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INDIA OFFICE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 964 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

INDIA See also:OFFICE .—The records of the India Office are preserved there. See also:Complete printed lists exist for the whole collection, and the following documents have been published: The First See also:Letter See also:Book of the See also:East India See also:Company, edited by See also:Sir G. See also:Birdwood and W. See also:Foster; Letters received by the East India Company from its Servants in the East, edited by F. C. See also:Danvers and W. Foster (6 vols.). The records in India may be mentioned here. Each See also:presidency and each See also:province keeps its own; and this is the See also:case also with the smaller subdivisions. No printed lists appear to exist for any of the collections. The following volumes have been published: Letters, Despatches and other Papers of the See also:Foreign See also:Department of the See also:Government of India, 1772-85, edited by G. W.

See also:

Forrest (3 vols., See also:Calcutta) ; See also:Bengal 1756-1757, edited by S. C. See also:Hill (3 vols. 1905) ; and Old Fort See also:William, edited by C. R. See also:Wilson (3 vols., 1906-7). See also:Ireland. The Public See also:Record Office of Ireland was established in 1867 by the See also:Act 30 & 31 Vict. C. 70, when the records of the various courts of See also:law, all See also:wills proved in Ireland, and certain See also:financial records, were collected into one See also:building. The See also:State See also:Paper Office remains a See also:separate, though subordinate, department in one of the towers of See also:Dublin See also:Castle, whence the papers are only transferred to the Record Office by See also:special See also:order. The See also:Deputy Keeper of the Irish Record Office publishes yearly reports with appendices.

The most important See also:

calendar published in these is that of Fiants or warrants for the issue of letters under the See also:Great See also:Seal, See also:Henry VIII. to See also:Elizabeth, contained in Reports 7-9, 11-13, 15-18, with indices for each reign. A calendar of the Deeds of See also:Christ See also:Church, Dublin, is contained in the loth, 23rd, 24th and 27th Reports. The Wills of the See also:diocese of Dublin, down to the See also:year 1800, are indexed under the names of the testators in the 26th and 3oth Reports. The See also:series of Proclamations by the See also:lord See also:lieutenant and See also:council, and by the See also:crown, which is among the records in the Record See also:Tower of Dublin Castle, is catalogued in the 23rd and 24th Reports. Of the financial records very little has been published. In the 33rd See also:Report there is a See also:good See also:account of the Books of the See also:Treasury and Accounting Departments from the reign of Henry VIII. Scattered entries from the See also:Pipe Rolls (13 Henry III.-33 See also:Edward I.) are printed in the 33rd and 35th-38th Reports. Before the See also:establishment of the Record Office the Irish Record See also:Commission published a Latin calendar of the Patent and See also:Close Rolls from Henry II. to Henry VII., and an incomplete calendar in See also:English for the years 5-35 Henry VIII. Under the authority of the See also:Master of the Rolls a calendar was published for the See also:period Henry VIII. to Elizabeth, upon which some severe comments will be found in J. T. See also:Gilbert's The See also:History . . . of the Public Records of Ireland.

An English calendar for the reign of See also:

James I. was published by the Record Commission; and a calendar for the years 1-8 See also:Charles I., under the authority of the Master of the Rolls. Two large See also:folio volumes entitled See also:Liber Hibernie should here be mentioned. The history and contents of this astounding See also:work can be gathered from its introduction, and from an See also:index to it in the 9th Report. Inquisitions See also:post mortem and on See also:attainder, for the provinces of See also:Leinster and See also:Ulster only, are dealt with in the Record Commission's Inquisi• tionum in officio Rotulorum Cancellarie Hibernie asservatarum Repertorium. Of strictly judicial records the Record Office has published one See also:volume of an admirable calendar of the See also:Justiciary Rolls (1295-1303). See also:Scotland. The records of the See also:kingdom are deposited in several places in See also:Edinburgh. The See also:principal repository is the See also:General See also:Register See also:House, at See also:present governed by the Act 42 & 43 Vict. C. 44. But certain records of the See also:chancery and all the records of the See also:court of teinds are in separate repositories. A general account of these records is given in M.

