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
War Office: Confidential Printed Papers (B Papers)
Catalogue reference: WO 287
What's it about?
WO 287
Confidential reports and handbooks printed for internal circulation in the War Office and the army. The original distinction (in the early 1900s) between papers in this series and those in the A series (WO 33) is not clear, but many B papers are...
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 287
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Title (The name of the record)
- War Office: Confidential Printed Papers (B Papers)
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Date (When the record was created)
- 1904-1949
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Description (What the record is about)
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Confidential reports and handbooks printed for internal circulation in the War Office and the army. The original distinction (in the early 1900s) between papers in this series and those in the A series (WO 33) is not clear, but many B papers are military or intelligence reports on foreign countries. Later, B papers appear to be those of a classification below 'secret'.
The B series appear to have been phased out from 1943 and the A series was used thereafter for most accountable documents.
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Arrangement (Information about the filing sequence or logical order of the record)
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Arrangement
After the two series of A and B had become established it was not unusual for papers to be issued initially in the A series, and subsequently downgraded to 'security' classification and issued as B papers. Where this was so it is noted in the WO 33 piece description after the A number e.g. A 5981 (B 1203). Copies have not been preserved in WO 287
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Related material (A cross-reference to other related records)
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For later army finance reports see WO 350
For War Office and Ministry of Defence confidential print, see WO 279
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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)
- War Office, 1857-1964
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Physical description (The amount and form of the record)
- 287 files, papers and volumes
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Access conditions (Information on conditions that restrict or affect access to the record)
- Open
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Immediate source of acquisition (When and where the record was acquired from)
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From 1982 Ministry of Defence
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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/C14492/
Catalogue hierarchy
Over 27 million records
This record is held at The National Archives, Kew
9,805,118 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 287
War Office: Confidential Printed Papers (B Papers)
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