Catalogue description Records of the Asian Divisions and Departments of the Commonwealth Relations Office

The Commonwealth Relations Office was formed out of the Dominions Office on 3 July 1947, and almost immediately (15 August 1947), when India and Pakistan became independent dominions within the Commonwealth, the India Office was abolished and a number of its staff were transferred to the Commonwealth Relations Office, which thereafter became responsible for dealing with business connected with India and Pakistan. Initially, the organisation of the Office maintained its two distinct parts, Division A being the old Dominions Office, and Division B being the former India Office.

While there was no immediate attempt to integrate the two divisions, the staff of Division B went through great changes in the pattern of their work, as whereas before they had been responsible for governing or directing operations in India and Pakistan, they were now responsible for relations with the newly independent countries, and were also liable for the first time for service overseas. In January 1948, the staff of the Burma Office were absorbed into the Division B of the Commonwealth Relations Office after Burma became an independent state outside of the Commonwealth, though relations with Burma were now handled by the Foreign Office.

In February 1948, Ceylon achieved independence, and a new Ceylon Department was set up in the Office consisting of staff who had formerly dealt with Ceylon in the Colonial Office. The Ceylon Department was placed in Division A, a move symptomatic of the poor relations between the two divisions of the Office at this time. The Department also handled relations with the Maldive Islands via the British High Commissioner in Colombo, because of the close geographical links between Ceylon and the Maldives.

It was not until the appointment of a new Permanent Under Secretary, Percivale Liesching, in January 1949 that steps were taken to unify the structure and organise it effectively, at the same time dissolving the old rivalries between the two divisions. The new structure imposed by Liesching in 1950 was into five divisions, of which one, the Foreign Affairs Division, included a South Asian Department to handle relations with Ceylon, the Maldive Islands, India and Pakistan. At the same time, responsibility for the former India Office Library was transferred to the Finance and General Division.

The Foreign Affairs Division also included a Far Eastern Department, to handle regional Commonwealth interests (i.e. those of Australia and New Zealand as well as the new Asian Commonwealth states) with foreign states in the Far East, particularly Japan where many issues were still unresolved following the Second World War, and later Korea after the outbreak of war there.

In 1954 the South Asian Department became the South Asian and Middle East Department, and in 1957 the departments were reorganised (still within the Foreign Affairs Division) into a separate Middle East Department, and a unified South Asia and Far Eastern Department.

In August 1957 the Federation of Malaya became independent, and a new Malaya Department was created in the Political Division. By 1960, however, this department was wound up and its functions absorbed into the Foreign Affairs Division, where the South Asia Department had been re-established on its own. The Middle East Department was made part of a new Western and Middle East Department, and a new Far East and Pacific Department was created, which included the functions of the old Malaya Department.

There was a general re-organisation of the divisional structure of the Office in 1964, which saw the abolition of the Foreign Affairs Division and, amongst others, the Western and Middle East Department. A Mediterranean, South Asia and Defence Division and a Far East and West Africa Division were set up, which included the South Asia Department and the Far East and Pacific Department respectively. A United Nations, Western and Middle East Department was established in the Western, Constitutional and General Division, and in the Aid Division a new Asia Economic Department was created to deal with matters of economic development throughout Commonwealth Asia.

For the period of the Indonesian confrontation with Malaysia (1965-1966) relations with Malaysia were conducted by a united Commonwealth Relations/Foreign Office Joint Malaysia/Indonesia Department.

There was one further general reorganisation of the Office in September 1965 before the Office was merged with the Colonial Office in 1966 to form the Commonwealth Office. A new Asia and Atlantic Division was formed which contained both the South Asia Department and the Asia Economic Department, and a Far East and Mediterranean Division was formed, including the Far East and Pacific Department. The United Nations, Western and Middle East Department became part of the General Division.