2. How to use this guide and get a search for maps started

3. Main map collections of the First World War

The record series WO 153 contains maps showing the progress of the war in various parts of the world. Many of these are printed maps with manuscript annotations.

Most of these maps are bound portfolios, not individual sheets. Try searching by one of the following:

• theatre of war (for instance, “East Africa”)
• name of major operation or battle (for instance, “Vimy Ridge”)
• number of army or corps (for instance, “Third Army” or “XIV Corps”)

Restrict your search by date to the relevant year or years.

We also have separate accumulations of maps for the following individual theatres of war:

• WO 300 for East Africa. Index maps are in WO 300/1-12
• WO 369 for Italy. Index maps are in WO 369/1-28
• WO 301 for Gallipoli and Dardanelles. Index maps are in WO 301/1-44
• WO 302 for Mesopotamia. Index maps are in WO 302/1-37
• WO 303 for Palestine. Index maps are in WO 303/1-12
• WO 298 for Salonika
• WO 297 for the Western Front. A useful index map is available in the reading rooms at The National Archives and in Peter Chasseaud’s Topography of Armageddon (Lewes, 1991). Other index maps are in WO 297/1-56.

Most of these maps are individual sheets. Try searching our catalogue by sheet number or place name. Restrict your search by date to the relevant year or years.

Alternatively, browse the relevant sections of the catalogue using the ‘browse by hierarchy’ option.

For guidance on searching for trench maps of the Western Front by sheet number, see the separate section below.

4. First World War maps within war diaries

Many war diaries in WO 95 include printed or hand-drawn maps and plans to illustrate the text. These maps and plans are not noted individually in the catalogue.

For guidance on searching for war diaries, please see our guide to British Army Operations in the First World War.

Some maps were taken out of the war diaries after the war for the use of the authors of the Official History of the Great War. These are now among the maps in WO 153.

War diaries often refer to specific locations on maps by grid reference (for example, R20 b 8.5). See Appendix 3 for more information on how the grid referencing system works.

If there is no map in the war diary itself, you can search our catalogue for one within record series WO 297 or WO 153.

Unless the war diary specifies the map sheet number as well as the grid reference, you may need to check the index map to identify the relevant map sheet. See Section 7. on how to find trench maps by sheet number.

5. Other record series containing First World War military maps

Other record series of files also contain some First World War maps. Search speculatively within the following series:

• CAB 44
• CAB 45
• CAB 104
• WO 32
• WO 33
• WO 106
• WO 158

You can also search by place name within the following general series of maps:

• CO 1047
• FO 925
• WO 78

Catalogues of printed War Office maps from the First World War period are in WO 401/5-10.

6. How to find trench maps of the Western Front by sheet number

Searching for a 1:10,000-scale trench map covering a specific area involves several stages.

Step 1

Use the index map in the reading rooms at The National Archives to find the relevant sheet number. The sheet number will look something like 57C SW 3. See Appendix 2 for more information about how the sheet numbering system works.

The index map is not very detailed. You may need to look for the names of nearby towns. If necessary, look at a modern printed atlas or modern online map first to work out the approximate position of the area that you want.

Step 2

You can search the catalogue for the sheet number. For instance, search for “57C SW 3” AND “WO 297”. (The search may not work correctly without this spacing and double quotation marks.) It may be helpful to sort your search results by reference or by date.

Alternatively, you can browse the relevant portions of the catalogue: WO 297/513-1661 and WO 297/6543-6649. There is also a typescript index in the reading rooms at The National Archives.

Step 3

Choose the map with the nearest available date. Look for the words ‘trenches corrected to’ in the catalogue entry.

If you want a map that shows both British and German trenches, look for a catalogue entry that includes ‘(S)’ (for Secret Edition) or ‘Lines A/G’ (for Allied and German lines).

Looking at the map

Once you have ordered the correct map, it is not normally difficult to understand. Most of the 1:10,000-scale maps include keys to the symbols and abbreviations used at the bottom of the sheet. Sometimes there is more information on the back.

For most of the war, German trenches are marked in red and Allied trenches (where shown) are marked in blue. From July 1918 onwards, the colours are reversed: German trenches are shown in blue and Allied trenches in red.

Alternative means of searching

If you cannot find a suitable map using this method, try one of the following alternatives:

• Look for a map that is slightly earlier or later in date. Some map sheets were updated less often than others
• Look for a map at the scale of 1:20,000. For instance, search for 57C SW (instead of 57C SW 3) in our catalogue or browse the section of the catalogue covering WO 297/2551-4164
• Look in the separate sequence of maps arranged by sheet title. Browse the section of the catalogue covering WO 297/1662-2460, or search by place name or operation title
• Search for maps within WO 153, WO 95 or one of the other record series mentioned in this guide

7. First World War maps held elsewhere

Other libraries and archives hold significant collections of trench maps and other published First World War maps. These include:

• Imperial War Museum
• British Library and other legal deposit libraries
• Royal Geographical Society
• National Library of Scotland which has images of some First World War military maps on its website

Use Library Hub Discover to find maps in the collections of some major UK research libraries.

8. Reproductions and published facsimiles of First World War military maps

Reproductions of trench maps in digital form include:

• Imperial War Museum Trench Map Archive (London, 2000) CD-ROM
• British Trench Map Atlas: The Western Front, 1914-18 (London, 2008) DVD-ROM

Facsimile reproductions of some trench maps have been published in paper form. A selection is available from The National Archives’ bookshop. Copies of these maps are also available in the reading rooms at The National Archives.

High-quality reproductions of some First World War maps are available from The National Archives’ Image Library.

9. Appendix 1: The usage of maps on the Western Front

About 34 million official British military maps were produced for the Western Front. They were produced at various scales for different purposes. The main scales are:

• 1:40,000 (1 inch to 0.63 miles). Administration maps
• 1:20,000 (1 inch to 0.31 miles). Heavy/Medium artillery maps, used as a precise locational aid for pinpointing particular targets
• 1:10,000 (1 inch to 0.16 miles). Trench maps, used for patrols and raids at a local level
• 1:5,000 (1 inch to 0.08 miles). Local operations maps, used for similar purposes to the trench maps

Most of the larger-scale maps showed the German trench systems in detail but not the British trench systems.

‘Secret’ editions of some maps were produced from September 1915 onwards. These showed the British trenches in detail too.

10. Appendix 2: The sheet numbering system for maps of the Western Front

Many maps at the scales of 1:40,000, 1:20,000 and 1:10,000 were made according to a common sheet numbering system.

The relevant parts of France and Belgium are divided in large numbered rectangles, each measuring about 20 miles west-to-east by 12.5 miles north-to-south. Each of these corresponds to a 1:40,000-scale map sheet.

Sheets covering France only are given a two-figure number followed by a letter. Sheets covering Belgium only or parts of both countries are given a two-figure number.

Examples of 1:40,000 sheet numbers: 36, 57B, 62C.

Each 1:20,000-scale map sheet corresponds to a quarter of a 1:40,000-scale sheet, indicated with the letters NW, NE, SW or SE.

Examples of 1:20,000 sheet numbers: 36 NE, 57B NW, 62C SW.

Each 1:10,000-scale map sheet corresponds to a quarter of a 1:20,000-scale sheet or a sixteenth of a 1:40,000-scale sheet. These sheets are distinguished with the numbers 1-4.

The shaded areas in the diagram above correspond to the 1:20,000 sheet 28 NE and the 1:10,000 sheet 28 SW 3.

