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The British Empire in the nineteenth century

This guide was produced to help volunteers for the FreeCen Project decide whether
or not a person born outside the British Isles was nevertheless born in a
 British Empire territory

OVB or OVF?

The list of territories below made up the British Empire in the 19th century.

So, if a person was born in one of these places, or is described as a British Subject
(sometimes abbreviated as BS) enter OVB (overseas British) in column T.

Otherwise, the entry should be OVF (overseas foreign).

Do not spend long trying to puzzle out anything not covered clearly here —
put your best interpretation (or UNK) in column T and an X in column V to alert the checker

 

 

08 February, 2017

Europe Indian Ocean North America
England Andaman Islands Assiniboia 1812–
Wales Ashmore Island 1878– British Columbia 1858–
Scotland British Indian Ocean Territory Canada, Dominion of 1867–
Ireland Ceylon Canada, Province of 1841–
Channel Islands  Christmas Island 1888– Cape Breton Island
Including Alderney, Guernsey incl Brechou, Herm, Jethou, Sark, Jersey Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1825– Keewatin, District of 1876–
Isle of Man Dansborg 1801–1802, 1808–1815, 1845– Labrador
Corfu Frederiksnagore 1801–1802, 1808–1815, 1845– Lower Canada
Corsica, 1794–1796 Heard Island 1833– Manitoba 1870–
Cyprus, 1878– Maldives New Brunswick
Gibraltar Mauritius 1810– Newfoundland
Gozo, 1802– McDonald Islands 1833– North-Western Territory
Heligoland, 1807–1890 Nicobar Islands 1848– Northwest Territories 1870–
Ionian Islands, 1809–1864  Rιunion 1810–1815 Nova Scotia
Ithaca Rodrigues 1810– Ontario 1867–
Kephalonia Seychelles Prince Edward Island
Kythira Tranquebar 1801–1814, 1845– Quebec
Lefkas   Red River Colony 1812–
Malta, 1802–   Rupert's Land
Minorca, 1798–1802   Stikine Territory 1862–
Paxos   Upper Canada
Zakynthos or Zante   Vancouver Island
 
South Atlantic Antarctic South America
Ascension Island 1815– Graham Land 1832– Berbice 1803–
Falkland Islands 1774–1833, 1841– South Orkney 1821– British Guiana
St Helena South Shetland 1819– Demerara 1814–
South Georgia Victoria Land 1841 Essequibo 1803
South Sandwich Islands    
Tristan da Cunha 1816    
 
Caribbean & Central America Asia Africa
  Abu Dhabi Basutoland 1868–
Anguilla Aden 1839– Bechuanaland 1884–
Antigua Afghanistan 1839– British Bechuanaland 1885–
Aruba 1799-1802 1805-1816 Ajman Bight of Benin 1852–
Bahamas Arakan 1824– Bight of Biafra 1849–
Barbados Bahrain 1880– British Central Africa 1893–
Barbuda Baluchistan 1877– British East Africa 1888–
Bay Islands –1860 Bencoolen 1785–1825 British Somaliland 1884–
Bonaire 1807–1815 Bengal Cape Colony 1795–1803 & 1806–
British Honduras British Malaya 1824– Egypt 1801–1803 &1882–
British Virgin Islands Brunei 1888– Gambia 1816–
Cayman Islands Burma 1824– Gold Coast 1874–
Curaηao 1800–1803 1807–1816 Christmas Island 1826– Lagos Protectorate 1887–
Dominica Dibba 1871– Matabeleland 1888–
Guadeloupe 1810–1814, 1815–1816 Dubai Mashonaland 1889–
Grenada Hamriyah 1875– Natal 1856–
Grenadines Hong Kong 1843– Niger 1885–
Jamaica India Niger Coast Protectorate
Leeward Islands Kowloon 1860– Oil Rivers Protectorate
Martinique 1794–1802, 1809–1814 Malacca 1826– Orange River Colony 1900–
Montserrat New Territories 1898– Rhodesia 1895–
Mosquito Coast –1861 North Borneo 1882– Sierra Leone
Nevis Penang 1826– Southern Nigeria 1891–
Redonda 1872– Ras al-Khaimah Sudan 1899–
Saba 1801–1803 1810–1816 Sarawak, Kingdom of 1888– Swaziland 1893–
St Christopher Sharjah Tati Concessions Land 1872–
St Eustatius 1801–1802 1810–1816 Singapore 1824– Transvaal 1877–
St John 1801–1802, 1807–1815 Socotra Island 1876– Uganda 1890–
St Kitts Stonecutters Island 1860– Walvis Bay
St Lucia Straits Settlements 1826– Zanzibar 1890–
St Martin 1801–1802 Surat Zululand 1887–
St Thomas 1801–1802, 1807–1815 Tenasserim 1824–  
St Vincent & The Grenadines Trucial States 1853–  
South Caribbean Islands Umm al-Quwai South America
Tobago Weihaiwei 1898– Berbice 1803–
Trinidad 1802–   British Guiana
Turks & Caicos Islands North Atlantic Demerara 1814–
Windward Islands Bermuda Essequibo 1803
 

 

Notes
  1. All these territories were under British control during the whole of the 19th century, unless a date (or range) is given.
    An entry such as “New Colony –1804, 1815–1835, 1874–” should be read as:
     “New Colony was part of the British Empire up to 1804, from 1815 to 1835 and from 1874 onwards.”
     
  2. Sources: the lists were compiled largely from the Wikipedia article, the Evolution of the British Empire.
    In addition, a number of other sources were used to check, clarify or expand the information given there. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure accuracy, I would be more than happy to receive any corrections or additions.
     

Compiler: Alison O’Neill © 2007–2011

 

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