Catalogue description Records of the Communications Department

Until 1824 the Foreign Office had no messengers for its own exclusive use, but shared them with the Home and Colonial Offices. In 1824 the messengers were divided into Home Service and Foreign Service messengers, some of the former and all of the latter being assigned to the Foreign Office, where the librarian was made superintendent of king's messengers. In 1854 the superintendence was transferred to the chief clerk.

In 1919 a separate King's Messengers and Communications Department was set up to be responsible for the messengers, mails and for ciphering and deciphering (which had been undertaken in the Parliamentary Department since 1911); in 1922 this became the Communications Department.

In 1965, with the formation of the Diplomatic Service, the Communications Department was transferred to the newly formed Diplomatic Service Administration Office where it was amalgamated with the Commonwealth Relations Office Communications Department and dealt with communications matters for the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Relations Office and the British Trade Commissions.