FO1567-2004Records created or inherited by the Foreign Office
The vast majority of these records are those of the Foreign Office, which from 1782 to 1968 was responsible for correspondence and negotiations with other states and the conduct of British foreign policy. Also contained are some records of the Foreign Office's successor body, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. First there are the series of general correspondence from Political and Other Departments with related indexes and registers (most series in other groups will have related material within this general correspondence). The general correspondence is supplemented by series of Confidential Print, organised by country or subject. There are also private and official papers of Foreign Office officials.
In addition to these are the records of the business departments which carried out its administrative and statutory duties. They include the records of:
Slave Trade and African Departments
Information Policy Department, Regional Information Department and Information Research Department
Claims Department and Foreign Compensation Commission
There are records of bodies which performed internal services for the Foreign Office:
Chief Clerk's Department
Library, Research Department and Research and Library Department
Treaty and Royal Letter Department
Communications Department
There are a large number of series containing the records of Embassies, Legations and Consulates as well as those containing records of other field organisations, comprised of:
Consular courts and other extra-territorial jurisdiction
British Middle East Office
Chinese Secretary's Office
There are the records of departments or bodies that only existed for limited periods comprising:
First World War Departments
Milner Mission
Allied administration of occupied territories in post Second World War Europe
Allied Commission for Austria
Foreign Office Administration of African Territories
Second World War Departments
Delegations to international organisations
Commissions
Conferences, Committees and Councils
Tribunals
The Passport Office section contains the records of this semi-independent body. Finally there is a group of miscellaneous records.