Catalogue description Commonwealth Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: South Asia Department: Registered Files (S and FS Series)

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of FCO 37
Reference: FCO 37
Title: Commonwealth Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: South Asia Department: Registered Files (S and FS Series)
Description:

This series contains paper and digital records (including digital 'index cards') created by the South Asia Department of the Commonwealth Office to October 1968 dealing with UK and Commonwealth relations with India, Pakistan and the disputed Kashmir territory, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim, Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) and the Maldive Islands from January 1967. From October 1968, the records are those of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office South Asian Department, whose responsibilities included relations with Afghanistan as well as the above. The Department was responsible for relations with Bangladesh from 1972.

The series includes full-text digital records, as well as references to paper documents which act like digital index cards. These index cards provide certain details about the paper documents such as file reference, document title and date, but for the full text of the document, the paper file must be consulted. Occasionally, errors were made in the former FCO when creating these references to paper documents, meaning that the digital index cards point to paper documents that do not exist.

Date: 1967-1993
Arrangement:

Arrangement is by former file reference within annual file cycles

References for born-digital records are automatically generated and display a 'Z' after a forward slash, which distinguish them from traditional references allocated to paper and digitised records.

Related material:

For earlier South Asia Department files see DO 196

For Asia Economic Department files see FCO 11

Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: S and FS file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Commonwealth Office, South Asia Department, 1967-1968

Foreign and Commonwealth Office, South Asian Department, 1968-

Physical description: 13421 paper files and digital records
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

From 1998 Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The South Asia Department of the Commonwealth Office became the South Asian Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in October 1968, with the addition of Afghanistan to its former responsibilities. The Department became responsible for Bangladesh when it achieved independence from Pakistan in 1972. Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka in May 1972 when the country adopted a republican constitution.

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?