Mss Eur F699/1

The Governor General's papers were dealt with by Charles Canning directly, and include the most important sequences of correspondence such as with the Officers of the East India Company, the President of the Board of Control, and the Secretary of State for India.

The Governor General was supported by a Personal Staff, which included a Private Secretary, a Military Secretary, a number of Aides de Camp (ADCs), and Honorary Aides de Camp. Correspondence and other material of a routine nature and matters relating to administration would have been dealt with by either the Office of the Governor General's Private Secretary or the Office of the Governor General's Military Secretary. Latter seems to have been somewhat overwhelmed by paperwork, as it includes a series of Arrear Correspondence. Each Secretary, Private and Military, would have been supported by Canning's Aides de Camp and clerks. It is common to see notes by the Governor General, drafts of his personal replies, or his initials on papers from the Private Secretary's Office and the Military secretary's Office, meaning that many papers were viewed by Canning in person.

Canning's personal staff should not be confused with the various Secretaries to the Government of India, who are frequent correspondents in the collection. These include the Secretary to Government of India Home Department, the Secretary to Government of India Finance Department, the Secretary to Government of India Foreign Department, the Secretary to Government of India Military Department, and the Secretary to Government of India Public Works Department.

The Governor General’s papers are highly structured, and reflect their original order. They are divided into four main series:

Mss Eur F699/1/1: Governor General's Papers. Primarily correspondence to and from the Governor General, from significant individuals and office holders in both England and India. Originally held in portfolios, later bound into volumes.

Mss Eur F699/1/2: Private Secretary's Office Papers. Correspondence and other papers administered by the office of the Governor General's Private Secretary. These include a large series of incoming letters, copy letters, papers relating to specific subjects, telegrams, and applications for employment.

Mss Eur F699/1/3: Military Secretary's Office Papers. Correspondence and other papers administered by the office of the Governor General's Private Secretary. These also include a large series of incoming letters, copy letters, other 'Arrear' and 'Miscellaneous' correspondence, papers relating to specific subjects, minutes, memoranda, telegrams, and applications for employment.

Mss Eur F699/1/4: Personal Papers. This series consists of both material relating to and originating in India, as well as papers relating to Charles Canning's career before his appointment as Governor General, and material relating to the Canning family.Some of these papers remained in England while the Canning's were in India, and were reunited with the collection after the death of Charles and Charlotte Canning. Some of the India material would have originated in the formal series of the Private Secretary’s Office or the Public Secretary’s Office, such as Mss Eur F699/1/4/8: Papers from Despatch Box ‘Peshawar’, and would have been removed from those series at Canning’s request. Significant work has been done to rearrange and reorganise Canning’s personal papers where appropriate.