British Raj Resources

Constable's Hand Atlas of India, 1893

A list of solid, reliable internet resources for research on the British Army in India, late 19th century, is coming together. Many of the websites list scholarly works and/or additional online resource that should be helpful as I try to color in some of the details of how the John Wildgoose family lived while stationed in the Punjab.

Two articles by J.K. Buda look at the place and time through its literature. "The Literature of British India" (1985) gives historical background (through 1947, of course), including the "pecking order" of the British administration, army, and civil service. "Rudyard Kipling's 'The Battle of East and West'" (1985) looks as the controversy and misunderstandings surrounding the poem, as well as how the verse captures the atmosphere of the time. I'm not arguing one way or another about the modern sensibilities surrounding Kipling, but Buda's articles help me understand the place/time in which the Wildgoose family was living in the 1890's.

Patrick O'Meara's Indian Tales website is an account of his British military family's life in India during the 1920's-30's (maybe longer - haven't gotten to the end yet!). This will be particularly helpful as I flesh out Walter and May's time in India (from 1919-1930), but some of O'Meara's specifics about how military families lived in India connect the dots for an earlier era, as well.

As with any internet resource (or any resource, for that matter) everything must be taken with a grain of salt. Discerning the author's world-view and bias is, of course, necessary. But even the most biased article can give insight into the period of the British Raj. Other resources I've found interesting include The British Raj (A Remote Elite), Pashto Under the British Empire, Camera Indica (Photography as History and Memory in the 19th Century), and The British Empire, An Internet Gateway (good list of online resources). I have bookmarked many, many more resources that may or may not turn out to reveal the secrets of a regular army family living in India at the end of the 19th century. Stay tuned.