FCDO Historians - A guide to researching FCDO history

A guide to researching Foreign Office History

Researching Foreign Office history This is a select guide to sources for researching the history of the Foreign Office, British foreign and colonial policy, and related historical subjects.

The Foreign Office was formed in 1782 and merged with the Commonwealth Office in 1968 to create the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). In 2020 the Foreign and Commonwealth Office merged with the Department for International Development to form a new department, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

Archive resources 

The National Archives Records of the FCDO and predecessor departments, selected for permanent preservation, are held at The National Archives (TNA).

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FCO Archives Guidance on FCDO records still held by the department.

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Kings College London: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Collection The library collection of the FCO comprising some 80,000 volumes of books, pamphlets, reports, typescripts and manuscripts.

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World through a Lens Images taken from the FCO photographic collection spanning the globe and more than 100 years of history.

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University of Manchester Library: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Pamphlet Collection The collection consists of 301 volumes of pamphlets collected by the FO and 359 volumes from the Colonial Office, comprising some 15,000 individual items in total.

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UK Government Web Archive The FCO web archive available from 1997 onwards.

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British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers The archives of the administration in London of the East India Company and the pre-1947 government of India. The official archives of the India Office Records are complemented by deposits of private papers relating to the British experience in India.

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Qatar Digital Library Digital copies of collections of archives and manuscripts relating to Gulf history, based around the British Library’s collections.

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Bristol Archives: British Empire and Commonwealth Collection Archives and objects from people who lived and worked in the British Empire and Commonwealth

Finding aids to FCDO and predecessor department records 

Discovery The TNA catalogue – Discovery – can be used to identify records relating to FCDO history in the TNA and other archives in the UK.

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Research guides from the National Archives Useful guides from TNA on records they hold and how to find them.

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Michael Roper, The Records of the Foreign Office 1782-1939 (PRO Handbook No 33, 2002)

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Louise Atherton, 'Never complain, never explain': Records of the Foreign Office and the State Paper Office 1500-c.1960 (PRO Readers' Guide No 7, 1994)

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J. Cronan and K. Mitchell, Foreign office records 1782 to 1986: a guide to country series by, Kew, List and Index Society, 2017.

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Mandy Banton, Administering the Empire, 1801-1968: A Guide to the Records of the Colonial Office in The National Archives of the UK (2008)

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Martin Moir, A General Guide to the India Office Records (London: The British Library, 1988).

Published documents relating to British foreign and colonial policy   

British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914 (11 vols, HMSO, 192638).

Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1918-1939 (64 vols, HMSO, 1946-86).

Documents on British Policy Overseas (post 1945) (28 vols, HMSO/Routledge, ongoing since 1984) A collection of primary source documents, in three distinct print series, shedding light on British diplomatic history throughout the twentieth century.

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British Documents on Foreign Affairs (over 200 vols, University Publications of America, 1983 onwards).

A selection of Confidential Print from mid-19th to mid-20th century. 

British and Foreign State Papers (168 vols, HMSO, 19th century to 1977).

Published copies of major treaties from 1812 to 1967.

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British Documents on the End of Empire (36 volumes, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, 1992-2006) A collection of primary source documents charting shifts in the political, social, and economic policies of officials, both at home and in the colonies, related to the Commonwealth and the end of the Empire.

FCDO Historians 

FCDO Historians’ publications Historians’ publications covering many aspects relating to the history of the Foreign Office and British foreign policy and diplomacy. These are free-to-access and printable once downloaded.

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FCDO Historians’ blogs Blogs by FCDO Historians on British foreign policy and diplomacy on the GOV.UK website.

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@ FCDOHistorians Keep up-to-date with publications and events of the FCDO Historians through Twitter.

Buildings, Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates 

King Charles Street and Lancaster House Basic information about FCDO buildings on the GOV.UK website.

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Room for Diplomacy Information about British embassy and consulate buildings, 1810-2000.

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Government Art Collection Information on works of art displayed in FCDO buildings, in the UK and around the world.

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Ian Toplis, The Foreign Office: An Architectural History (London: Mansell, 1987)

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Bernard Porter, The Battle of the Styles: Society, Culture and the Design of a New Foreign Office, 1855-1861 (London: Continuum, 2011)

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James Yorke, Lancaster House (London: Merrell, 2001)

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Mark Bertram, Room for Diplomacy (Reading: Spire Books Ltd., 2011)

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J.E. Hoare, Embassies in the East (Richmond: Curzon, 1999)

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Hugh Arbuthnott, Terence Clark, Richard Muir, British Missions Around the Gulf (Folkestone: Global Oriental, 2008)

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Anthony Seldon and Daniel Collings, The Architecture of Diplomacy: The British Ambassador's Residence in Washington (Paris: Flammarion, 2014)

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Tim Knox, The British Ambassador's Residence in Paris (Paris: Flammarion, 2011)

Current FCDO information 

Foreign and Commonwealth and Development Office website

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Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office blogs

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DATA.GOV.UK Datasets tagged 'Foreign and Commonwealth Office'

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YouTube: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

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Twitter account: @FCDOGovUK

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Foreign Affairs Committee The Foreign Affairs Committee's remit is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the FCDO.

Select bibliography of FCDO history 

John Dickie, Inside the Foreign Office (London: Chapmans, 1992)

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John Dickie, The British Consul: Heir to a Great Tradition (London: C. Hurst & Co., 2007)

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Ruth Dudley Edwards, True Brits: Inside the Foreign Office (London: BBC Books, 1994)

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Joe Garner, Commonwealth Office, 1925-1968 (London: Heinemann Educational, 1978)

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Barrie Ireton: Britain’s International Development Policies: a history of DfID and Overseas Aid. (2013)

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R. A. Jones, The Nineteenth-Century Foreign Office: an administrative history (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1971)

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R. A. Jones, The British Diplomatic Service, 1815-1914 (Gerrards Cross: Smythe, 1983)

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Anthony Kirk-Greene, On Crown Service: A History of HM Colonial an Overseas Civil Service (London: IB Tauris 1999)

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Anthony Seldon, The Foreign Office (London: Harper Collins Illustrated, 2000)

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Zara Steiner, The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy, 1898-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969)

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Lord Strang, The Foreign Office (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1955)

Personnel 

Foreign Secretaries The Gov.UK website has a complete list, and some profiles, of former Foreign Secretaries.

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Foreign Office List (1862-1965) Diplomatic Service List (1966-2006) Colonial Office List (1862- 1966) Directories providing the names and positions of staff posted overseas as well as in London, and other biographical information. Copies are held at The National Archives and other libraries.

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India Office Lists Published by the India Office for much of British rule in India, it provides the names and positions of all senior officials and officers of the India Office, the Indian Government, the Indian Army and the British Army in India. Held at the British Library.

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Directory of British Diplomats Privately produced list of senior British diplomats, and other British civil servants working in a similar capacity, who held posts overseas and in London since 1789.

Oral history material 

British Diplomatic Oral History Programme

Transcripts of interviews with former diplomats who have played a significant role in international relations, conserved at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge. 

Commonwealth Oral Histories Programme Major interviews with leading figures in the history of the organisation.

Archive film 

Since 2008 the British Film Institute (BFI) has held the old FCO film unit's collection; this was previously held by the Central Office of Information (COI).

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Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire Contains detailed information on over 6,000 films showing images of life in the British colonies, with over 150 films available for viewing online.