External Branch: Proceedings and files

The files in these series have been included in number IOR/R/1/4/263, IOR/R/1/4/1091 and IOR/R/1/4/523.

Unrestricted

The External Branch was one of the four branches created by the abolition in 1884 of the old subject branches in the Foreign Department. The External Branch handled matters concerning Baluchistan, Persia, Aden, Turkish Arabia, the Red Sea and Egypt, Nepal, Assam, Manipur, Burma, Siam, China, and foreign settlements in India. The branch was divided around 1900 into two sections, A and B, primarily on a geographical basis. In 1906, Section A was dealing with Aden, the Persian Gulf, pilgrim traffic, the Rea Sea and Somali Coast, Turkish Arabia, Zanzibar, and East Africa, while Section B was dealing with Assam, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, Siam, Sikkim and Tibet. In April 1923, the External Branch divided: Section A retained the name External Branch, and Section B became the new Mid Asia Branch (later renamed Near East Branch). Because the External Branch, and its offshoot Near East Branch, went to form part of the External Affairs Department on the division of the Foreign and Political Department in 1937, its files were not subject to review in 1947. Entries in this section of the Crown Representative's Records list are therefore confined to cross-references to pre-1937 files and proceedings found attached to the records of branches which thereafter formed part of the Political Department.