Foreign Office

This page summarises records created by this Organisation

The summary includes a brief description of the collection(s) (usually including the covering dates of the collection), the name of the archive where they are held, and reference information to help you find the collection.

Date:	1782-1968
History:	Created on 27 March 1782 when the Secretary of State for the Northern Department became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and his secretariat emerged as the Foreign Office, responsible for the government's foreign affairs functions. On 17 October 1968, the FO merged with the Commonwealth Office and the Diplomatic Service Administration Office to form the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
Functions, occupations and activities:	Government (central)
References:	IC; NCA Rules
Name authority reference:	GB/NNAF/C276247

Collections
Number	Description	Held by	Reference
1	1878-2022: Records of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors	The National Archives, Kew	FCO
2	1920-1928: Charles Stephen Buckland: Papers	The National Archives, Kew	PRO 30/54
3	1567-2004: Records created or inherited by the Foreign Office	The National Archives, Kew	FO
4	1857-1920: Treasury: Books of Out-letters to Foreign Office	The National Archives, Kew	T 12
5	1839-1945: Copies of captured records of the German, Italian and Japanese Governments.	Ministry of Defence, Navy Department	GFM
6	1935-1984: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Records relating to Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (known KGB spies), and subsequent investigations and security arrangements	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 158
7	1922-1998: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors: Protocol and Conference Department: Registered Files (TP and TX Series)	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 57
8	1923-2007: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Private Offices: Various Ministers' and Officials' Papers	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 73
9	1941-1945: Government Code and Cypher School, Foreign Office and General Post Office: Maintenance of Foreign Office Intercept (Y) Stations: Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	HW 55
10	1962-1974: Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Crown Agents; Loan Agreements with Sovereign States	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 165
11	1963: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Victoria Falls Conference on dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and Rhodesia and Nyasaland; Unregistered Material	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 163
12	1939: Personal papers of Major Christopher Ronald Spear, Military Attaché to the British Embassy, China 1939	The National Archives, Kew	FO 1121
13	1876-1954: Photographs Extracted from FO series	The National Archives, Kew	CN 13
14	1903: Semi-official correspondence of Gilbert Mellor, British Agent to the Commission	The National Archives, Kew	FO 310/9
15	1878-1951: Colonial Office: Cyprus, Original Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	CO 67
16	1878-1951: Colonial Office: Cyprus Register of Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	CO 512
17	1932-1965: Colonial Office: Africa: Original Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	CO 847
18	1950-1979: Australian Royal Commission into United Kingdom Nuclear Weapons Testing in Australia: photocopies of documents made available to the Commission by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office	The National Archives, Kew	FCO 1
19	1793-1967: Foreign Office: Embassy and Consulates, Austria (formerly Austro-Hungarian Empire): General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 120
20	1785-1973: Foreign and Commonwealth Office and predecessors: Consulate and Legation, Tangier, and Embassy, Rabat, Morocco: General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 174
21	1859-1972: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Embassy and Consulates, Japan: General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 262
22	1791-1807: Pierrepont Papers	The National Archives, Kew	FO 334
23	1669-1911: Foreign Office and predecessors: Tunis, Tunisia, French North Africa (formerly Ottoman Empire): General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 335
24	1719-1967: Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service Administration Office: Chief Clerk's Department and successors: Records	The National Archives, Kew	FO 366
25	1906-1966: Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966	The National Archives, Kew	FO 371
26	1915-1919: Foreign Office: Prisoners of War and Aliens Department: General Correspondence from 1906	The National Archives, Kew	FO 383
27	1831-1885: Hammond Papers	The National Archives, Kew	FO 391
28	1840-1929: Cromer Papers	The National Archives, Kew	FO 633
29	1861-1939: Foreign Office: Chinese Secretary's Office, Various Embassies and Consulates, China: General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 682
30	1818-1948: Foreign Office: Consulate, Papeete, French Polynesia: General Correspondence and Various Registers	The National Archives, Kew	FO 687
31	1862-1972: Foreign Office: Consulate, Tananarive, Madagascar and Embassy, Malagasy Republic: General Correspondence and Entry Books	The National Archives, Kew	FO 710
32	1765-1876: Southern Department and Foreign Office: Consulate, Bilbao, Spain: General Correspondence and Letter Books	The National Archives, Kew	FO 729
33	1824-1968: Foreign Office, Private Offices: Various Ministers' and Officials' Papers	The National Archives, Kew	FO 800
34	1899-1938: Foreign Office: Consulate Archives, Liberia: Registers of Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 820
35	1900-1970: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Consulate, Alexandria, Egypt: General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 891
36	1956-1963: Foreign Office: Legation, Hungary: General Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	FO 1087
37	1906-1920: Foreign Office: Card Indexes to Correspondence from 1906 to 1920	The National Archives, Kew	FO 1111
38	1782-1845: Home Office: Foreign Office Correspondence	The National Archives, Kew	HO 32

Related record creators
	Record creator	Description of relationship	Dates	Category of relationship
1	Diplomatic Service Administration Office	Successor/Predecessor		See Also
2	Foreign and Commonwealth Office	Successor/Predecessor		See Also