Mss Eur F699/1/2

The Private Secretary to the Governor General of India was a salaried member of the Governor General's Personal Staff, and was appointed to manage the Office of the Private Secretary. The Private Secretary managed access to the Governor General, drafted letters and despatches on his behalf, and dealt with matters of administration. The Private Secretary was supported by Aides de Camp (ADCs). The Office received correspondence and other papers, numbered each item, and entered each item into Registers - both the Governor General’s Registers and Indexes of Miscellaneous Correspondence Received (Mss Eur F699/1/1/1/29-32) and the Private Secretary's Registers and Indexes to Letters Received (Mss Eur F699/1/2/1/1-13). The Private Secretary’s Office also administered a small series of correspondence for Charlotte, Lady Canning (Mss Eur F699/2/5/9-14). Material was entered into Indexes, and filed into pigeonholes. In addition the Office undertook copying of the Governor General's outgoing letters, and made copies of other correspondence, both incoming and outgoing, as required for filing or circulation.

Private Secretaries to Charles Canning were as follows:Humphrey de Bohun Devereux (1812-1880). Appointed temporarily until Aug 1856; the Honourable Gerald Chetwynd Talbot (1819-1885), appointed Aug 1856); and Lewin Bentham Bowring (1824-1910), appointed Apr 1858). Correspondence relating to the appointment of Secretaries can be found in Charles Canning's personal papers relating to India, Mss Eur F699/1/4/7/25.

The series of Private Secretary's Office papers consists of papers generated and retained by the successive Private Secretaries. The material follows its original arrangement and reflects its original order, which is mostly chronological. There are 12 sub-series:

Mss Eur F699/1/2/1: Private Secretary: Registers and Indexes of Letters Received, 1856-62 (13 volumes) & Mss Eur F699/1/2/2: Private Secretary: Letters Received, 1856-62 (253 folders). The most voluminous series of material in the Private Secretary’s Office, containing c.10,000 items of correspondence, and which includes routine administrative matters as well as important correspondence. Material is catalogued in detail, and contains cross-references to other items of correspondence, or to other material such as enclosures transferred to Mss Eur F699/1/2/6: Private Secretary’s Office: Papers on Miscellaneous Subjects.

Mss Eur F699/1/2/3: Private Secretary: Copy Letters Despatched, 1856-57 (6 volumes)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/4: Private Secretary: Copy Letters Made for the Mail and Not Required, 1859-61 (1 folder)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/5: Private Secretary: Papers to be Placed with the Private Secretary’s Office, 1858-62 (5 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/6: Private Secretary: Registers and Papers on Miscellaneous Subjects, 1815-1862 (2 volumes & 117 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/7: Private Secretary: Registers and Copies of Telegrams Received, 1856-62 (1 volumes & 15 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/8: Private Secretary: Registers and Copies of Telegrams Despatched, 1856-62 (1 volumes & 12 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/9: Private Secretary: Registers and Copies of Official Telegrams Received in the Public Offices, 1857-59 (1 volume & 49 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/10: Private Secretary: Registers and Copies of Official Telegrams Despatched in the Public Offices, 1857-58 (1 volume & 3 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/11: Private Secretary: Register of Newsletters, 1857 (1 volume)

Mss Eur F699/1/2/12: Private Secretary: Applications Received by Lord Canning before Assuming Office of the Governor General , 1856-62 (1 volume & 3 folders)