Public and Judicial Department (Separate) Files

The Public and Judicial (Separate) P& J(S) or POL(S) series of the former India Office comprise the files of Indian Political Intelligence (I P I). The files are a catch-all for India Office political intelligence data, including correspondence with the Director of the Intelligence Bureau in India (D I B), on intelligence matters about pre-Independence India. They include much material originating with the Security Service (MI.5), the Secret Intelligence Service (S I S or MI.6) and Scotland Yard's Special Branch. The files contain intelligence data on communism and other Indian political or revolutionary movements (notably the Communist Party) in India between 1916 to 1947; surveillance of Indian revolutionaries abroad and British and foreign sympathisers; proscription of certain publications; censorship of mails; notes and reports on personalities, intercepted letters and passport controls. According to one I P I officer these records differ little from records maintained by MI.5 and MI.6. The files expose in detail the existence and operations of a secret intelligence organisation operating both in Europe and the USA. I P I was also the India/Burma section of MI.5, and it was the only Imperial or Dominion intelligence agency which was permitted to operate out of London.

The original P& J(S) registers have been retained by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

From the early days of the existence of I P I, the security aspects of its files and papers necessitated their being kept separate from the routine papers controlled by the Public and Judicial Department's registry and filing systems. A separate system of

Unrestricted

I P I was a shadowy and formerly non-avowed organisation, within the Public and Judicial Department of the India Office in London, devoted to the internal and external security of British India. In consequence of the development of Indian anarchist activities in England in 1909, the India Office suggested (after consultation with Scotland Yard and the Government of India) that an officer of the Indian Police should be placed on deputation in England. The organisation he headed was first called the Indian Political Intelligence Office, but the name finally decided on for this organisation in 1921 was Indian Political Intelligence or 'I P I'. Major John Arnold Wallinger, a senior Indian Police officer, was deputed to England in 1910 'for the purpose of observations upon Indian revolutionaries and criminals (connected with India) of all nationalities'. This activity increased during the First World War. In view of war conditions, Wallinger was provided with an assistant, Philip C Vickery, Indian Police, in 1915, whose duty was to 'watch anti-British conspiracies in England and Europe, so far as they affect Indian interests' and Indian conspirators attempting to attack the British government of India. During the First World War information collected on German efforts to create dissatisfaction among Indians in Europe became of great value to the War Office and Vickery worked in close co-ordination with Military Intelligence in Europe to 1919 and also in the United States, returning to duty in India in 1923. Other senior officers deputed from the Indian Police intelligence division to I P I included Paul Biggane, 1922 to 1923; Charles Augustus Tegart 1918 to 1923 and John Hunter Adam, 1923. John Wallinger retired in April 1926 and was succeeded by Vickery as head of I P I in October 1926. Vickery remained I P I chief until the organisation was closed in August 1947 and transferred to T G Sanjevi Pillai, Director Intelligence Bureau, Government of India. In 1950 the remains of I P I's organisation became known as the OS4 branch of the Security Service (MI.5). After the 1935 Government of India Act, I P I became a subsidiary of the Intelligence Bureau, although in practice it was autonomous. I P I was run jointly by the India Office and the Government of India. UK, Europe and American operations were run by I P I in London. Indian operations were run by the Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Home Department, Government of India or D I B, (also known in India as the Secret Service). A Central Intelligence Officer in each province of India (usually seconded from the local police force) received information by close liaison with the Provincial Intelligence Branches and from sources run within the provinces and other informal sources. I P I reported to the Secretary of the Public and Judicial Department of the India Office, the Director, Criminal Intelligence India and maintained close contact with Scotland Yard and MI.5. I P I shared accommodation with MI.5 from 1924. When this was bombed in 1940 the organisation moved with MI.5 to Oxford, returning to London in 1945.