Catalogue description Ministry of Food: Senior Officers' Papers

Papers of senior officers of the Ministry of Food, mostly from the period of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, dealing with all aspects of the ministry's functions in controlling the processing, manufacture and distribution of foodstuffs of every kind, and the sales, prices and distribution of agricultural produce.

The two largest groups of papers are those of Sir John Bodinnar, Commercial Secretary and Head of the Supply Department from 1941 until 1945, and those of Ernest Twentyman, second secretary of the ministry from 1941 to 1945, and the British representative on the International Interim Commission for the Food and Agriculture Organisation at the time of his death in 1945.

Included among the papers of Dr K Bryce Jones are certain post-1955 items from his service in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, which continue series originated during the existence of the Ministry of Food.

For Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food senior officers' papers see MAF 393

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1955-2001

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Scientific Advisors Division (Food), 1955-1960

Ministry of Food, 1939-1955

These reports were compiled from 1951 onwards by the Ministry of Food to combine defence subjects covering the work of the Ministry of Food, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Armed Forces and work done by the Research Associations at the specific request of the Ministry of Food and the Services. They were designed to give a composite picture of the research in progress of the various official and semi-official research stations in the UK.