Great Britain. Colonial Office

Administrative functions for British colonies were given in 1696 to "The Lords Commissioners for promoting the trade of our Kingdom and for inspecting and improving our plantations in America and elsewhere." This body was also referred to as the Board of Trade and Plantations. By 1702, responsibility for the colonies was assumed by the Secretary of State for the Southern Department. In 1768 the separate office of the Colonial Secretary was created. In 1782 the Board of Trade was abolished and colonial affairs were placed in the Home Secretary's Department until 1801 when responsibility for colonial affairs was transferred from the Home Office to the Sercretary of State for War and the Colonies. The Colonial Office emerged as an independent administrative unit in 1854 with the appointment of a separate Secretary of State for the Colonies. A detailed account of the history of the Colonial Office and its record-keeping practices can be found in the National Archives of Canada's publication General Inventory of Manuscripts / Manuscripts Division - Ottawa : Public Archives of Canada, 1976. The introduction to the National Archives' MG 11 has been rerpoduced and is appended to Inventory #123 in the Nova Scotia Archives' on site finding aid system.