Sometimes ‘combined sheets’ were produced, covering parts of two of the ordinary sheets. Examples include: 36 NW 2 & NE 1, 57D SE 1 & 2.

Many 1:10,000-scale maps have titles (which are place names) as well as sheet numbers. For example, sheet 28 SW 3 is also called Bailleul. These sheet titles are not currently included in our catalogue entries.

Maps without sheet numbers

Maps at the scale of 1:5,000 and some maps made at the other scales did not correspond to the sheet numbering system. Instead, these maps have titles, which are listed in our catalogue. These sheet titles are often obscure, Some of them refer to operations or battlefield features.

Examples of map sheet titles: Second Army Front Map F, Lone Tree.

Examples of 1:10,000 sheet numbers: 36 NE 3, 57B NW 1, 62C SW 4.

11. Appendix 3: The grid referencing system for maps of the Western Front

The system of grid references is used to identify specific locations on printed British military maps. The same grid referencing system is marked on maps at different scales.

The grid references are separate from but related to the system of map sheet numbers. If an entry in a war diary includes a grid reference but not a map sheet number, you will need to identify a suitable map before you can make sense of the grid reference.

The area covered by each 1:40,000-scale map sheet is divided in large squares, each identified by a capital letter. These large squares are divided into either 30 or 36 smaller squares, each measuring 1000 yards by 1000 yards. The smaller squares are given numbers.

The shaded square in the diagram above is R20.

Each numbered square is further divided into four squares, each measuring 500 yards by 500 yards. These small squares are identified by the lower-case letters, a, b, c and d. These letters are not normally marked on the maps.

The shaded square in the diagram above is R20 b.

Within these small squares, specific points can be identified by numbers. These numbers work by dividing the square into an imaginary 10 by 10 grid. On some of the maps the grid lines are marked out in tenths to make working out grid references easier.

The divisions going horizontally west to east are called ‘eastings’. Those going vertically south to north are called ‘northings’. The eastings figure is written first, followed by the northings figure. The two may or may not be separated by a dot.

For example, to find the point specified by grid reference R 20 b 8.5:

• Find square R 20 b on the map
• Count or estimate 8/10 of the way across the square (from west to east)
• Count or estimate 5/10 of the way up the square (from south to north)

This point is accurate to within an area of 50 yards square.

A reduced-size copy of part of a map of St Pierre Divion. (TNA reference WO 297/318)

The diagram above shows the location (marked ‘X’) of R 20 b 8.5 on a 1:5,000-scale map. (This is a reduced-size copy of part of a map of St Pierre Divion. Reference WO 297/318).

On some 1:5,000-scale maps, points of interest (such as a junction between two trenches) are labelled with partial grid references.

Sometimes grid references are made more specific for greater accuracy. If a grid reference ends with four figures instead of two, the first two are the eastings and the remaining two are the northings.

For example, to find the point specified by grid reference R 20 b 82.53:

• Find square R 20 b on the map
• Estimate 82% of the way across the square (from west to east)
• Estimate 53% of the way up the square (from south to north)

This point is accurate to within an area of 5 yards square.

12. Further reading

A A Banks and A Palmer, A Military Atlas of the First World War (London, 1975)

Geraldine Beech: Military Maps of the Western Front in Ancestors, no 8, June/July 2002

P Chausseaud, Trench Maps: A Collectors Guide. vol 1: British Regular Series. 1:10,000 Trench Maps (GSGS 3062) (Lewes, 1986)

Peter Chasseaud, Topography of Armageddon (Lewes, 1991)

Peter Chasseaud, Artillery’s Astrologers (Lewes, 1999)

Peter Chasseaud, Mapping the First World War : the Great War through maps from 1914-1918 (Collins, 2013)

P Doyle and M R Bennett, ‘Military Geography: Terrain Evaluation and the British Western Front, 1914-1918’, Geographical Journal 163, 1997, pp1-24

J E Edmonds, Military Operations in the Western Theatre of War 1914-18 (History of the Great War) (London, HMSO, 1922)

S Forty Mapping the First World War: Battlefields of the Great Conflict from Above (London, 2013)

A R Hinks, ‘German War Maps and Survey’, Geographical Journal 53, 1919, pp30-44

W B R King, ‘Geological Work on the Western Front’, Geographical Journal 54, 1919, pp201-221

Documentation about military surveying during the First World War is available on the Defence Surveyors’ Association website.

Our records are grouped by ‘departments’, each with its own unique catalogue reference (a letter code). Each department is made up of multiple record series, all with their own unique references based on the department reference. The department reference for Cabinet papers in our catalogue is CAB and our catalogue references begin with CAB followed by two or three numbers, e.g. CAB 68/5/1 a memorandum on civil defence.

You should use the National Archives reference when requesting documents or copies or citing references.

Some Cabinet papers between 1916 and 1993 can be accessed and downloaded by browsing the archived Cabinet Papers website (see section 16 below).

2.1 Use our catalogue to search for Cabinet Minutes and Memoranda

The Cabinet Minutes and Memoranda are digitised and downloadable from The National Archives catalogue. Catalogue descriptions are made up of agenda items discussed at each Cabinet meeting or titles of the memoranda (papers discussed by the Cabinet), which makes limited keyword searching possible.

To narrow your search to a specific series of records within the CAB department, use this guide to identify the CAB series covering the period or type of document you are interested in.

Search from our advanced search screen

1. Enter a keyword (bear in mind catalogue descriptions may just be agenda items) in the advanced search in our catalogue
2. Include the relevant CAB series reference in your search terms (you can include more than one series but be aware that a search term that finds minutes from a meeting, may not find memoranda from the same meeting)
3. Enter a year (or range of years)
4. Sort your search results into Reference order, this will sort them by date and by series (the type of document)
5. Click on the relevant search result to download or order the document

Example of a search:

Advanced search with Dunkirk as search term, CAB 65 as reference to search within and 1940 as date.

The search above finds these results

Your search is unlikely to find all the documents relating to a particular meeting, if you want to find other documents you may need to use the original departmental references of the papers.

2.2 Published guides

The Public Record Office, the predecessor of The National Archives, published a number of handbooks describing the papers of the Cabinet Office and the CAB series in which they can be found. These handbooks will help you to find your way around Cabinet records. They are available at our site in Kew and in major reference libraries. You can search for the availability of each title on The National Archives’ library catalogue by clicking on the links below.

They are:

• PRO Handbook No 4 – List of Cabinet Papers, 1880-1914 (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1964)
• PRO Handbook No 6 – List of Papers of the Committee of Imperial Defence to 1914 (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1964)
• PRO Handbook No 9 – List of Cabinet Papers, 1915-1916 (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1966)
• PRO Handbook No 11 – The Records of the Cabinet Office to 1922 (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1966)
• PRO Handbook No 15 – The Second World War: A Guide to Documents in the Public Record Office (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972)
• PRO Handbook No 17 – The Cabinet Office to 1945 (Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1975)

3. Original references

The Cabinet Office had its own reference system to identify documents and these codes are present in our catalogue descriptions. The references are made up of three elements

• A letter code for the type of document, for example, WM
• The last two digits of the year in brackets, (40)
• A number denoting the meeting for that year, 148

WM (40) 148, is the original reference for Conclusions of the 148^th War Cabinet meeting of 1940. The National Archives reference is CAB 65/7/43.