See also:

Livingstone's See also:Guide to the Public Records of Scotland deposited in H.M. General Register House, Edinburgh, with appendices describing those contained in other repositories. See also:Parliamentary.—The Record Commission of Great See also:Britain published The Acts of the See also:Parliament of Scotland (1124-1707), a See also:text derived from many See also:sources described in the See also:introductory volume; The Acts of the Lords Auditors of Causes and Complaints (1466-1494), being the proceedings of the parliamentary See also:committee for See also:hearing petitions; and The Acts of the Lords of Council (1478-1495), being proceedings of a similar See also:body. Privy Council.—The register of the Privy Council of Scotland from 1J45 is in course of publication at the General Register House. See also:Exchequer.—The Exchequer Rolls, corresponding to the Great See also:Roll of the English Exchequer, are being printed in full from 1264 at the General Register House; and the accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland from 1473 are being published at the same office. Chancery.—The enrolments of letters issued under the Great Seal of Scotland are contained in twelve rolls and a series of volumes. The Record Commission printed these registers in full for the period 1306-1424; and the General Register House is continuing the publication in an abridged See also:form. Court of Chancery.—Only the enrolments of letters under the Great Seal are transferred to the General Register House; the See also:remainder are preserved in the court of chancery. The most important of these are the Retours to Chancery. To these the only printed means of reference is the Inquisitionum ad capellam Domini Regis retornatarum abbreviatio (16th and 17th centuries), published by the Record Commission. See also:Local Records. To See also:deal with the municipal and local records of Great Britain in any detail is quite impossible in this See also:article.

Fortunately the admirable work of C. See also:

Gross, entitled The Bibliography of Municipal History (Harvard See also:Historical Studies), contains a complete account of the work done on municipal records up to 1897; while the Report of the Committee appointed to inquire as to the existing arrangements for the collection and custody of local records (1902) affords a complete view of the questions dealt with by it. Private Collections.—The publications of the Historical See also:Manuscripts Commission are in most cases the only printed means of reference to private muniments. The 17th Report of the Commission contains an index to all the collections of papers so far dealt with by them. Wills.—Up to the date of the See also:Probate Act (20 & 21 Vict. c. 77) the proving of wills was under ecclesiastical See also:jurisdiction, and the wills themselves were scattered among See also:peculiar courts—courts of the various bishops, and the See also:prerogative court of Canter-See also:bury. By the passing of the act a general registry was established at See also:Somerset House, to which were transferred all the wills of the prerogative court of See also:Canterbury and of many of the other registries. But even at the present See also:time there remains much confusion and uncertainty as to the See also:place of See also:deposit of the wills of any particular court; and for accurate See also:information on this point the inquirer must be referred to the Handbook to the See also:Ancient Courts of Probate and Depositories of Wills, by G. W See also:Marshall. See also:British Colonies. For the British colonies the most important records, historically speaking, are the Colonial Office papers deposited in the Public Record Office, See also:London; and those colonies which have published the records See also:relating to their history have usually gone to that source. In New See also:South See also:Wales, however, there is in the Colonial Secretary's office at See also:Sydney a collection of records dating from 1789, which are included in the volumes published by that State Cape See also:Colony possesses records dating from 1652 ; G.

McCall Theal, historiographer of the colony, has also published important series of volumes of documents See also:

drawn from the Public Record Office and other See also:European sources. See also:Canada has recently centralized its records, of which a large See also:part so far consists of transcripts made in See also:Europe. For an account see E. C. See also:Burnett's See also:List of printed guides to and descriptions of Arc,'Aives and other repositories of Historical Manuscripts (See also:American Historical Manuscripts Commission Report, 1897). The Dominion Archivist submits yearly to the See also:Minister for See also:Agriculture a report, in which (in Appendices) are given many lists and accounts of records. European Countries. In dealing with Great Britain it has seemed desirable to give some account of publications dealing with the contents of the repositories described. In the remainder of the article this will not be attempted. For the most part the books mentioned are in themselves See also:bibliographies and guides, and do not contain even abstracts or descriptions of actual documents. It is scarcely necessary to explain that much of the following information is based on the work of See also:Langlois and See also:Stein.

End of Article: INDIA OFFICE

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