Catalogue description Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Embassy, Legation and Consulates, Guatemala (including Federation of Central America and successor States): General Correspondence

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Details of FO 252
Reference: FO 252
Title: Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Embassy, Legation and Consulates, Guatemala (including Federation of Central America and successor States): General Correspondence
Description:

This series contains general correspondence from the British legation and consulate in Guatemala (formerly part of the Federation of Central America). Also includes copies of the more important telegrams, despatches, etc., sent and received by consular officers in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras.
Date: 1825-1970
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English and Spanish
Creator:

Foreign Office, Consulate, El Salvador, 1840-1968

Foreign Office, Consulate, Federation of Central America, 1821-1840

Foreign Office, Consulate, Guatemala, 1840-1968

Foreign Office, Consulate, Nicaragua, 1840-1968

Foreign Office, Consulates, Honduras, 1840-1968

Foreign Office, Embassy, Guatemala, 1962-1963

Foreign Office, Legation, Federation of Central America, 1821-1840

Foreign Office, Legation, Guatemala, 1840-1962
Physical description: 804 volume(s)
Restrictions on use: Additional safe handling procedures are in place. Records must be ordered in advance.
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Accruals: Series is accruing
Administrative / biographical background:

The Federation of Central America was formed in 1821 from four territories in the region newly independent of Spanish colonial rule. Honduras and Nicaragua left the federation in 1838 and Guatemala and El Salvador followed in 1839/1840, leading to the dissolution of the federation.

The minister of the British legation at Guatemala was set in authority over the consular officers in Nicaragua, Salvador and Honduras. The Legation was raised in status to an Embassy in 1962, but in July 1963 diplomatic relations between Britain and Guatemala were severed. British representation was reduced to consular level. Relations were subsequently broken completely and the consulate closed in 1981, and were not restored until 1986 when a British Embassy was opened in Guatemala. Between 1981 and 1986 British interests in Guatemala were handled by a British interests section in the Swiss Embassy.

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