September 5th, 2009
LONDON — My second full day in London was spent in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room of the British Library. The object of my search was my 5 × great grandfather Benjamin Coles. Various sources have listed his occupation as a labourer, warehouseman, porter, and clerk at the East India House. The British Library is the repository for the archives of the East India Company and I was hoping that there might be something in its miles of archives that would shed some light on Benjamin’s life and career.
The staff at the enquiries desk were very helpful and got me pointed in the right direction. While waiting for some documents to be retrieved, I started trawling through a microfilm of the minutes of a pension fund. It looked like it could be a treasure trove because to qualify for a pension the prospective recipient had to supply to the trustees of the fund documentation supporting their marriage, baptisms of any children, certificate of burial, etc. After scanning three volumes totalling 35 years of minutes there was no mention of either Benjamin Coles or his widow Elizabeth, and I began to wonder whether I had missed a mention. The fourth and fifth volumes were the indexes to the first three (it would have been nice if they had been placed ahead of the minutes on the microfilm to save a lot of time) and these confirmed that I hadn’t missed anything.
By now it was early afternoon and the salary lists I had ordered were ready. They were large thick volumes detailing payments made to home staff of the East India Company. Too much information to read sequentially so I just sampled the quarterly accounts but could find no mention of Benjamin. I think he may have been too junior in the company to have been recorded in these particular documents.
Leaving the Reading Room I headed downstairs to visit the Henry VIII exhibition. Unfortunately both Saturday and Sunday were already sold out, and I discovered that the exhibition finished on Sunday. So all in all not a particularly successful day, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
OMG, you poor fellow, fancy having to go through all that microfilm/fiche. they are so hard on your eyes!!
And not a lot to show for it. but hey! i reckon that sometimes you have to put in the the hard yards to eliminate avenues.
and no Henry VIII stuff to see. oh well, how are the cooked breakfasts going?
did you get jet lag?
All the best, Mr. Rascal!
Manicane
P.s. You’re missed.
p.p.s nice floating tag cloud!
No jet lag. I was quite tired Thursday night but then you’re supposed to be tired at night! The following day was just like any other day. I’m coping with the cooked breakfasts, but forgetting to have lunch though!