Catalogue description Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Private Offices: Various Ministers' and Officials' Papers

Search within or browse this series to find specific records of interest.

Date range

Details of FCO 73
Reference: FCO 73
Title: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Private Offices: Various Ministers' and Officials' Papers
Description:

This series contains private office papers. The records cover a wide range of subjects dealt with by ministers and senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials.
Date: 1923-1991
Arrangement:

Please note that piece numbers 206-269 were not allocated at the time of the release of pieces 270-360 in July 2009
Related material:

For earlier Colonial Office private office files see CO 967

For earlier Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth Office private office files see DO 121

For earlier Foreign Office private office files see FO 800
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 872 file(s)
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office , from 2001
Accumulation dates: Series began in 1968
Selection and destruction information: The files created in private offices mostly contained copies of papers filed in the appropriate departmental registries, and such files do not normally survive selection review. Only where significant papers were not copied to the department, or where significant manuscript additions were made to copied papers, are the files considered for permanent preservation.
Accruals: This series will accrue in small regular (usually annual) transfers. Piece 205 was transferred for special release before an earlier batch (pieces 159-204).
Administrative / biographical background:

Collections of unregistered files were held by ministers and senior officials in their private offices for reference purposes. On leaving office, ministers' files were passed to the records section for storage and eventual review. Officials' files were sometimes retained in the office by their successors in post for ease of reference. The following ministers and officials are represented in this series:

  • Michael Stewart, who was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1965-1966; First Secretary of State, 1966-1968; and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1968-1970;
  • Lord Chalfont, Minister of State at the Foreign Office and then the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1964-1970;
  • Fred Mulley, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1967-1969;
  • George Thomson, Minister of State at the Foreign Office, 1964-1966; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1966-1967 and 1969-1970; Minister of State at the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office, 1967-1968; and Minister without Portfolio, 1968-1969;
  • Sir Paul Gore-Booth, Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1965-1969; and Head of the Diplomatic Service, 1968-1969;
  • Sir Con O'Neill, Deputy Under-Secretary of State, 1965-1972, leading the British team negotiating entry to the European Communities;
  • Sir Dennis Greenhill, Permanent Under-Secretary of State and Head of the Diplomatic Service, 1969-1973;
  • Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1970-1974;
  • Miles Hudson, Political Secretary to the Foreign Secretary, 1971-1974;
  • Lord Balniel, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1972-1974;
  • Anthony Royle, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1970-1974;
  • Lord Harlech (William David Ormsby Gore), Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 1957-1961; Ambassador to Washington, 1961-1965.
  • Anthony Kershaw, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1970-1973;
  • Lady Tweedsmuir, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1972-1974;
  • James Callaghan, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1974-1976; then Prime Minister, 1976-1979;
  • David Owen, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1976-1977; then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1977-1979;
  • Anthony Crosland, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1976-1977;
  • Frank Judd, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1977-1979;
  • David Stephen, Political Adviser to the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1977-1979;
  • Gladwyn Jebb, held various posts within the Foreign Office including Head of the Reconstruction Department, 1942; Assistant Under-Secretary of State and United Nations Adviser, 1946-1947; Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 1950-1954; Ambassador to France, 1954-1960;
  • Lord Trefgarne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1981-1982;
  • Richard Luce, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1979; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, 1981; Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1982-1985;
  • Douglas Hurd, Minister for Europe, 1979-1983; Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1984-1985; Home Secretary, 1985-1989; Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1989-1995;

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research