To find other documents from the same meeting look for the year and meeting number. CAB 66/7/28 has the original reference WP (40) 148 and is a memorandum presented at the same meeting. It can be found by browsing CAB 66 for memoranda in 1940 and looking for the code which includes (40) 148

The letter codes used and the format of the original reference varies over time but the year and meeting number is a constant feature. The codes are useful because they may be cited in publications and are used as references within cabinet papers.

4. Cabinet Minutes and Memoranda

Cabinet Minutes and Memoranda are probably the most important categories of Cabinet Papers, for researchers who want to find records discussing the major issues of the day and government strategy.

Cabinet memoranda are circulated to members of the Cabinet and other ministers for information or as a basis for discussion. There are indexes to memoranda at The National Archives in Kew, together with the memoranda of the War Cabinet of 1939 to 1945, in CAB 66, and the post-war Cabinet, in CAB 129. The memoranda of the pre-war Cabinets are in CAB 24 and the copies of Cabinet papers from 1880 to 1916 are in CAB 37.

These records are arranged in the following series (click on the series link for a fuller description of contents).

5. Cabinet conclusions

Cabinet conclusions (called minutes until August 1919) are normally taken by the Secretary to the Cabinet or one of the Secretary’s assistants. They are not verbatim accounts of meetings but consist of summaries of the discussion together with a note of the decisions reached.

Cabinet minutes or conclusions were also prefixed with a letter code. During peacetime the codes alternate with Prime Ministers between CM (Cabinet minutes) and CC (Cabinet conclusions). During the First World War WC was used and WM in the Second World War.

5.1 Confidential annexes

Certain conclusions were regarded as being especially secret and were recorded in the Secretary’s Standard File and became Confidential Annexes. Those for 1917-1939 are in CAB 23/13. Those from 1939 to 1948 are contained in separate volumes for each year located in CAB 65 and CAB 128. Confidential annexes for 1949 to September 1951 are in CAB 128/21. From October 1951 they are included with each volume of Cabinet conclusions. From this period the Confidential Annexes are also described in our catalogue as ‘most confidential’ records.

6. Cabinet records before 1916

Until the Cabinet Secretariat was formed in December 1916 no formal records of Cabinet meetings, such as minutes and conclusions, were kept. The only record of Cabinet decisions was contained in letters written by the Prime Minister to the Sovereign after each meeting.

These letters vary a great deal in length and detail and are now preserved in the Royal Archives at Windsor. Microfilms of the letters from 1837 to 1867 have been published by Harvester Press and can be viewed at the British Library at Boston Spa and other academic institutions. Photocopies of the letters for 1868-1916 are available at The National Archives at Kew in record series CAB 41. Photocopies of Cabinet papers held in private and other collections for 1880-1916 are in record series CAB 37. For detailed lists of these papers see PRO Handbooks 4 and 9.

Some eight hundred Cabinet papers that had been returned to the Cabinet Office by former Ministers or their executors are in CAB 1, which to a great extent duplicates CAB 37.

7. Cabinet records during the First World War

In November 1914 the Cabinet established the War Council to advise on the general conduct of the war, but the Council met infrequently and was replaced in May 1915 by the Dardanelles Committee which was concerned, as the name suggests, mainly with the Gallipoli expedition. The Dardanelles Committee in turn was replaced in November 1915 by the War Committee, with responsibility for the whole range of naval and military operations and war policy in general. These various bodies were assisted by the permanent secretariat of the Committee for Imperial Defence (CID), which kept detailed minutes and organised the issuing of memoranda. The papers and minutes are in CAB 22, with photocopies chronologically arranged in CAB 42. A more detailed account of the Cabinet at this time, together with a list of the papers issued by the Cabinet can be found in PRO Handbook 9. For more advice on the records of the CID see Section 8 below.

Records of Cabinet meetings until 1916 can be found in Prime Minister’s Letters in CAB 41 and in papers circulated for discussion in CAB 37. It soon became clear that a better system was needed for conducting Cabinet business.

When Lloyd George became Prime Minister on 7 December 1916, the secretariat of the CID, under Sir Maurice Hankey, became the nucleus of a new Cabinet Office serving a small War Cabinet. The main series of papers circulated to the War Cabinet, classified as GT, are in CAB 24. The minutes and conclusions of the War Cabinet were noted for the first time and are in CAB 23.

The personal political papers of David Lloyd George contain a large amount of Cabinet papers and papers relating to Cabinet. Search for ‘cabinet’ under the reference YLG. There are also Cabinet papers in the papers of Andrew Bonar Law and Lord Beaverbrook. See our separate research guides to Lloyd George papers, Bonar Law papers and Beaverbrook papers.

8. The Committees of Imperial Defence

8.1 What were the Committees of Imperial Defence?

The Committee of Imperial Defence, established in 1902, was an advisory body with no executive powers. With the assistance of numerous sub-committees it advised the Cabinet and government departments on both the general principles of defence policy and their detailed application. The Prime Minister was its Chairman and only permanent member. A permanent secretariat established in 1904 became the Cabinet Secretariat in 1916.

During the First World War the functions of the CID were transferred to other committees and departments. Its first post-war meeting was in June 1920, and subsequently the CID met regularly until September 1939 when its functions were assumed by the War Cabinet. It was not revived after the war.

8.2 Records of the Committees of Imperial Defence

Minutes of the CID and the Standing Defence Sub-Committee are in CAB 2. Circulated papers of the CID are in CAB 3-6 and those of the Standing Defence Sub-Committee in CAB 34. Files of the CID before December 1916 are in CAB 17, and inter-war files in CAB 21. There are some miscellaneous records in CAB 18.

Before 1914 the CID had four permanent sub committees: Colonial (later Overseas) Defence (whose papers are in CAB 7-11); Home Ports (later Home) Defence (CAB 12-13); Co-ordination of Departmental Action (CAB 15) and Air (CAB 14). After 1918 only the first three were revived and they were subsequently augmented by a number of standing and ad hoc committees whose papers are in CAB 16, CAB 34-36, CAB 46-57 and CAB 60.

A list of papers of the CID until 1914 can be found in PRO Handbook 6 and there is a detailed history in PRO Handbook 17.

9. Cabinet records in the inter-war years

With the return of peace, Lloyd George replaced the small War Cabinet with a traditional Cabinet of 20 members. At its first meeting on 4 November 1919, the new Cabinet decided to retain the methods of record keeping used by the War Cabinet.

The Cabinet conclusions of the inter-war years continue in CAB 23 and Cabinet memoranda are in CAB 24. Further information about the Cabinet in the inter-war years can be found in PRO Handbook 17.

10. The War Cabinet 1939-1945

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.

Conclusions of the War Cabinet are in CAB 65 and memoranda circulated to its members are in CAB 66. There are two other small series of memoranda, WP(G) in CAB 67 and WP(R) in CAB 68.

Further details about the War Cabinet are to be found in PRO Handbooks 15 and 17.

11. Cabinet records of the post-war period

On the defeat of Germany in May 1945 the War Cabinet was dissolved and a caretaker Cabinet was formed by Churchill. The conclusions and memoranda of this Cabinet are to be found in CAB 65 and CAB 66 respectively.

Under Prime Minister Clement Attlee (1945-1951), the functions of the Cabinet Office remained much as before. The conclusions of post-war Cabinets are in CAB 128 and the memoranda are in CAB 129.

