Indian Army Lists online-pdfs

Discussion in 'British Indian Army' started by Maureene, Sep 8, 2015.

  1. Maureene

    Maureene Well-Known Member

    There are now some Indian Army Lists for the war years available as pdfs from the Digital Library of India. Links have been added to the FIBIS Fibiwiki page Indian Army List online, with the links in chronological order, from 1890 through to the 1940s

    Most of these have been recently scanned from the from the Library of the United Service Institution of India.

    There is also a reference to a few older editions which use a TIFF format (and may require a TIFF plug-in)
    ‪http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Indian_Army_List_online

    Cheers
    Maureen
     
    Shiny 9th likes this.
  2. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Very useful links Maureen.

    Many thanks as always.

    Steve
     
  3. DavidW

    DavidW Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the link.
     
  4. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Great link. Thanks for the heads up.
     
  5. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Maureen

    Thank you very much for creating the FIBIS links and this post. Thanks too David for the tip off.

    I have downloaded many of the Indian Army Lists already and have looked at a few. Most are very acceptable scans and appear to be complete. One or two are not as advertised - for instance October 1946 Parts 1 & 2 appears to be only Part 2. The 1947 Special Edition is very poor - scans at strange angles, blurred scans, missing pages - this seems to be the copy I gave up trying to read using the old system.

    [SIZE=11.6667px]These are not grumbles - just additional information - this is an invaluable resource. If I find other points of interest on the files would you be interested to note them? If so should I post them here?[/SIZE]

    [SIZE=11.6667px]Thanks again - much appreciated.[/SIZE]

    [SIZE=11.6667px]Steve[/SIZE]
     
  6. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Steve:

    Nice to see you active here on the forum.

    David
     
  7. Maureene

    Maureene Well-Known Member

    Thanks Steve for your comments about the files. It is great to get this feedback, so if you have further comments, please post here in this thread.

    Cheers
    Maureen
     
  8. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Thank you David and Maureen

    Steve
     
  9. lionboxer

    lionboxer Member

    Being a self-confessed techno duffer, can anyone explain how I can see these records without having to wait hours and hours to download? I'm interested in 1943-4 records.
    Lionboxer
     
  10. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Lionboxer

    I found it best to download directly to my computer before opening - is that what you have tried? If not, when on the appropriate DLI page, 'right click' over the link to the file and click on 'Save link as' or similar depending on which browser you use. The download should then start.

    Some of the 1943-1946 files are very large - over 1Gb - and the Indian server is slow. Each of these large files can take an hour or so to download, depending on the speed of your connection. Early morning UK time seems to be the best time for a faster download.

    I found I could download two files from the DLI site at the same time. I tried to get more than two downloads running at the same time and the server just dropped them all.

    Steve
     
  11. lionboxer

    lionboxer Member

    Looks as though I will just have to be patient.
    Exactly what can I expect to see on these lists?
     
  12. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Lionboxer

    The lists are, well, lists of officers (and senior warrant officers) of the Indian Army. The precise format and content changes over time however for the period of publication, say 'July 1926' a given officer will be listed under the battalion/regiment with which he was serving or other lists and appointments such as higher command, the 'Special Unemployed List' and so on. It is possible to build up a military biography by tracing a person's career through successive volumes.

    The entry for each battalion/regiment also provides details of the unit's lineage, history and location

    Here is a sample page

    http://www.rothwell.force9.co.uk/burmaweb/images/Indian Army List sample page - July 1926.pdf

    Steve
     
  13. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Hi Maureen

    Another update to the quality of the files. The April 1939 file has only 358 pages, ending at page 292-293. Around 500+ pages and the index are missing.

    Steve
     
  14. Maureene

    Maureene Well-Known Member

    Thanks Steve for the information dated 26 October, 2015. Sorry I must have missed it at the time, but I will now add this information to the Fibiwiki page.

    I have been advised of three additional Lists which are now available - two were catalogued incorrectly, and one was included with another List.

    These are 1905 January
    1926 April and
    1937 April

    I have updated the FIBIS Fibiwiki page , URL is ‪http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php/Indian_Army_List_online

    Cheers
    Maureen
     
  15. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

    Thank you for these Maureen.

    Steve
     
  16. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    Thanks for the corrections, Maureen.
     
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I've found the downloads are coming in much faster now. Approx. 20-30 mins per file.
     
  18. Maureene

    Maureene Well-Known Member

    That's good to hear Steve.

    Cheers
    Maureen
     
  19. Rothy

    Rothy Well-Known Member

  20. Maureene

    Maureene Well-Known Member

    Many thanks for advising Steve.

    Error now fixed.

    Cheers
    Maureen
     

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