Record revealed
Japanese Instrument of Surrender, 1945
After six years of brutal global conflict, this document marked the end of the Second World War.
Series
Ordnance Office and War Office: Miscellaneous Entry Books and Papers
Catalogue reference: WO 55
What's it about?
WO 55
This series contains principally the following records of the Ordnance Office: entry books of reports of the Surveyor General with the decisions of The Board of Ordnance thereon, 1753-1859; entry books of warrants from the Master General of the...
Full description and record details
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Reference (The unique identifier to the record described, used to order and refer to it)
- WO 55
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Title (The name of the record)
- Ordnance Office and War Office: Miscellaneous Entry Books and Papers
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1568-1923
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Description (What the record is about)
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This series contains principally the following records of the Ordnance Office:
- entry books of reports of the Surveyor General with the decisions of The Board of Ordnance thereon, 1753-1859;
- entry books of warrants from the Master General of the Ordnance, and Orders in Council together with originals of the same, 1568-1857;
- orders, 1744-1863, including Military Orders, 1822-1855;
- engineer papers and letter books, 1785-1868;
- artillery letters and letter books, 1773-1862;
- observations, reports, etc on defence, fortifications, etc, 1681-1879;
- registers of issues of stores and arms at the Tower of London, Portsmouth, Chatham and elsewhere, 1571-1858 (but mostly dating from the seventeenth century);
- entry books of in- and out- letters, minutes, accounts, store ledgers etc of the Ordnance Office, Portsmouth, 1699-1890;
- the seal of the Ordnance Board, 1806;
- papers relating to patents, 1876-1904;
- lands, rents and buildings, 1732-1923, and the king's works at Purfleet, 1793-1834.
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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Incomplete sets of letter books from Ordnance Office and Barrack Office at Tipner, Portsmouth, 1801-1882, and from Ordnance Office, Malta, 1801-1837, and from Ordnance Office, Sheerness, 1780-1801, and of the Master Gunner at the Tower of London, 1819-1844, are held in the archive of the Royal Logistic Corps Museum.
For continuation of this series see WO 370
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Held by (Who holds the record)
- The National Archives, Kew
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Legal status (A note as to whether the record being described is a Public Record or not)
- Public Record(s)
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Language (The language of the record)
- English
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Creator(s) (The creator of the record)
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- Ordnance Office, 1683-1855
- War Department, 1855-1857
- War Office, 1857-1964
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
- 3071 bundles and volumes
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
- Open
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Subjects (Categories and themes found in our collection (our subject list is under development, and some records may have no subjects or fewer than expected))
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Accruals (Indicates whether the archive expects to receive further records in future)
- Series is accruing
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Record URL
- https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/id/C14264/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
9,790,118 records
Within the department: WO
Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General,...
You are currently looking at the series: WO 55
Ordnance Office and War Office: Miscellaneous Entry Books and Papers
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