12. Cabinet committees

12.1 What are Cabinet committees?

To assist the work of Cabinet, the government relies on the employment of numerous Cabinet committees. These committees reduce the burden on the Cabinet itself by enabling collective decisions to be taken by a smaller group of Ministers. Cabinet committees are of two types: standing committees which last for the duration of a Prime Minister’s term of office; and ad hoc committees which are convened to handle a single issue and are usually short lived.

12.2 Records of standing committees

Examples of standing committees, for which there are substantial sets of records at The National Archives, include the Committee of Imperial Defence (1904-1939), the Joint Intelligence Committee (1947-1968; see also our research guide to Intelligence records), the Defence Committee (1946-1963) and its successor the Defence and Overseas Policy Committee (1964-1980) The records of other standing committees, including the Atomic Energy Committee, the Economic Policy Committee and Home Affairs Committee, are to be found in CAB 134. Standing committees can be further divided into ministerial committees composed of members of parliament and official committees composed of senior civil servants. Every individual committee was allocated a series of letters by which it was identified. The Economic Policy Committee was designated EPC while the Home Affairs Committee was known as HA. These can be searched on the catalogue using the original file reference.

12.3 Records of ad hoc committees

The records of ad hoc committees are found in CAB 130. Each ad hoc committee is given a unique prefix, either MISC (miscellaneous) or GEN (general) and a number. The Committee on Subversive Activities, for example, was known as GEN 183. If a GEN or MISC number is known, the committee can be located in the catalogue using its original file reference.

12.4 Other records of Cabinet committees

The details of most committees and sub-committees comprising the Cabinet committee structure from 1945 are to be found in the Committee Organisation Books located in CAB 161. Additionally, some of the PRO Handbooks listed in section 2 can also provide helpful insights into Cabinet committees.

13. Cabinet Secretaries’ Notebooks (CAB 195)

The Cabinet Secretaries’ Notebooks (CAB 195) are the handwritten notes which the Cabinet Secretary makes when he attends Cabinet Meetings as the Senior Secretary.  They are longhand notebooks compiled by Norman Brook, Burke Trend, John Hunt, and Robert Armstrong at Cabinet meetings and some other meetings of ministers, during their respective terms of office, and they begin in 1942 and extend to 1965.

The notebooks provide more detailed accounts of the meetings than appear in the printed records, so they are closer to a verbatim account of who said what, as compared with the formal minutes.

There are gaps for the period 1942 to 1945 – there are no Notebooks for the whole of 1944, for example. Cabinet Secretary Edward Bridges destroyed them, following the security protocols of the time. The CAB 195 records have been digitised, but they have not been itemised on the Catalogue.

Images of the handwritten originals can be downloaded from the Cabinet Papers website while modern transcriptions are available through the National Archives catalogue.

14. Records of the Cabinet Secretariat

The Registered Files of the Cabinet and War Cabinets beginning in 1916 and containing papers on many aspects of British policy both domestic and foreign are in CAB 21. The records continue from 1966 in CAB 164 and CAB 165. These series also contain papers about the machinery of the Cabinet Secretariat. There is also a supplementary series of registered files (CAB 104) that were originally closed for 50 or 75 years.

15. Macmillan Cabinet Papers, 1957-1963

Prime Minister’s papers and Cabinet Office conclusions and memoranda (CAB 128 and CAB 129) for the years of the Macmillan Administration 1957-1963, can be accessed at AMDigital  (institutional subscription required or free to view onsite at The National Archives at Kew). Also available through this resource are the records of some key Cabinet committees from series CAB 134, including matters related to defence and nuclear policy, and changes affecting Britain’s relationship with former dependent colonies.

See also our Prime Minister’s Office research guide.

16. Cabinet papers website

The Cabinet Papers website is a useful educational resource for students and other researchers looking for examples of crucial Cabinet documents which are easy to find and downloadable and relate to particular subject themes, for example, ‘law, liberty and society’.

In line with our general policy for older web resources, the Cabinet Papers website is now hosted securely in the UK Government Web Archive. Please note that this resource only has material up to 1993, so the Catalogue on the National Archives website remains the best means of access to digitised Cabinet papers.

Large pdf files of some Cabinet papers can be downloaded from the archived website. Although large and not itemised, as they are in our catalogue, many of these files can be word searched within the downloaded pdf.

17. Further reading

Some of the publications below may be available to buy from The National Archives’ bookshop. Alternatively, search The National Archives’ library catalogue to see what is available to consult at Kew.

Tessa Blackstone and William Plowden, Inside the Think Tank: Advising the Cabinet 1971-1983 (William Heinemann Ltd, 1988)

Peter Hennessy, Cabinet (Basil Blackwell, 1986)

Peter Hennessy, Whitehall (Pimlico, 2001)

Arthur Berriedale Keith, The British Cabinet System (Stevens and Son, 1952)

John P Mackintosh, The British Cabinet (Stevens and Son, 1977)

Richard Rose, Ministers and Ministries: A Functional Analysis (Clarendon Press, 1987)

2. What are special services?

From the end of the 19th century there was a gradual development of services in this area.

The Medical Branch of the Board of Education was set up in 1907 with responsibility for the administration of all special services. Its responsibilities included:

• special educational treatment for disabled children
• the school medical service
• the provision of school meals and milk
• the organisation and inspection of physical training
• the supervision of evening play centres
• maternity and infant welfare (until 1919 when transferred to the Ministry of Health)
• nursery education

After the Second World War the Medical Branch was renamed the Special Services Branch. In 1974 its health functions transferred to the NHS.

3. How to use this guide and get a search started

A search for documents at The National Archives usually begins in our online catalogue. The following sections of this guide provide links to key record series that you can search within our catalogue, helping you to target your searches more precisely. By clicking on the series links (for example, ED 50) you will arrive on the respective ‘series description’ pages from where you can search the series, using dates/years and keywords such as:

• type of special service, for example ‘nursery’ or ‘open air school’
• name of school

Two key series for this subject area are:

• ED 50 (1872-1974, although few 19th century papers survive)
• ED 269 (1967-1994)

On series description pages there is the the option to ‘browse by reference’, allowing you to browse the series piece by piece. It’s worth doing this to familiarise yourself with the language used in document descriptions. Descriptive terms for disability have changed over time and the terms used in these historical records reflect the language of the time and may now be considered derogatory or offensive.

Use the advanced catalogue search to restrict your search results to all the records of a specific government department, including its predecessors (for example, the Department of Education, from where most records related to special services originate).  Use the department reference, which is always a letter code, to do this (the code for Department of Education is ED).

Catalogue search results provide short descriptions of our records and a document reference for each one – you will need the document reference to see the record itself. Most of the records covered in this guide are not available to view online so to see them you will have to either visit us in Kew or order copies. Bear in mind that a search in our catalogue will also search for records in other archives around the country – keep your eye on the ‘Held by’ field to establish whether the records are here or elsewhere. Read our Discovery search help for more guidance.

4. Special educational treatment in the 19th and 20th century

Individual schools and school boards took an interest in education for disabled children from the middle of the 19th century.

Consult ED 50/9 (1872-1893) which contains papers on the activities of school boards in respect of blind and of deaf children and information about arrangements in London.

The first piece of legislation ensuring special educational provision for disabled children was the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893, which obliged every school authority to provide education for blind and deaf children between the ages of 7 and 16.

