East Indies to all shipping and resulted in the Company's complete withdrawal from its commercial functions.
The Company continued to exercise responsibility, under the supervision of the Board, for the government of India until the re-organisation of 1858. With the India Act of 1858, the Company and the Board of Control were replaced by a single new department, the India Office, under a Secretary of State. In 1937, the separation of Burma from India led to the creation in London of a Burma Office separate from the India Office, though still under the same Secretary of State.
With the achievement of independence by India and Pakistan in 1947, and by Burma in 1948, both the India and Burma Offices were dissolved. Thereafter, their archives were administered by the Indian Records Section (from 1962 known as the India Office Records) of the Commonwealth Relations Office (later the Commonwealth Office) and from 1968 by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In 1982, the India Office Records (together with the India Office Library) were placed on deposit with the British Library Board and have been administered, as Public Records, by the British Library Oriental and India Office Collections.
The Company continued to exercise responsibility, under the supervision of the Board, for the government of India until the re-organisation of 1858. With the India Act of 1858, the Company and the Board of Control were replaced by a single new department, the India Office, under a Secretary of State. In 1937, the separation of Burma from India led to the creation in London of a Burma Office separate from the India Office, though still under the same Secretary of State.
With the achievement of independence by India and Pakistan in 1947, and by Burma in 1948, both the India and Burma Offices were dissolved. Thereafter, their archives were administered by the Indian Records Section (from 1962 known as the India Office Records) of the Commonwealth Relations Office (later the Commonwealth Office) and from 1968 by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In 1982, the India Office Records (together with the India Office Library) were placed on deposit with the British Library Board and have been administered, as Public Records, by the British Library Oriental and India Office Collections.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
This section is divided into six series, whose records are arranged chronologically.
Access, restrictions
Open to public access except for recent personal files, and a very small number of subject files.
Digital copies available online:
Finding aids
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Bibliography
Linked resources
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