1. Introduction
The National Archives (TNA) holds the records of the Cabinet Office from its creation in 1916. The Committee of Imperial Defence (CID) was established in 1904 and absorbed later by the Cabinet Office. The records of the CID and its committees now form part of the collection of Cabinet Office papers held by TNA.
From September 1939 to May 1945 the Cabinet was replaced by a smaller War Cabinet with a membership varying between five and ten and including both departmental and non-departmental ministers. There was no change in the way in which decisions were recorded and papers circulated.
2. Published guides
This research guide relates to records of the War Cabinet which was in operation between September 1939 to May 1945. More detailed accounts of the history of the War Cabinet can be found in, The Cabinet Office to 1945 (PRO Handbook No 17) which has a full list of committees and abbreviations, and The Second World War: A Guide to Documents in the Public Record Office (PRO Handbook No 15).
3. Cabinet minutes and conclusions
Cabinet conclusions (called minutes prior to August 1919) are not verbatim accounts of meetings but consist of summaries of the discussion together with a note of the decisions reached.
References to Cabinet conclusions are made by using codes of the form WM 14 (41) 1, in which the letters refer to the series of conclusions (WM for War Cabinet conclusions) and the figures to the details of the meeting , year and place on the agenda. Thus the code quoted relates to the conclusion of the first item on the agenda of the 14th cabinet meeting for 1941. Occasionally there is a reference such as 14 (1) which indicates the first conclusion of the fourteenth meeting of the Cabinet for a certain year.
Conclusions of the War Cabinet are in CAB 65 and copies are held on open access at The National Archives. Certain conclusions regarded as being especially secret and recorded in the Secretary's Standard File and became confidential annexes. They are contained in separate volumes for each year as noted in the list for CAB 65.
4. Cabinet papers or memoranda
Cabinet memoranda or papers are circulated to members of the Cabinet and other ministers for information, or as the basis for discussion, denoted by symbols similar to those used for the conclusions e.g. WP (40) 345 denotes the 345th paper laid before the cabinet in 1940.
The WP and CP series of memoranda of the War Cabinet are held in CAB 66, copies of which are held on open access at The National Archives. The less secret WP(G) memoranda in CAB 67 and reports by other government departments in the WP(R) series in CAB 68 must be ordered as original documents. A numerical index to memoranda in CAB 66, CAB 67 and CAB 68 is held on the open shelves in The National Archives.
A copy the CAB 65/55, a subject index, arranged by year, to the War Cabinet conclusions and memoranda is held on the open shelves. Once the Cabinet Office reference is known this can be converted to The National Archives reference by consulting the appropriate series list.
5. Cabinet committees
Most Cabinet committees are appointed by the Prime Minister to consider a particular issue and then to report back to the Cabinet. Some 400 committees and subcommittees reported to the War Cabinet. The work of War Cabinet Committees was broadly divided into that of a military or that of a civil nature. Detailed lists of cabinet committees from 1916 to 1945 are in PRO Handbook 17 and of Second World War Cabinet committees in PRO Handbook 19.
Principal responsibility for advising the Cabinet in military matters rested with the Chiefs of Staff Committee and its related committees. Minutes of this committee, and those of the Vice-Chiefs of Staff Committee are held on microfilm in CAB 79 and CAB 80. Indexes to CAB 79 and CAB 80 are on the open shelves. Papers of the Military Co-ordination Committee which was established on the outbreak of war to advise the War Cabinet, and of its successor from May 1940, the Defence Committee are in CAB 69 and CAB 70.
The principal committee covering home affairs was the Lord President's Committee. Its papers are in CAB 71 . Other domestic Cabinet committees include the Economic Policy Committee (CAB 72), the Food Policy Committee (CAB 74), the Home Policy Committee (CAB 75) and the Production Council (CAB 92 ). Committees on Economic Affairs are in CAB 72, on reconstruction in CAB 87, on civil defence in CAB 73 and on overseas matters in CAB 91 and CAB 94 to CAB 96.
The symbols denoting records of cabinet committees are similar to those for Cabinet conclusions and memoranda but use different code letters. For example, COS is the code for the Chiefs of Staff Committee. COS (39) 47th mtg 4 denotes the fourth conclusion of the forty seventh meeting of the Chiefs of Staff Committee in 1939 .
6. Other records
The historical section of the War Cabinet produced histories of both military and civil aspects of the War. Registered files of the historical section are in CAB 103 and CAB 106, unregistered files for the War Cabinet in CAB 45 and CAB 140. Annotated copies of the published volumes of the military history of the Second World War are in CAB 101. Various papers in the civil series are in CAB 102.
Daily situation reports are in CAB 100 and telegrams in CAB 105. Files of the Prime Minister in his capacity as Minister of Defence are in CAB 120 , and in Prime Minister's Office PREM 3. Files of the Establishment Section are in CAB 150. Papers collected by Edward (later Lord) Bridges, Secretary to the Cabinet from 1938 to 1945, are in T 273 and CAB 127. Extracts from Cabinet papers placed on Special Secret Information Centre files are in CAB 121.
Records of International Conferences from 1939 to 1945 are in CAB 99. Most records relating to Resident Ministers Abroad appointed by the Cabinet between 1941 to 1945 are held in FO 660.
Records of the Economic Section of the War Office are in CAB 108, CAB 139 and CAB 141 and Treasury series T 230. Those of the Survey of Economic and Financial Plans (the Stamp Survey) are in CAB 89.
The Cabinet War Rooms Collection, CAB 156, is not held at The National Archives, but at the Cabinet War Rooms which are administered by the Imperial War Museum.
The various War Cabinet series mentioned above (CAB 65, 66, 67, 68) have been catalogued to item level, and all these records will be online by April 2009.