More legislation followed and related papers on these pieces of legislation are in ED 50 and ED 24:

• Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act 1899 – local authorities enabled to provide for the training of physically and mentally disabled and epileptic children
• Special Schools Education Act 1914 made these powers mandatory for mentally disabled and epileptic children
• Education Act 1918 made these powers mandatory for the physically disabled
• Education Act 1921 – compulsory education for children with these disabilities extended to 16
• New procedures were laid down in the Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations 1945 and later regulations

4.1 Searching for special schools, homes and training establishments

You can use the advanced search option in our catalogue and search by name of institution within:

• ED 32 for special schools in England
• ED 224 for special schools in Wales
• ED 62 for training establishments providing further education for disabled people
• ED 122 for boarding homes for maladjusted, educationally subnormal and diabetic children (75-year closure)
• ED 195 for reports of HM Inspectorate on special education establishments after 1948

Browse records relating to the provision of special schools in some local education authorities in ED 133 (very few pre-1936 papers have survived).

4.2 The Warnock Report and after (1978 onwards)

The Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People (Warnock Committee) met for over three years and reported in 1978.

The Committee’s report covered all aspects of special needs from pre-school to postgraduate research and can be accessed on Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription service available to access at The National Archives. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library, such as a university library.

The main provisions of the resulting Education Act 1981 were

• the replacement of the category of handicapped pupil by special educational needs
• the introduction of a statement for each such pupil
  an emphasis on integrated provision

Browse:

• the Warnock Committee’s terms of reference in ED 269
• the Warnock Committee’s minutes and papers in ED 285
• papers on the establishment of the Warnock Committee in ED 269/63-66

The white paper Special Needs in Education was published in 1980 and can also be accessed on Parliamentary Papers online.

The Council for National Academic Awards set up its own Special Education Panel – minutes in DB 3/2333-2346 and DB 3/3149-3151 (1981-1987).

An Institute of Education report to the Department of Education and Science on special educational needs provision (1987) is in BL 6/190 (although this is a closed document).

National and district surveys carried out by the Department of Education and Science between 1987 and 1990 are in ED 235.

Annual reports for the eight regional special educational needs tribunals (set up under the Education Act 1993 for parents to appeal against LEA decisions on special educational provision) are in KH 1. The tribunals cover all types of disability in both England and Wales.

5. School health service

The school medical service was introduced following the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act 1907.

This act and the Local Education Authorities (Medical Treatment) Act 1909 were both influenced by the findings of the Interdepartmental Committee on Physical Deterioration (1904). The 1907 act made medical inspection of children mandatory, with any necessary treatment to be provided by the Local Education Authority (LEA).

For related files, browse:

• general policy files on the school medical service in ED 50 and ED 269
• correspondence with LEAs on the school health service ED 137
  

The school medical service transferred to the Ministry of Health in 1919.

6. School meals service

The Education (Provision of Meals) Act 1906 led to the development of the school meals service.  The act gave LEAs the right to provide premises for and assist the work of voluntary associations which had begun to provide meals and hot drinks for needy schoolchildren.

Subsidised milk was introduced by the Milk in Schools Act 1934 and it was freely provided from 1946.

The school meals service became fully established during the Second World War.

For relevant records, browse:

• general policy files in ED 50 and ED 269
• LEA files in ED 123
• information on wartime services in ED 138
• reports and surveys on the school meals service between 1954 and 1965 in ED 194

7. Physical training

Under the 1918 and 1921 Education Acts, local authorities could promote both social and physical training.

Facilities provided included evening swimming instruction, visits to theatres and music festivals, school camps and school journeys.

Browse:

• LEA files on the provision of these facilities in ED 101

Papers relating to the appropriate sections of the Education Acts are in ED 11. For:

• records of the 1918 act consult ED 11/28-29
• records of the 1921 act consult ED 11/118-120, ED 11/250-252

The Physical Training and Recreation Act 1937 extended these provisions to young people and adults not in full-time education. This extension was suspended during the Second World War and the 1944 Education Act limited the use of facilities to those attending educational institutions.

Browse:

• papers on the provision by LEAs of community centres, playing fields, swimming baths, recreation centres and courses 1937 to 1940 in ED 56

Responsibility for post-school social and recreational training passed to the Further Education Branch of the Ministry of Education in 1945.

Browse:

• records on youth welfare in ED 124 and ED 126
• records on adult welfare in ED 169

8. Nursery education

8.1 Nursery education before the Second World War

Nursery schools were first established by voluntary effort at the beginning of the 20th century. Following the creation of the Medical Branch in 1907, government attention initially focused on nursery provision for ‘neglected’ children in deprived areas.

Under the 1918 and 1921 Education Acts local education authorities could provide or aid the provision of nursery schools and classes for children aged two to five.
Government grants also became available from 1919 but the development of nursery provision was hampered by financial crises.

Expansion was urged by a joint Ministry of Health and Board of Education circular of 1929. This was:

• encouraged by the report of the Consultative Committee on Infant and Nursery Education in 1933 (Hadow Committee)
• further emphasised by a 1936 LEA survey on the need for nursery provision for the under-fives

For related records browse:

• nursery education general files in ED 102 for regulations, circulars, letters, administrative memoranda, and correspondence with other departments on matters of common policy
• LEA files on nursery education in ED 66 for proposals to establish nursery schools and classes, correspondence relating to expenditure, policy and individual schools
• papers of the 1933 Hadow Committee in ED 10/149-150
  Search by name of nursery within ED 69 for files on individual nursery schools.

8.2 Nursery expansion during the Second World War

It was only with the wartime emergency that greater provision was made for nursery-aged children from a wider range of backgrounds.  The Second World War led to the establishment of:

• nursery centres in evacuation reception areas
• day nurseries for the children of women war workers
• evening play centres for children of school age whose mothers were war workers

Browse:

• surviving LEA files in ED 66
• the ‘under fives’ sections of the wartime history of education in ED 138 for evidence of activities at individual schools and in different parts of the country
• documents relating to the provision of evening play centres in ED 65

8.3 Post-war expansion and research

The post-war ‘baby boom’ increased the number of pre-school children and encouraged the expansion of nursery provision.

The 1944 Education Act extended the provision of nursery schools and classes. LEAs were asked to include such provision in their development plans for post-war education which are in ED 152.

The 1967 report Children and their Primary Schools (or the Plowden Report) included numerous recommendations for the expansion of nursery education.  Related papers are in ED 207/6-7 and ED 207/122-124.

The need to expand nursery accommodation encouraged research into nursery care. For information on research into this area between 1968 and 1984:

• Search within ED 181 and ED 282 using the keyword ‘nursery’
• Browse ED 207/106-111

The School Census (Form 7) Datasets in CRDA 13/ED 267 contain statistical details of nursery schools. You can sometimes identify entries for individual schools by using the Register of Educational Establishments in CRDA 47/NV 2.

9. Further reading

Read Education and the State from 1833, by Ann Morton (PRO 1997) for background information and for guidance on other original sources.

The School Health Service, 1908-1974, a report by the Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Education and Science, published in 1975.

2. Searching for records

Search Discovery, our catalogue, to find records from over 2,500 archives across the UK, as well as from The National Archives itself. Your search results will tell you which archives currently hold the records. You can then refine your results.

Use the ‘record creator’ tab to find where records created by a particular business or individual are held. Alternatively use the filters to find where records are held which mention the business/individual you searched for.

For further tips on searching see our catalogue help pages.

The majority of historic business and trade records in the UK are held by local record offices. Use the Find an archive tool to find contact details of archives/repositories across the UK. This tool also includes details of some repositories abroad which hold substantial collections relating to British history.

