Catalogue description Colonial Defence Committee, and Committee of Imperial Defence, Colonial Defence Committee later Oversea Defence Committee: Minutes, Reports and Correspondence

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Details of CAB 7
Reference: CAB 7
Title: Colonial Defence Committee, and Committee of Imperial Defence, Colonial Defence Committee later Oversea Defence Committee: Minutes, Reports and Correspondence
Description:

This series consists of the records of four different bodies: minutes, reports and correspondence of the first Colonial Defence Committee, minutes and papers of the the Royal Commission appointed to enquire into the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad (Carnarvon Commission), minutes and papers of the second Colonial Defence Committee, and minutes and papers of the CID's Colonial Defence Committee, later renamed the Oversea Defence Committee, Additionally, there are War Office memoranda on colonial defences and various related reports.

Topics covered by the first Colonial Defence Committee were defence of the colonies and seaborne trade and the defence of colonial ports. The Royal Commission appointed to enquire into Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad (Carnarvon Commission) addressed matters of colonial defence, issues arising from the international crisis, seaborne trade, and specifically the defence and provision of coaling stations in the colonies.

Topics covered by the second Defence Committee and by the CID's Defence Committee, later the Oversea Defence Committee, included those which occupied the Committee's predecessors, together with the composition and organisation of local forces and the provision for overseas commands, principally in non-self governing territories.

Date: 1877-1939
Arrangement:

Chronological

Related material:

Records of the War Cabinet, Oversea Defence Committee after August 1939 continue in CAB 94

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

Colonial Defence Committee, 1878-1879

Colonial Defence Committee, 1885-1904

Committee of Imperial Defence, Colonial Defence Committee, 1904-1911

Committee of Imperial Defence, Oversea Defence Committee, 1911-1939

Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Defence of British Possessions and Commerce Abroad, 1877-1900

Physical description: 18 volume(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Accumulation dates: 1925-1929
Accruals: No future accruals expected
Publication note:

Command Papers, Accounts and Papers, Papers relating to HM Colonial Possessions C.5249, 1888

Administrative / biographical background:

The minutes and papers of these committees were circulated to all ministers, to the First Sea Lord, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the Chief of Naval War Staff and the Director of Military Operations, and to any other naval and military officers and other official who attended the meetings.

Copies were also sent to permanent secretaries of the Treasury, Foreign Office, Colonial and India Office who needed to be kept informed of decisions taken by the Committee.

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