The Families in British India Society

It is estimated that three million Britons lived and served in India over the three and a half centuries of British presence on the sub-continent, and it is not surprising that large numbers of family historians have discovered that they have ancestors who spent some or all of their lives in the British Empire’s ‘Jewel in the Crown’. A fascination with India, its culture and its people runs deep in our psyche.  Today the Families in British India Society, or FIBIS for short, is the leading family history organisation focusing on assisting genealogists to research ancestors who lived in India. FIBIS was established as a charity in the latter half of 1998 and membership has grown to well over 1400 people in the UK and overseas.

The charity’s primary aim is educational – to help individuals research their ancestors and the society in which they lived. The geographical area covered is pre-1947 India and associated countries such as Burma (Myanmar), St. Helena, Straits Settlements (Singapore and Penang – formerly Prince of Wales Island), and other parts of Asia of interest to British India, such as Persia (Iran), the Gulf and China.