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IOR/L/PS
- Record Id:
- 032-000538283
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-000538283
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000035.0x000077
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- IOR/L/PS
- Title:
- Political and Secret Department Records
- Scope & Content:
- During the period of the East India Company and Board of Control (i.e. pre-1859) most of the records in this group - minutes, correspondence with India, and Home correspondence - originated either in the activities of the EIC Secret Committee (1784-1858) or in the work of the Secret and Political Departments of the Board of Control (1784-1858) and the Political Department of the EIC Examiner's Office (1804-1858). The group also covers (in L/PS/1 and 2) the records of various other early committees concerned with Secret or Political affairs. For the period of the India Office proper (1858-1947) L/PS is mainly made up of archives from the following departments:- Political and Secret 1858-1930; Political (Internal) 1931-1941; Political 1941-1944; Political (States) 1944-1947; Political (External) 1931-1941; External 1941-1947. Originally, under the East India Company and Board of Control, the Secret Department was reserved for highly important and sensitive correspondence involving war and peace, and diplomacy, whereas the Political Department dealt with more routine and/or less confidential questions regarding relations with the Indian States and foreign governments. Under the India Office (post-1858) the distinction between Secret and Political tended to become territorial, with the Secret Department being employed for external and frontier policy, and the Political Department mainly used for questions relating to the Indian Princely States as well as (mainly in the third quarter of the 19th century) the supervision of the Non-Regulation Provinces, i.e. those provinces, such as the Punjab, which were governed directly by the Government of India through a Commission. From the point of view of locating documents the distinction between Secret and Political is less important after 1875 since from that year Secret and Political documents were no longer bound separately but were filed together in the same volume. The following are the main subjects covered by L/PS:- 1) Relations with other European Powers in South Asia (French, Portuguese, Dutch, Danish). 2) Relations with countries bordering on British India or which fell within the British Indian sphere of interest. 3) Foreign consuls in India. 4) Frontier affairs (Baluchistan, North-West, Northern and North-East Frontiers). 5) Honours questions (both Indian and Imperial Honours, to both Asians and Europeans), questions of protocol, gun salutes. 6) Indian Political Service and Government of India Foreign and Political Departments. 7) Indian Princely States (including Sikkim). 8) Indian States Forces (before 1922 known as Imperial Service Troops). 9) Indian Non-Regulation Provinces (mainly in the period 1850-1875). 10) North-West Frontier Militia, Levy Corps and Cavalry. 11) Political movements etc. in India (scattered materials c1887-1904). 12) Returns of political prisoners and pensioners. 13) State functions, coronations, addresses to Royal Family, etc.
- Collection Area:
- India Office Records and Private Papers
- Project / Collection:
- India Office Records
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-000538283", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Hierarchy View unavailable. Click Hide Hierarchy button and use links in the catalogue record." }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-000538283
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Contains:
- IOR/L/PS/1 : Political and Secret Department - Committee, Court and Council Minutes
IOR/L/PS/2 : Secret Minutes of the Board of Control
IOR/L/PS/3 : Political and Secret Home Correspondence
IOR/L/PS/4 : Board of Control Correspondence in the Secret, Political and Foreign Departments: Abstracts and notes, 1784-1839
IOR/L/PS/5 : Secret Correspondence with India
IOR/L/PS/6 : Political Correspondence with India
IOR/L/PS/7 : Political and Secret Correspondence with India
IOR/L/PS/8 : Demi-Official Correspondence, Secretary's Letters and Secret Service Intelligence Papers
IOR/L/PS/9 : Correspondence relating to areas outside India
IOR/L/PS/10 : Departmental Papers: Political and Secret Separate (or Subject) Files
IOR/L/PS/11 : Departmental Papers: Political and Secret Annual Files
IOR/L/PS/12 : Departmental Papers: Political (External) Files and Collections
IOR/L/PS/13 : Departmental Papers: Political Internal/Indian States Files and Collections
IOR/L/PS/14 : Correspondence with Asian Rulers and Indian Princes
IOR/L/PS/15 : Honours Records
IOR/L/PS/16 : Consular Papers
IOR/L/PS/17 : Parliamentary Questions and Addresses
IOR/L/PS/18 : Political and Secret Department Memoranda
IOR/L/PS/19 : Political and Secret Department Miscellaneous Records
IOR/L/PS/20 : Political and Secret Department Library
IOR/Z/L/PS : Indexes and Registers to the Political and Secret Department Records
Click here to View / search full list of parts of IOR/L/PS - Hierarchy:
- 032-000538283
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- Approx 13,246 volumes or files, and 318 boxes
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1756
- End Date:
- 1956
- Date Range:
- 1756-c 1951
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Available for research unless otherwise stated
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- User Conditions:
- Publications:
- For notes on the administrative history of the Political and Secret Departments of the East India Company, Board of Control and India Office see the relevant sections of Martin Moir's 'A General Guide to the India Office Records' (British Library 1988). See also Moir's 'A study of the history and organization of the Political and Secret Departments of the East India Company, the Board of Control and the India Office 1784-1919' (Thesis submitted for the University of London Diploma in Archive Administration, 1966).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Public Record(s)
- Related Material:
- The IOR/L/PS records are broadly similar in scope to those of the India Foreign/Political Department: see India and Provincial Foreign/Political/Secret Proceedings [IOR/P] 1781-1936. For the period 1796-1858 see also Board's Collections [IOR/F/4], which consist mainly of India and Provincial Foreign/Political (but not Secret) Proceedings, arranged by subject.