Quick Facts II: Anglo-Indian Project

Interact with the Anglo-Indian Project

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It’s over a year since the first ‘Quick Facts‘ post, a lot has happened since, so time for an update.

What is the Anglo-Indian Project?

The focus of the AIP is to explore Anglo-Indian history. It started with a keen interest in researching my Anglo-Indian heritage through my nana Elaine Cynthia Wheeler (nee Hassett) – find as many ancestors as possible and put together a family tree. This continues with a lot of success (see below), but the AIP also aims to explore the broader context of Anglo-Indian lives in, and beyond, India.

Why research ancestors?

To name a few reasons:

The joy of discovering something new about those who lived before us
- Such as 7 generations of unknown family in the UK, India and Portugal
Discovering more about yourself and your family
- A trip to Bombay (Mumbai), India revealed lots of new insight
Preserving family stories and heritage for generations to come
- Such as child care in 1940s Bombay
Bringing the names of ancestors back to life
- The deviant lives, entangled families and the tragic loss
Creating a legacy
- Hopefully to be continued for years to come
Track historical events
- The changes in wider (global) societies can inspire meaningful, and purposeful, change for the future – such as lessons learned from the Persian Empire, Portugese Empire and the British Empire.

What are the key findings so far?

45 total ancestors discovered
7 generations discovered
Portuguese ancestry discovered (Pereira and De Silva)
Dutch ancestry discovered (Vanderputt)
15 Family, and connected, names so far:
- Astridge, Blakeman, Callaghan, De Silva, Gibson, Gordon, Hassett, Lee, Pereira, Lee, Murray, Smith, Vanderputt, Wharton, Wheeler,
3 interesting stories stand out so far:
- Edith Aileen Wharton, the unraveling story, and the latest intriguing discovery.
- John Pereira and the story curious connections to Edith, the Hassetts and Whartons.
- The discovery of Frederick Augustus Murray and associated family (which continues to grow).
Global interaction with the blog has led to living (unknown) family members making contact, and many people – academics, historians, Anglo-Indians, bloggers – now actively interacting with the project
Many family photographs, stories and items have been shared

What next?

As addressed in a recent post there is still a lot of information to be shared. Ideas and draft posts increase every day (currently over 160 draft posts sit waiting to be finalised and shared). The reflective DNA of the project continues to raise new questions, keep the AIP focused, and maintain a healthy forward momentum. Some future direction:

A number of new records have been discovered and will be presented through 2017 (once the ball is rolling, it doesn’t stop).
Food posts have proved popular, and there are plenty more delicious posts to come.
There is still much to explore regarding the broader context of Anglo-Indian history and the community’s role in the contemporary world.
Genealogical resources and tips: Some reflections on the process of conducting genealogical research / tracing your ancestors.
Plenty more to follow 🙂
- As one follower of the AIP stated recently: ‘There’s something for everyone’.