Catalogue description General Records of the Commonwealth Relations Office and Records of the General Divisions of the Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth Office

Political relations with, and matters of constitutional development in, the member states were initially undertaken by a Constitutional and Political Division. The original organisation of this division was into three departments, Constitutional, Political Affairs and a General Department. In 1954 the Department was reorganised and renamed the Political Division, and a new department, the Protocol Department, was added. The Protocol Department became the Protocol and Nationality Department in 1956. In 1957, there was a further reorganisation, as the Ghana Department was added to the Political Division.

The General Department was moved to a newly formed Africa and General Division, where it formed part of a new Migration and General Department. In 1958 a Malaya Department was added. The Division was also briefly made responsible for library and record services from 1956 to 1957 (ie the Commonwealth Relations Office library, the India Office library and the Indian Records Section, which had previously been part of the Finance and General Division, and were passed on to the Establishment and Organisation Division, along with the Communications Department). The Protocol and Nationality Department was abolished in 1958.

In 1960 the Africa and General Department was split up, and a General Department was re-created in the Political Division, while the Ghana and Malaya Departments were abolished and their functions absorbed into new departments in the Africa and the Foreign Affairs Divisions. Further reorganisation followed in 1962, when a joint Nationality and General Department was formed in the West Indies and General Division. The Political Division was abolished and the Constitutional Department became part of the new Africa and Political Division.

In 1964 there was an Office wide reorganisation, and a Western, Constitutional and General Division was set up, containing the Nationality and General Department and a Constitutional and Protocol Department (as well as a United Nations, Western and Middle East Department). This arrangement lasted only until September 1965 when a separate General Division was formed.

The United Nations, Western and Middle East Department continued unaltered, but new General and Migration and Nationality and Consular Departments were created. The Planning and Research Unit was made into a Commonwealth Policy and Planning Department in the Defence and Commonwealth Policy Division, which also included a newly formed Political Affairs Department to co-ordinate political relations with all commonwealth states. These arrangements remained in place until the formation of the Commonwealth Office.