3. Records recently collected by other archives

 Many archives regularly take in new records to add to their collections – this process is known as accessioning. Every year, The National Archives collects information about new accessions from 250 archives across Britain and Ireland. This is known as the annual Accessions to Repositories’ survey.

This information is added to Discovery, our catalogue. It is also edited and used to produce thematic digests, including one relating to education history. The digests are made available through this website and distributed for publication in a number of learned journals and newsletters. Further information is available at Accessions to Repositories.

4. Major collections

The following list includes some of the repositories and institutions that hold major collections relating to business history.

British Library, Sound Archive

The National Sound Archive holds a growing collection of oral history records of participants in a variety of industries, most recently steel, financial services and the oil industry.

Dundee University Archives

Many collections relating to business in Scotland, especially engineering and textiles.

Glasgow University Archives Services

The principal centre for business records in Scotland, with particularly strong holdings for industry in the West of Scotland.

Museum of English Rural Life

The Centre collects the records of farms, agricultural engineers and ancillary industries on a national basis.

Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester

A centre for the records of business in the North West. The engineering trades are particularly well covered.

National Records of Scotland

The National Records of Scotland holds a wide range of business records. Also, like The National Archives, it holds a variety of business records that were produced in evidence in civil actions and not reclaimed; these are listed in Scottish Record Office Court of Session Productions c1760-1840 (List & Index Society, special series volume 23, 1987). In addition, the NRS holds the records of dissolved companies which were registered in Scotland in its class BT2.

National Maritime Museum, Manuscripts Section

Holds the records of numerous shipping and shipbuilding companies.

Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

PRONI holds extensive business collections. It also holds details of dissolved companies which were registered in Northern Ireland in class COM 40.

Tyne & Wear Archives

A local authority record office particularly strong in shipbuilding and industrial records.

Victoria and Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design

Holds the archives of many firms engaged in the manufacture and sale of furniture, textiles, precious metal wares and other areas in which design plays a prominent role.

Warwick University Modern Records Centre

Specialises in collections relating to the history of industrial relations. Holds the records of numerous employers’ and trade associations, including the Confederation of British Industry. Motor manufacture and related industries form another primary collecting area.

5. Other useful resources and catalogues

Archives in London and the M25 area (AIM25)

AIM25 is a major project to provide electronic access to collection level descriptions of the archives of over 50 higher education institutions and learned societies within the greater London area.

Archives Wales

Archives Wales is an online index to archival collections held by record offices, universities, museums and libraries in Wales. The ANW provides information and descriptions of collections only including; corporate papers and business archives, personal papers and diaries of prominent literary, artistic, political or other figures (living and dead), estate archives, council, academic and church records. It is possible to search and browse these collections by person, place, subject, or repository – however, it does not provide access to online materials. The Archives and Records Council Wales is responsible for the ANW.

Business Archives Council

Founded in 1934, the objectives of the Council are to promote the preservation of business records of historical importance; supply advice and information on the administration and management of both archives and modern records and to encourage interest in the history of business in Britain.

Business History Explorer

BHE is an online bibliography on the history of specific businesses and industries in the UK. Accessible by subscription.

The British Library

The British Library has one of the most comprehensive collections of current and historical business information sources in the UK. It has long runs of company, trade and business directories and has actively collected published market research reports since the late 1970s (some earlier reports may also be found). The Library also has a major collection of trade literature, manufacturers’ catalogues and promotional material which is particularly strong for the late 19th and early 20th centuries and for the period 1980 to 2000. A large collection of company annual reports is also held. For enquiries you can Ask the Reference Team in the first instance and your question will be forwarded to collection specialists as appropriate.

Companies House

Holds information concerning live companies registered in England and Wales and brief details concerning dissolved ones. Although there are separate registers for Scotland and Northern Ireland this information is consolidated on their online database. References to assist in tracing statutory documents deposited in The National Archives are also available from Companies House. It is important to know the exact legal name of the company concerned. Indexes are arranged so that JG Kincaid & Co Ltd is alphabetised under J rather than K.

Files relating to dissolved companies have been transferred to respectively The National Archives, National Archives of Scotland and Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

Grace’s Guide

A constantly updated online resource for company information in the area of industry and manufacturing in Britain since the Industrial Revolution.

Open Corporates

Described as the open database of the corporate world, Open Corporates offers the possibility of searching for over 50 million companies in 65 jurisdictions.

Scottish Archive Network (SCAN)

The Scottish Archive Network allows online searching of over 20,000 collections in 52 Scottish repositories.

6. Further reading

Business Reference

• John Armstrong and Stephanie Jones, Business documents, their origin, sources and uses in historical research (1987)
• Gordon Boyce and Simon Ville, The development of modern business (2002)
• Francis Goodall, Bibliography of British business histories (1987)
• D J Jeremy (ed), Dictionary of business biography (5 vols, 1984-1986)
• John Orbell, A Guide to Tracing the History of a Business (1987)
• Eric D Probert, Company and Business Records for Family Historians (Federation of Family History Societies 1994)
• Anthony Slaven and Sydney Checkland (eds), Dictionary of Scottish business biography 1860-1960 (2 vols, 1986-1990)
• A Turton (ed) Managing Business Archives (1991)
• Stephanie Zarach, Debrett’s bibliography of business history (1987)
• The Stock Exchange Official Year-Book. Published annually since 1876 this deals with publicly quoted companies and gives an outline of their history and functions, though the details tend to be concise and formal
• Register of Defunct and Other Companies. Published annually this was a cumulative publication dealing with those companies removed from The Stock Exchange Official Year-Book. It gives only the barest details such as dates of registration and liquidation. The last year in which the company was listed is given. No separate issue of this publication has appeared since 1980 and the Register is now published as a supplement to The Stock Exchange Official Year-Book
• Macmillan’s Unquoted Companies. Provides basic details and financial profiles of Britain’s top 20,000 unquoted companies
• Kelly’s Business Directory. The best single volume business directory with coverage of over 82,000 businesses. Published annually
• Who Owns Whom. United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. This is useful for linking subsidiaries to their parent companies, it includes many dormant companies
• The Red Book of Commerce or Who’s Who in Business. No longer published, the Red Book appeared between 1906 and 1939. It differed considerably from all other such reference works in that the entries were not standardised and descriptions were often more vivid and informative than in other directories. Coverage of companies changed between issues and it is worth looking at different editions for a particular company

