Court Martial Records for India

[GJW]

Hi all,

Where does one start to look for court martial records? Do they exist? The period I am interested in is after the war 1920-23 in particular.

Thanks,

Gerard

[FROGSMILE]

2 minutes ago, GJW said:

Hi all,

Where does one start to look for court martial records? Do they exist? The period I am interested in is after the war 1920-23 in particular.

Thanks,

Gerard

M’learned friend @MaureenE will be able to respond in due course I’m sure. She has great expertise on matters relating to British-Indian records.

Edited 29 June , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[GJW]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

M’learned friend @MaureenE will be able to respond in due course I’m sure. She has great expertise on matters relating to British-Indian records.

Thank you. 

[MaureenE]

The following is copied from the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Courts- Martial https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Courts-martial

British Army Records of Courts Martial are held at The National Archives.

• For full details of Courts Martial and reports relating to General Courts Martial see the online research guide produced by the National Archives, Courts martial and desertion in the British Army 17th-20th centuries (previously Military Records Information 22).
  • WO 88 1878-1945 Judge Advocate General's Office: District Courts Martial Registers, India. This series comprises registers of district courts martial in India from the Judge Advocate General's Office. These district courts martial tried only non-commissioned officers and other ranks. The registers of charges give, in tabulated form, the name, rank and regiment of each prisoner, place of trial, nature of the charge and sentence. The registers cover the period 1878 to the end of the Second World War, with some twentieth century gaps.
  • WO 90 1779-1960. Judge Advocate General's Office: General Courts Martial Registers, Abroad. The registers of charges give, in tabulated form, the name, rank and regiment of each prisoner, place of trial, nature of the charge and sentence, and cover trials of both officers and other ranks
• (There are no similar records for minor offences handled by regimental courts martial – but mention of these may be found on a soldier’s record of service).

Maureen

[GJW]

Thanks Maureen. It looks like all of these have no been digitised and no sign of me getting to Kew before publishing

[Ron Clifton]

23 hours ago, GJW said:

Hi all,

Where does one start to look for court martial records? Do they exist? The period I am interested in is after the war 1920-23 in particular.

Thanks,

Gerard

It's a long shot, but if you are referring to the Connaught Rangers mutiny, the file is in WO71/1030.

Ron

[GJW]

Hi Ron - ya that did cross my mind. 18 months on though and he was RE - he was a Connaught Ranger when he first signed up. I have no access to kew in the short term  

[mandy hall]

This may be of interest, Maureen mentions NA ref WO90 in her reply, the above tweet also mentions WO90.  
 

Mandy

[GJW]

Thanks Mandy. Such an important piece of work. Unfortunately it only goes up to 1900. My man was courtmartialed in 1923

[MaureenE]

The database referred to by Mandy is https://www.amymilnesmith.com/court-martial-records

Although it is described differently, the contents of the database show it is records from WO 90/3 and WO 90/4 for the period 1851-1900.

Maureen

[GJW]

Thanks Maureen - yes it stops at 1900 - which I discovered after much trawling

[Matthew B.]

This leads me to another question.

Where would I find details of a court martial involving a British Indian Army Officer for the period, say, post 1914-1947?

TIA,

Matthew

[MaureenE]

Only a guess, but for post 1947 records  I'd say the most likely would be the Military records  at the National Archives  of India. To my knowledge there is no online catalogue apart from a catalogue for digitised material on Abhilekh Patal  the digital platform of NAI

http://nationalarchives.nic.in

The current link for  Abhilekh Patal says "This Connection Is Not Private" which  probably means it hasn't renewed some certificate which should have been renewed.

Perhaps you could write to the National Archives of India.

Another possibility is the current  Regimental Depot of the Regiment concerned.

Possibly Centre For Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR), The United Service Institution of India. may be able to advise.

 

Maureen

 

[FROGSMILE]

6 hours ago, MaureenE said:

Only a guess, but for post 1947 records  I'd say the most likely would be the Military records  at the National Archives  of India. To my knowledge there is no online catalogue apart from a catalogue for digitised material on Abhilekh Patal  the digital platform of NAI

http://nationalarchives.nic.in

The current link for  Abhilekh Patal says "This Connection Is Not Private" which  probably means it hasn't renewed some certificate which should have been renewed.

Perhaps you could write to the National Archives of India.

Another possibility is the current  Regimental Depot of the Regiment concerned.

Possibly Centre For Armed Forces Historical Research (CAFHR), The United Service Institution of India. may be able to advise.

 

Maureen

 

Hello Maureene, I think that Matthew meant the British-Indian Army Courts Martial records pre partition, i.e. from 1914 up until 1947 and the handover.  I am unsure if they would be with the archives of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (did they absorb the old India Office?) or the National Army Museum?  Your knowledge of these things is supreme and I find the seeming fragmentation quite confusing.

Edited 19 July , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[MaureenE]

Sorry to mis-read the question. For pre Independence records, If there are records in the UK,  a think there are two possibilities. Firstly, the India Office Records at the British Library.  Matthew could try searching the catalogue by name , however, I couldn't find a specific category for court martial records There may be something in a service record if one can be located (searching by name). .http://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?menuitem=0&fromTop=true&fromPreferences=false&fromEshelf=false&vid=IAMS_VU2

Secondly sometimes for certain records the British in the Indian Army were regarded as part of the British Army, so the British Army court martial records  perhaps may be relevant.

Pre Independence records for the British in the Indian Army may possibly have remained in India,  with suggested sources as above.

There may be something in online newspapers both those published in India and also Britain. British newspapers are available online on  the pay websites Findmypast and British Newspaper Archive (same databases) and there are also separate databases such as The Times, The Telegraph., and The Guardian (the latter generally Library subscription basis)  Some Indian newspapers  are also available on Findmypast/BNA  but you would need to look at the dates of the editions available, but generally there is not much  post WW1. https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Newspapers_and_journals_online

The Times of Indias is available on a Library subscription basis. 

See https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Subscription_websites-online_newspapers,_journals_and_directories#Proquest_Historical_Newspapers.2C_Times_of_India.E2.80.941838-2001_option.  This section is part of a more general Fibiwiki page.

Maureen

[FROGSMILE]

Thank you Maureene, all that really epitomises the fragmentation I was referring to.  It beats me why the so-called National Army Museum don’t have a long term project to draw all such records into a single source.

[Matthew B.]

Thank you MaureenE and Frogsmile - you hit what I was asking for on the head.

When I can get down to the BL again I will be asking a few questions.

Cheers,

Matthew