You can definitely find it in 19th-century UK books on Google Books. Doesn't seem to be very common, but it is used in a pretty similar way to the way Indian En

You can definitely find it in 19th-century UK books on Google Books. Doesn't seem to be very common, but it is used in a pretty similar way to the way Indian English uses it today. From an 1833 English court opinion [1]: > This letter was immediately given by the bankrupt to the defendant, with directions that as the voyage was altered, he, the defendant, would do the needful. The opinion then spends several additional pages trying to determine what precisely was legally "needful" in this situation. [1] https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports/cP9QAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq="do+the+needful"&pg=RA3-PA211 https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Law_Journal_Reports...