Catalogue description Treasury and the Board of Trade: History of the Administration of Enemy Property 1939-1964

The Trading with the Enemy Branch (TWEB) was established in September 1939 to administer, under the direction of the Treasury and Board of Trade, the Trading with the Enemy Act 1939 which was subsequently amended by Defence Regulations. At the beginning it was staffed by both departments, and staff reported to either the Treasury, the Commercial Relations and Treaty Department of the Board of Trade or the Finance Department of the Board of Trade, according to the subject being dealt with. In 1942 it was decided to concentrate trading with the enemy work in TWE and to raise its status to a Department; although it remained a joint department the Board of Trade assumed responsibility for all establishment matters.

Also in September 1939, under the same legislation, the Board of Trade appointed Sir Ernest Fass, the Public Trustee, as Custodian of Enemy Property for England (CEP). Similar appointments were made for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

In 1948 the branch's title was altered to the Administration of Enemy Property Department (AEPD) when its work was merged with that of the Custodian of Enemy Property under the various Peace Treaty orders. The office of Custodian had been established by Order in Council in September 1939 and was held at first by the Public Trustee, but on the formation of the AEPD the Public Trustee was replaced by an official of the Board of Trade. In July 1957 the remaining work of AEP was transferred to Finance Division. Subsequently it became the Enemy Property Branch, which by 1966 was part of the Finance Division. By 1970 the branch had ceased to exist and its residual work passed to the Finance and Economic Appraisal Division of the Department of Trade and Industry.