Guides to Archives

• Rebecca M Bailey, Scottish architects’ papers. A source book (1996)
• Rosemary Boyns, Trevor Boyns and John Richard Edwards, Historical Accounting Records: A guide for archivists and researchers: London Society of Archivists
• Rita V Bryon and Terence N Bryon, Maritime Information: a guide to libraries and sources of information in the United Kingdom(third ed, 1993)
• Charles Ralph Clinker, Railway history sources: a handlist of the principle sources of original material with notes and guidance on its use (1976)
• H A L Cockerell and Edwin Green, The British Insurance Business: A Guide to its History and Archives (1994)
• C R H Cooper, ‘The archives of the City of London Livery Companies and related organisations’, in Archives 72 (1984)
• Jennifer Green, Philip Ollerenshaw and Peter Wardley, Business in Avon and Somerset: a survey of archives (1991)
• Wendy Habgood, Chartered accountants in England and Wales: a guide to historical records (1994)
• Patricia Hudson, The West Riding wool textile industry: a catalogue of business records from the sixteenth to the twentieth century (Edington, Pasold Research Fund Ltd, Pasold occasional papers vol 3, 1975)
• Patricia Hudson, The genesis of industrial capital: a study of the West Riding wool textile industry c1750-1850 (1986)
• R M James, ‘Brewing records: an inquiry and its lessons’, in Archives VII (1965-1966), pp 215-220
• Charles A Jones, Britain and the Dominions: a guide to business and related records in the United Kingdom concerning Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa (1978)
• S Kelly, ‘Report of a survey of the archives of British commercial computer manufacturers 1950-1970’ (Unpublished typescript, Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1985)
• Peter Mathias and Alan W H Pearsall, Shipping: a survey of historical records (1971)
• Peter J T Morris, Colin A Russell and John Graham Smith, Archives of the British chemical industry 1750-1914: a handlist (1988)
• The National Archives, Records of British business and industry 1760-1914: textiles and leather (HMSO, 1990)
• The National Archives, Records of British business and industry 1760-1914: engineering and metal processing (HMSO, 1994)
• John Orbell and Alison Turton, British Banking: a guide to historical records (2001)
• George Ottley, Railway history: guide to 61 collections in libraries and archives in Great Britain (1973)
• Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, The Ulster textile industry: a catalogue of business records in PRONI relating principally to the linen industry in Ulster (1978)
• Lesley Richmond, Juliet Stevenson and Alison Turton, The Phamaceutical Industury: a guide to historical records (2003)
• Lesley Richmond and Alison Turton, The brewing industry: a guide to historical records (1990)
• Lesley Richmond and Bridget Stockford, Company archives: a survey of the records of 1000 of the first registered companies in England and Wales (1986)
• Lesley Richmond & Alison Turton (eds), Directory of corporate archives (Business Archives Council, 4th ed, 1996)
• L A Ritchie, The shipbuilding industry: a guide to historical records (1992)
• Peter Scott, ‘Sources on communities of British manufacturing plants and their activities’ in Business Archives Sources and History (2004)
• Alexis Weedon and Michael Bott, British book trade archives 1830-1939: a location register (1996)
• Chirstine Wiskin ‘Women, business and credit: sources for the historian’ in Business Archives Sources and History (1997)

2. How to search for letters and papers: an overview

Most of the advice in this guide is for records in series T 1, the main record series for letters received by the Treasury (known as ‘in-letters’). T 1 does not contain letters sent from the Treasury to other government departments until the late 19th century (these are in out-letter books held in series T 5-T 29).

Locating records can be very time consuming. The process differs depending on the time period you are interested in but when searching for a letter it is usually useful to know the date of the letter and who sent the letter. For most records before 1920 you cannot search T 1 by keyword on our catalogue. Instead you need to start by consulting finding aids, explained in more detail in the subsequent sections of this guide.

The following flow chart provides an overview of the necessary finding aids for locating 19th century letters and papers in T 1:

Finding aids for 19th century Treasury papers

3. How to find letters and papers, 1557-1745

3.1 Calendars

There are several published calendars for finding Treasury records from these years. They are well indexed and are freely available in the reading rooms and library at The National Archives. The calendars and the dates they cover are as follows:

3.2 How to convert calendar references

Each entry in the calendars comes with a corresponding volume or book number, expressed in Roman numerals (for example, CCCXVII) and an item or page/paper number, expressed in standard decimal numbers (for example, no.8 or p.52).

• Convert the Roman numerals into decimal numbers (for example, CCCXVII becomes 317). This gives you a T1 document reference (in this example, T 1/317).
• Request the letters/papers by searching for the reference in our catalogue
• Find the item or page/paper number within the box of letters and papers

4. How to find letters and papers, 1746-1782

Use the T 1 series search in our catalogue to look for letters and papers using keywords. Letters and papers from 1746-1758 and 1764 are easiest to find as they have been described in more detail in our catalogue. Entries for other years are described in less detail.

When choosing which keywords to search with you should think laterally and consider possible broader subject matters within which your subject may be found. For example, to find Boston Tea Party papers look under ‘North America’ and the relevant date; searching for ‘Boston Tea Party’ will not work.

5. How to find letters and papers, 1777-1817

For this period you will need to first consult the Treasury registers. For each year there is an alphabetical and a numerical register. The alphabetical register is organised by name of sender. The numerical register is organised by date. The registers are held in series T 2. Follow the steps below to move from the registers in T 2 to the skeleton registers in T 3 and finally the letter or paper itself.

Example: you are looking for a letter from the Surveyor General of Woods about Hyde Park sent in August 1807.

Step 1: Order the appropriate T 2 registers by searching T 2 by year.  For 1807 the appropriate registers are T 2/48 and T 2/49.

Step 2: Find a reference to the letter in the T 2 registers – you may need to check both.

• In the T2/48 alphabetical index you might look under ‘Surveyor General’
• In the T2/49 numerical index you would look under ‘August’ – if you know the date of the letter but can’t find a reference to it for that date, try other dates close by

In our example, there is a reference to the letter on 8 August.

Step 3: Note the number next to the reference to the letter. In our example, the number is 6022.

Step 4: Search T 3 by year to find and order the corresponding skeleton register. For 1807 the skeleton register is T 3/3.

Step 5: Find your number from step 3 within the skeleton register. In our example you would look for 6022 within T3/3. A black tick indicates the document has survived, a red symbol means it has been destroyed and you will not find the letter.

Step 6: If there is a black tick search T 1 for the right year and paper range. In our example, T 1/1009 is the reference for 1807 covering paper numbers 5890-6261, within which paper 6022 falls. Order T 1/1009 to see the letter or paper.

6. How to find letters and papers, 1817-1852

Follow the steps in section 5 but, at Step 1, allow for the fact that T 2 alphabetical registers are, for this period, split into ‘alphabetical: individuals’ and ‘alphabetical: public offices’. Keeping these separate lists in mind, you may need to think laterally about the kind of reference you search for. For example, a letter from the Duke of Clarence in 1823 is filed under Royal Family within the alphabetical index of letters received from public offices for that year (held in T 2/101).

7. How to find letters and papers, 1852-1920

For this period the T 108 register, a register organised by subject, makes searching easier. The T 108 register can be used alongside, or instead of, the T2 registers. Not every letter corresponded to an obvious subject category and some correspondence was therefore filed as ‘miscellaneous.’

Follow the steps below, or the steps outlined in section 5, to find a letter or paper.

Example: you are looking for incoming letters relating to a flood at Holmfirth in 1852.

Step 1: Search T 108 by year to find the appropriate subject register for that year. For 1852, the subject register (covering 1852-1856) is T 108/1.

Step 2: Find a reference to the letter relating to the flood. In our example, the subject appears under ‘Miscellaneous: F’.

Step 3: Note the paper number next to the reference. In our example, the number is 7217.

Step 4: Search T 3 by year to find and order the corresponding skeleton register. For 1852, the skeleton register is T 3/41.

Step 5: Find your number from step 3 in the skeleton register. In our example, you are looking for 7217.

Step 6: If another number is written to the right of it, look for this number in the skeleton register. In our example, 17275 appears to the right of 7217.

Step 7: Continue this process until you find a number with no number to the right of it. In our example, to the right of 17275 the number 20366 appears and to the right of that 24989. There is no number to the right of 24989 so that is the paper number we look for. If a black tick is next to this number the file has been kept. If a red symbol exists the file has been destroyed.

