India Office Records: Accountant General's Records
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/L/AG
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (official language of the state)
India Office Records: Accountant General's Records
Language of title
eng
Creator / accumulator
Accountant General of the East India Company
Date note
c.1601/1974
Language(s)
eng
Extent
c. 8,200 storage units
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This section of the India Office Records comprises a large accumulation of records either originating in the Accountant General's Department at East India House and the India Office or deposited with that department. It includes accounting records arising from the commercial activities of the East India Company; accounts relating to the administration of India and Burma under both the East India Company and the Crown; service records, salaries and pensions of East India Company/India Office home establishment staff; leave, furlough pay and pensions of members of the Indian and Burma civil, military and naval services; estate papers and wills of persons dying in India or Burma and correspondence regarding the same; and records of the London offices of various Indian and Burma railway, irrigation and canal companies.
Considering the major role played by Jewish merchants in the Indian trade, this section, as well as others of the India Office, contain relevant information on Sephardic trading networks. The first series, East India Company and India Office Ledgers and Journals (IOR/L/AG/1), is of particular interest. The ledgers and journals are a series of complementary books of main accounts of the home administrations. Eighteenth-century general cash journals (IOR/L/AG/1/5/9 to IOR/L/AG/1/5/25), in particular, provide detailed information on coral and diamond merchants, revealing the lead role played by the Jewish mercantile group of London, including some Portuguese Jews such as Abraham and Jacob Franco, Aaron Pacheco, Isaac Álvares, Álvaro Mendes, Francis and Isaac Salvador, Moses Blaw (Azulai), Jacob Fernandes Nunes, Moses Abendanon, Joseph Pereira, Jacob Rodrigues da Silva, Isaac Portello, Jacob Mendes da Costa, Judah Supino, Abraham Lopez Mendes, among others.
Considering the major role played by Jewish merchants in the Indian trade, this section, as well as others of the India Office, contain relevant information on Sephardic trading networks. The first series, East India Company and India Office Ledgers and Journals (IOR/L/AG/1), is of particular interest. The ledgers and journals are a series of complementary books of main accounts of the home administrations. Eighteenth-century general cash journals (IOR/L/AG/1/5/9 to IOR/L/AG/1/5/25), in particular, provide detailed information on coral and diamond merchants, revealing the lead role played by the Jewish mercantile group of London, including some Portuguese Jews such as Abraham and Jacob Franco, Aaron Pacheco, Isaac Álvares, Álvaro Mendes, Francis and Isaac Salvador, Moses Blaw (Azulai), Jacob Fernandes Nunes, Moses Abendanon, Joseph Pereira, Jacob Rodrigues da Silva, Isaac Portello, Jacob Mendes da Costa, Judah Supino, Abraham Lopez Mendes, among others.
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
A Chief Accountant of Accountant General was regularly appointed from 1623-24 to take charge of their main books of account, the work having previously been carried out by one or two book-keepers. From the late 18th century onwards, the Accountant General's responsibilities were gradually increased to include control of most of the Company's purely financial transactions in London. In 1835, the Accountant General's Office was made subordinate to the Financial Secretary's Department, which in turn was amalgamated with the Secretary's Department in 1836. The replacement of the East India Company by the India Office in 1858 saw a further increase in the Accountant General's duties. In 1860, he absorbed most of the functions of the old Cashier's Department. At the same time, the Accountant General was made responsible for routine Home Establishment business. The Accountant General's Department, after being reconstituted as the Accounts Branch of the Financial Department in 1872, again reverted to a separate status in 1879. In 1909, it took over the duties of the Funds Department.
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.
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
The Accountant General's Records are divided into 52 series, some of them divided into subseries. Records in each series/subseries are tendentially arranged by chronological order.
Access, restrictions
Open to public access except for recent personal files, and a very small number of subject files.
Finding aids
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
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