Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices,...

CO

1574-1990

Records of the Colonial Office, Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices, Empire Marketing Board, and related bodies relating to the administration of Britain's colonies.

Comprises records of:

• Board of Trade responsibilities for colonial affairs before 1801
• Chief Clerk's and General Departments
• Correspondence with the colonies, entry books and registers of correspondence
• Acts, ordinances and proclamations from the colonies
• Government gazettes from the colonies
• Sessional papers from the colonies
• Local bodies and other colonial miscellanea
• Confidential print
• Emigration departments
• Dominions Division
• Economic departments
• Social Service Department
• Defence departments
• Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees Department
• Information Department
• Welfare and students department
• Communications Department
• International Relations Department
• Research Department
• Accounts Department
• Patronage and personnel divisions
• Legal Department
• Colonial research councils
• Private office papers and private collections
• Constitutional commissions, etc.
• Advisory and research committees, etc.
• Empire and colonial marketing boards
• Irish Office and Northern Ireland Office
• Chartered companies
• West Indies Development and Welfare Organisation
• Appeals to the Prize Court

CO 413 is a series not used.

The correspondence, entry books of out-letters and registers of the Colonial Office are arranged in colony classes or in subject classes.

Later records of the Commonwealth and Foreign and Commonwealth Offices are in FCO

For further correspondence of the War and Colonial Department see:

WO 1

WO 6

Public Record(s)

English

• Colonial Office, 1854-1966
• Commonwealth Office, 1966-1968
• Empire Marketing Board, 1926-1933
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1968-1968

1073 series

Open unless otherwise stated

Topics

Internment

International

Litigation

Trade and commerce

Migration

Caribbean

Research

Legal

Ireland

Aid and development

Official publications

Personal and family papers

Colonial Affairs Before 1801

In the seventeenth century a succession of committees, commissions and councils of trade and plantations, all to a lesser or greater degree subordinate to the Privy Council, were established to superintend the affairs of the new colonies in America and the West Indies. The last of these, the lords of trade and plantations or Board of Trade, was established in 1696 and continued until 1782. Although from 1675 the secretaries of state were always lords of trade, their involvement in colonial affairs was at first slight and only developed in the eighteenth century. At first either secretary might be concerned, but eventually it became established that the colonies were the responsibility of the secretary of state for the Southern Department. They were the channel of communication between the crown and the Board of Trade, but depended on the board for effective action in many fields of colonial affairs.

In 1768 a third secretary of state, the colonial or American secretary, was appointed and the colonial functions of the southern secretary were transferred to them. From 1769 to 1779 they were also the president of the Board of Trade. With the end of the American colonies the Board of Trade and colonial secretaryship were abolished by an act of 1782, and until 1801 colonial affairs were in the hands of the home secretary. In 1784 the Board of Trade was revived and established on a permanent basis in 1786, but it had advisory functions only and its authority on colonial questions quickly declined and hardly continued after 1801.

The War and Colonial Department 1801 to 1854

In 1794 a secretary of state for war was appointed to manage the war with France. After the peace of 1801 their military responsibilities declined and the administration of the colonies was subsequently transferred to this position, becoming the secretary of state for war and the colonies. Responsibility for both military activities and colonial affairs continued, even when the war resumed in 1803. The restoration of peace in 1815 and the increased demands which the acquisition of new colonies during the war increased colonial responsibilities and by 1822 the office included four Geographical Departments dealing with colonies in different areas of the world. Between 1804 and 1836 the War and Colonial Department was responsible for relations with the Barbary States, but in 1836 this responsibility was transferred to the Foreign Office. On the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854 colonial and military affairs were divided and a separate secretary of state for the colonies was appointed.

The Colonial Office 1854 to 1966

In 1854 a separate Colonial Office, headed by a secretary of state for the colonies was established. The division of the office into geographical departments was continued, general business being entrusted to the chief clerk. In 1870 a General Department took some of the work of the chief clerk, an Accounts Branch was set up in 1869, and there was a separate Emigration Department from 1878 to 1894. In 1907 a Dominions Division was set up; in 1925 this became the separate Dominions Office, though until 1930 and again briefly in 1931 and 1938 to 1939 the offices of secretary of state for the colonies and secretary of state for dominions affairs were held by the same person. The remaining geographical departments were grouped in a Crown Colonies Division. The territories mandated to Britain following the First World War were also administered by the Colonial Office. From 1907to 1925 it was responsible for the work of the Imperial Institute.

From 1930 the number of subject departments increased considerably, a trend which accentuated during the Second World War. The granting of independence to growing numbers of colonies in the post-war period and the termination of mandates led to a decrease in the responsibilities of the Colonial Office. Relation with the former colonies became the concern of the Commonwealth Relations Office. In July 1961 responsibilities for overseas aid and development formerly borne by certain departments and committees of the Colonial Office were transferred to the new Department of Technical Cooperation, and a number of technical advisers were transferred with them. In March 1962 responsibility for relations with Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and Nyasaland (now Malawi) was transferred to the Central African Office, which was under the personal control of the home secretary. From July 1962 to October 1964 the titles of secretary of state for the colonies and secretary of state for Commonwealth relations were combined, and in 1966 the Colonial Office was merged with the Commonwealth Relations Office to form the Commonwealth Office.