Step 8: If you see a black tick,  search T 1 for the right year and paper range. In our example, the T 1 reference for 1852 and paper range 24940-24992, within which 24989 falls, is T 1/5778A. Order T 1/5778A to see the letter or paper.

Short video guide

View transcript (PDF, 0.06 MB)

For further help searching our catalogue please read our Discovery help pages.

8. Troubleshooting and alternative sources

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, the following tips may help:

• Try looking at nearby dates within the register. Sometimes letters were registered a few days after they were received.
• Think laterally. Topics may be filed under various subject headings. If the correspondence covers another government department try consulting their records.
• Check ‘miscellaneous’ within the T 108 subject registers. Letters were frequently filed under this heading.
• Check the long bundles (T 1/3411-T 1/4404). These are not covered by the registers. They contain correspondence on subjects which generated large quantities of important correspondence from 1777-1840. Subjects include: slavery, distress in the Highlands and the Charles Babbage calculator.
• From 1849 only important decisions of the Treasury Board were recorded. Find them in T 29.

You can also try other Treasury sources:

• Look for the corresponding out-letter. Browse the 25 out-letter series from T 5-T 29 (letters from the Treasury to other government departments).
• Look for Leeds Papers, mainly journals and minute books. For records from February 1668/9 until Michaelmas 1689 look in PRO 30/32. For Leeds Papers from 1690 onwards, contact the British Library.
• From June 1920 look in series T 160-T 164 and T 268 for personnel records, if they survived. However, some of the records were wrongly incorporated into these series.

9. Further reading

Thomas L Heath, The Treasury (The Whitehall Series, 1927, GP Putnam’s Sons Ltd, London and New York)

2. The Foreign Office card index

Correspondence received by the Foreign Office was numbered and categorised. The numbers and categories were recorded on small cards and these cards served as the index to the correspondence.

This Foreign Office card index is still used today, at The National Archives, to identify  correspondence relevant to a particular country, person or subject area. Nowadays, however, the index is accessed online, in the downloadable record series FO 1111. Each category also has a corresponding National Archives’ record series (see the table in Section 3.2).

In 1910 the Foreign Office changed its registry system, making the search method for 1906-1909 slightly different to the method for 1911-1919. For 1910 itself you may need to try both methods.

Not all the correspondence to which the index refers was sent for preservation to The National Archives so today some index entries refer to documents which no longer exist.

3. Searching for correspondence 1906-1910

For 1906-1909 (and part of 1910) you will first need to use the card index and then the general registers of correspondence before you can identify an individual piece of correspondence. Unlike the index, the registers have not been digitised and therefore you cannot view them online. To view them you will need to visit The National Archives.

Follow these steps to find correspondence:

Step 1: Identify a section of the index to download from our catalogue

• Use the FO 1111 series search in our catalogue to search by year only.
• Sort your results by reference – this will put them into alphabetical (as well as reference) order.
• Look for the letter (or alphabetical range) that covers your subject, name or place of interest. You may have to do some lateral thinking to find your way around the terms used for subjects in the index – you will often have to guess at how the Foreign Office would have originally categorised a subject. You may, therefore, need to download multiple sections of the index.
• Download your selected section of the index.

Step 2: Identify a card index entry of interest

• Scroll through the downloaded cards until you find an entry of interest.
• A typical index card looks like this:

Foreign Office index card for 1909. The index reference is for correspondence about Louis Blériot’s flight across the English Channel

Step 6 Convert the file number into a National Archives document reference

Search our catalogue for the country, and year within the relevant series reference listed in the table in section 5.2 (FO 371, FO 367, FO 368, FO 369 or FO 372).

Sort your search results by reference and look for the range of file numbers which covers the file number you identified in Step 4.

For file number 28288, in the example above, the relevant document is FO 371/668 as it covers files 17645-29484.

4. Searching for correspondence 1910-1919

Searching for correspondence from these years is a little easier as the file number is provided on the index cards (removing the need for a register).

Follow these steps to find correspondence:

Step 1:Identify a card index entry of interest

• Use the FO 1111 series search to search by year only.
• Sort your results by reference – this will put them into alphabetical (as well as reference) order.
• Look for the letter (or alphabetical range) that covers your subject, name or place of interest. You may have to do some lateral thinking to find your way around the terms used for subjects in the index – you will often have to guess at how the Foreign Office would have originally categorised a subject (the card below, for example, could be categorised under Portugal, Spain or Reformista Party; or under all three). You may, therefore, need to download multiple records.
• Download the record and identify a card of interest within the record.

Step 2: Note the country code, paper and file numbers from the card

An index card for correspondence about the Spanish Reformista Party visit to Lisbon

Using the tables in section 5 you can see that country code 36 is for political correspondence about Portugal and is held in series FO 371.

Sometimes, as in the example above, there is just one number for both the paper and file. If there are two numbers, the file number is usually the lower of the two and appears below the paper number.

Step 3: Search our catalogue

• Use the advanced search to search by the country code within the relevant series in the relevant year.

For the file indexed in the card above you would search for “code 36”, restrict your search to the year 1916, and search within reference FO 371, like this:

An advanced search of our catalogue for Code 36 in FO 371 covering 1916

5. Key to codes on the index cards

Each entry in the card index has a country/category code and a paper number. The card index from 1910-1919 also contains a file number. The codes have to be converted into National Archives document references.

Each country had its own code, composed of a unique stem number:

5.1 The country code stem numbers

5.2 Country codes with more than two digits (category codes)

Extra numbers or letters were added to indicate which category the papers were placed in. The category corresponds to a particular National Archives record series (see table below). If no extra number is added then the correspondence was categorised as ‘Political’ (Diplomatic) – the most commonly used category.

For example, Germany had 18 for its stem number, so references to Germany in the card index have the following codes:

6. How to find related correspondence 1906-1910

Once you have found a relevant entry in the FO 566 registers you can sometimes find related correspondence by identifying cross-references.

Left hand pages of registers refer to incoming correspondence and right hand pages to outgoing correspondence. Entries in black in the ‘forward reference’ column (highlighted in the image at Step 5 in section 3) refer to incoming correspondence numerically arranged on the left page. Entries in red usually refer to outgoing correspondence arranged numerically on the right page.

The file number can then be traced to a document reference as in step 2 above.

7. Other types of Foreign Office correspondence and related records

Some Foreign Office correspondence from this period is not covered by the card index. This includes:

7.1 Correspondence from the Foreign Office Library and Research department

Search for correspondence to and from the Foreign Office Library and Research department in FO 370.

7.2 Correspondence from the Chief Clerk’s department

The Foreign Office Chief Clerk’s department focused mainly on expenditure issues and therefore covers many topics. Search for correspondence and other records in FO 366.

8. Further reading

Some of the publications below may be available to buy from The National Archives’ bookshop. Alternatively, search The National Archives’ library catalogue to see what is available to consult at Kew.

James Cronan and Keith Mitchell (eds.), Foreign Office Records, 1782 to 1986, An index to country series (List and Index Society, 2017)

Michael Roper, The records of the Foreign Office, 1782-1968 (Public Record Office Publications, 2002)

L Atherton, ‘Never complain, never explain’, Records of the Foreign Office and State Paper Office 1500-c.1960, Public Record Office Readers’ Guide No7 (PRO publications, 1994)

The records of the Foreign Office, 1782-1939, Public Record Office Handbooks No13 (HMSO, 1969)