Mss Eur F699/1/3

The Military Secretary to the Governor General of India was a member of the Governor General’s Personal Staff, paid a salary in addition to his Military pay, and was appointed to manage the office of the Military Secretary. The Military Secretary’s role was similar to that of the Private Secretary in drafting letters and despatches on behalf of the Governor General, and dealing with matters of administration regarding military matters. The Military Secretary was also supported by Aides de Camp (ADCs). There was a close working relationship between the Military Secretary and the Secretary to Government of India Military Department Sir Richard J.H. Birch, with significant amounts of correspondence and other papers transferred between them.

The Military Secretary’s Office received correspondence and other papers, and numbered each item into Registers and Indexes of Correspondence Received and Sent (Mss Eur F699/1/3/1/1-4). This process did not always run smoothly; a series of ‘Arrear Correspondence’ (Mss Eur F699/1/3/4/1-36) was created as an attempt to deal with the backlog of unregistered and unanswered correspondence.

Military Secretaries to Charles Canning were as follows: Frederick Dayot Atkinson (1816-1883), officiating Mar-Jun 1856; Lord Dunkellin [Ulich Canning De Burgh 1827-1867], appointed Jun 1856-1857; Colonel Charles Stuart (1810-1892), appointed Jan 1858-1859; Sir Edward Fitzgerald Campbell (1822-1884), appointed Jan 1860-Mar 1861; Charles Vincent Bowie (d. 1898), appointed 1861-1862. For correspondence relating to the appointment of Secretaries, see Charles Canning's personal papers relating to India, Mss Eur F699/1/4/7/25.

The series of Military Secretary’s Office papers consists of papers generated and retained by successive Military Secretaries. The material follows its original arrangement and reflects its original order, which is mostly chronological. There are 14 sub-series:

Mss Eur F699/1/3/1: Military Secretary: Registers and Indexes of Correspondence Received and Sent, 1857-62 (4 volumes) & Mss Eur F699/1/3/2: Military Secretary: Correspondence Received and Sent, 1857-62 (82 folders). Contains c.4,000 items of correspondence, and includes routine administrative matters on military subjects, requests for patronage and promotion, and more important correspondence.

Mss Eur F699/1/3/3: Military Secretary: Copy Letters Despatched, 1856-59 (8 volumes)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/4: Military Secretary: Arrear Correspondence, 1855-60 (2 volumes & 34 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/5: Military Secretary: Miscellaneous Letters to the Governor General, 1857-62 (2 volumes & 6 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/6: Military Secretary: Letters Miscellaneous to and from Military Secretary Major Bowie, 1861-62 (2 volumes & 2 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/7: Military Secretary: Papers on Miscellaneous Subjects, 1855-62 (1 volume & 40 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/8: Military Secretary: Papers on Special Subjects from the ‘Feroze’, 1856-62 (7 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/9: Military Secretary: Minutes and Letters, 1856-62 (2 volumes)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/10: Military Secretary: Office Memoranda, 1856-59 (2 volumes)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/11: Military Secretary: Register and Copies of Telegrams Received, 1858-62 (1 volume & 7 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/12: Military Secretary: Register and Copies of Telegrams Despatched, 1858-1862 (1 volume & 8 folders)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/13: Military Secretary: List of Candidates for Staff Employment and Office, 1855-61 (2 volumes)

Mss Eur F699/1/3/14: Military Secretary: Miscellaneous Applications and Recommendations, 1855-61 (2 volumes & 33 folders)